Claire Lui-Moskal smiled broadly as she prepared for her photo shoot. Portrait photographer Jennifer Okamoto helped get the adorable 1-year-old into her tutu and halter top, placed a floral headband on her head and sat her next to a whimsically decorated birthday cake.
Then the beaming model began to destroy the cake … which was exactly what was supposed to happen.
Cake smash is a trend where babies demolish a cake during a professional photography session to mark their first birthdays. It’s a service Okamoto’s been offering to clients for the past decade. “I did my own cake smash session with my daughter on her first birthday, using my own camera, and that was 27 years ago.”
But as social media has grown, so has the trend, and now Okamoto does about 50 cake smash sessions a year.
The tots are encouraged to touch, taste and play with their treat, but it’s more about taking candid photos of their reaction, she explained. “I’m looking for emotions. I don’t care if they are happy or ticked off.”
Little Claire fell into the first category. She ran her fingers daintily over the colorful cake. And although she didn’t demolish it, Okamoto captured her interacting with the cake as she explored it with both her hand and foot.
“It’s so much fun turning them loose with the cake. About one-third of the babies are having a grand time, one-third of them are crying or rather mad about it and one-third are indifferent,” Okamoto said. “We don’t want indifferent.”
When that happens or if the baby doesn’t like the taste or consistency of the frosting, photographers make a small hole in the back of the cake and put a couple of familiar treats inside to entice the baby to rip open the cake, she said.
While some families opt to have the pictures shot during the birthday party while family members watch, photographer Chantelle Drumeller of Simply Blissful Photography said the photos are sometimes used for birthday party invitations, centerpieces or displayed at baby luau sign-in tables.
“It’s really starting to boom,” she said, noting that she shoots about three to five birthday packages a month, which include three background and outfit changes and a cake smash.
“Some babies don’t want to touch the cake,” she said, suggesting parents do a test run at home with a cupcake. “This is normally their first experience with sugar. It’s good to see how they react by putting them in a high chair and letting them get dirty.”
If children are afraid of the cake, Drumeller’s baker, Lily Benitez of Lilylicious, breaks up the cake to stage a photo.
While some photographers, like Drumeller, supply the cake, others, like Okamoto, have parents bring all the props. Drumeller’s portrait packages start at $550, while Okamoto’s packages start at $300, both of which include a $100 session fee and photos.
“I tell parents not to spend a lot of money on a fancy cake. Babies make a mess of it. But some people are still very elaborate,” said Okamoto.
Claire’s mother, Leanna Lui, purchased a milestone photo package from Okamoto, for which Okamoto agreed to shoot photos every three months to capture Claire’s milestones. “The cake smash was the finale,” Lui said.
Drumeller took shots of Kelsie, Cindy Hotema’s 1-year-old daughter, last month. Hello Kitty was the theme for the shoot and Kelsie’s first birthday party. “I love Hello Kitty and that’s why I chose it,” Hotema said.
She plans to enlarge an image to display at the party and use the photos for customized thank-you cards. Hotema learned about cake-smash photos on social media.
“They put baby snacks in the back of the cake to lure the kids to touch it,” Hotema said. “At first she was just eating the snacks. Then she got some frosting. Slowly they were breaking the cake, and she took a bite.”
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For more information or a price quote, contact Okamoto at jenniferokamoto.com or Drumeller at simplyblissfulphotography.com.
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CORRECTION: Chantelle Drumeller took Kelsie Hotema’s cake smash photo. The photo was attributed to another photographer in an earlier version of this story and a story on page D1 Thursday.
