My youngest son turned one, and we celebrated with an adorable Where the Wild Things Are–themed birthday party. I love planning parties for my boys. As they get older I prefer smaller gatherings with a few friends, but for babies I enjoy keeping the celebration within the family and diving into more detailed party planning.
Since our apartment was boxed up for a move and there wasn’t space for everyone, I invited family to our favorite park. The pavilion offered shade and plenty of tables, which made it an ideal spot. I decorated with a jungle vibe (despite a fierce wind that nearly blew everything away). We served all-fruit popsicles, fruit-infused waters, and little soda bottles for the adults. And, of course, there was plenty of cake — which is what I’ll focus on here. I’m keeping the recipes private for a future project, but I’ll share the details and techniques for each cake.
The book Where the Wild Things Are is one of our favorites. We’ve read it together for years, and I’d been saving this theme for a long time. I had originally planned to use it for my oldest son’s party but chose another book then, so I couldn’t wait to use it for our littlest one’s first birthday.
I wanted the main cake to resemble a crusty tree stump to echo the wild, wooded setting in the story. The interior was a rich fudge chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, and the bark was made from melted chocolate. To create the bark pieces, I spread melted chocolate on parchment, rolled it up lengthwise, and froze it for a few hours. When the chocolate set, it kept that half-rolled shape. After unrolling the parchment I had long, curved chocolate strips perfect for wrapping around the cake.
I did run into a challenge with the chocolate: it melted easily from the warmth of my hands. My first attempts softened as I tried to place the pieces on the cake. The solution was to remove each chocolate piece from the freezer and attach it immediately to the cake using extra peanut butter frosting as glue. That kept the bark in place without melting. If you use this method, keep the cake chilled as much as possible — we served outdoors on a hot day and it did get a bit soft, but the flavor was still fantastic.
For the smash cake I made a small funfetti cake with classic vanilla frosting brightened by a touch of almond. I smoothed the sides with a cake knife for a soft, swirled finish and created a fondant crown on top. To make the crown sturdy and upright, I rolled a flat strip of fondant, cut out the spikes, then wrapped it around a plastic-wrapped oatmeal container overnight. That allowed it to dry in a perfect curved shape. The little one had a blast smashing it, and guests couldn’t resist sampling it afterward — it was a big hit.
One of the cakes became a favorite on my Instagram page — it’s always fun to see which designs resonate most with people. 🙂
There’s a beautiful line in the book about an ocean that carries Max away: “an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max, and he sailed off…” I used that image as inspiration for another cake.
That ocean-inspired cake had a lemon interior with a white chocolate–raspberry frosting and a few fresh raspberries between the layers. I used fondant for the exterior to create a contrast with the other cakes. Fondant can be tricky, but this time it behaved better than expected.
I rolled long fondant strips about two inches high and eight to ten inches long, blending an ombré from white to dark blue. I trimmed the tops with a pizza cutter to form gentle waves, then layered them around the cake from top (white) to bottom (blue), securing the pieces with a touch of corn syrup. The result resembled ocean waves and ended up being a crowd favorite.
One cake wasn’t directly tied to the story but was a recipe I’d been dreaming about: banana cake with a chocolate swirl and Nutella buttercream. I keep a small idea book with cake concepts, and this one finally made it out of the pages.
It turned out to be the best of the bunch. The inside was banana cake marbled with cocoa cake, frosted with Nutella buttercream, rolled in chocolate sprinkles on the sides, and topped with walnut crumbles and cherries. We originally planned raspberries on top, but switched to cherries for the final look. A chocolate ganache drip finished the cake beautifully and tied all the flavors together.
This gathering was family-only and intentionally simple — we were days away from moving and I didn’t want a huge production. Despite the wind that blew many decorations around (and prevented me from setting up some of the things I brought), the party was charming and relaxed.
Guests enjoyed popsicles and fruit-infused drinks, made crowns, paraded with bubble swords, and played at the park. Most importantly, we celebrated our little one turning one with a Wild Rumpus–style birthday that felt personal and joyful.
Happy birthday, little man!