Plan around the nap
A sleep during the drive or on the Metropolitan line means your baby reaches Joel Street rested. Choose a start time just after your baby normally wakes.
Cake Smash Photoshoots for Central London Families
A first birthday cake smash at the Northwood studio for babies from Westminster, Marylebone, Pimlico and the City, with the day planned around the trip out and your baby's nap.
The short answer
Where can Central London families book a cake smash photoshoot?
Cake smash sessions run at Kaushik Bathia's studio at 21 Joel Street, Northwood Hills, about 14 miles from Westminster and 15 from the City of London. The Metropolitan line runs from Liverpool Street and Moorgate to Northwood Hills station, two minutes' walk from the door. You bring the cake, and the backdrop and props are ready at the studio. Allow one to two hours there, plus the journey. Call or WhatsApp 07956 505383 for a date and the price.
We had a baby and family photo shoot with Kaushik over the weekend. He was extremely professional and very good with our baby! He has all the tricks and toys to make our little one smile and laugh during the shoot (which kept us entertained too!) would highly recommend Kaushik for baby photo shoots! Many thanks for capturing such beautiful photos for us!
We’re so glad we chose Kaushik as our photographer for maternity shoot —he was absolutely fantastic. On the day, he made us feel completely at ease, and the photos turned out superb. He was incredibly accommodating with all our requests and his attentiveness and personable nature were exactly what we hoped for in a photographer. Thank you, Kaushik!
Highly professional and took very nice pictures of our family, most impressed. Will surely be coming back in the future. Thank you
Why the studio
Why a Westminster or City first birthday heads out to Joel Street
Cake smash sessions are held only at the Northwood studio, and the backdrop and props are ready at the studio when you walk in. That keeps the sponge and buttercream out of a mansion flat in Marylebone or a Barbican apartment, and it means the only things you carry are the cake, a change of clothes, wipes and a favourite toy.
Aim for a date when your baby is somewhere between eleven and thirteen months old and can sit up steadily without a hand behind them. The cake is yours to bring, and a soft sponge breaks apart easily in small fists, whereas a firm, heavily iced cake can leave a one-year-old prodding at it without ever getting in.
Getting there
Fourteen miles out: the Metropolitan line, the car and the nap
The Metropolitan line serves both Liverpool Street and Moorgate, and Northwood Hills station on the same line is two minutes' walk from the studio door, on the Joel Street parade. The line began as the Metropolitan Railway in 1863, the world's first underground passenger railway, and for City families it is the obvious way out with a buggy, a cake box and a change bag.
The nap is the thing to plan around. If your baby sleeps well in a car seat, leave Westminster or the City so the sleep falls during the drive and ends as you park near Joel Street, where there is parking close to the studio. If the Tube suits you better, a pram nap on the Metropolitan line does the same job, so pick a start time soon after your baby normally wakes rather than one that cuts a sleep short.
On arrival
What happens once you reach Northwood Hills
There is time on arrival for a feed and a few minutes to settle, because a baby who has just come off a train or out of a car seat needs a moment before facing a camera. Parents and older siblings can join some tidy pictures first. Then the cake comes out and your baby decides what happens next: a cautious poke, a fistful, or a long stare before anything moves.
Kaushik follows that lead rather than directing it, and the session stops when interest runs out. Allow one to two hours at the studio and add the journey home on top, so nobody is rushing a sticky, tired one-year-old back onto the Metropolitan line or into a car seat on the A40.
Carrying the cake
Getting a birthday cake across town in one piece
A Tube or car journey is hard on buttercream, so ask a central London bakery for a box tall enough to keep the lid clear of the icing, and keep it flat on the car floor or on your lap rather than in the pram basket. Pick one or two colours for the cake and dress your baby to match them.
Pack the spare clothes separately from the wipes and the toy, and choose something easy to take off for the trip home. Older brothers and sisters are welcome; decide before the day whether they are allowed a handful of cake or stay as cheerful spectators.
Afterwards
A family session back home in Westminster or the City
The cake smash is the studio part of the birthday, and the family pictures can come back to you. A family session in Central London can be at home, on the 27 acres of Paddington Recreation Ground behind the Maida Vale mansion blocks, which has a café, or at Aldgate Square, whose water feature of parabolic jets is one children can play in. For that kind of session, travel from Northwood is set out in your written quote before you book.
If you started the year with us, the cake smash closes a set that may include a newborn session at home and a sitter session at around 6 to 9 months. The cake smash photoshoot page has more on the session itself, and the price is a phone or WhatsApp call away.
Planning
Planning around Central London
Metropolitan line
Liverpool Street and Moorgate are on the Metropolitan line, and Northwood Hills station is two minutes' walk from the studio.
Box the cake tall
A tall box keeps the lid off the icing on the way out of town. Pack spare clothes, wipes and a favourite toy in a separate bag.
Park day, another day
Save Paddington Recreation Ground or Aldgate Square for a separate family session; the cake smash plus the trip to Northwood is a full outing on its own.
Parks for a first-birthday walk in Central London
The parks and gardens below suit the family session that can follow the cake smash, back home in central London.
- Hyde Park: Henry VIII acquired Hyde Park from the monks of Westminster Abbey in 1536, Charles I opened it to the public in 1637, and Queen Caroline added the Serpentine lake in the 1730s. 1
- St James's Park: St James's Park, the Royal Park bordered by three royal palaces, looks along The Mall to Buckingham Palace and has kept pelicans by its lake since 1664, when a Russian ambassador gave them to Charles II. 2
- Dogs in The Green Park: The Royal Parks says dogs in The Green Park generally need not be on a lead but must be under their owner's control, the exception being the Memorial Gardens in front of Buckingham Palace. 3
Sources, facts checked October 2026
Town by town
Coming to the studio from Central London
Families from these central London areas travel out to Northwood for the cake smash. The table shows each area's distance and links its own page.
- London (14 miles from the studio)
- Westminster (14 miles from the studio)
- City of London (15 miles from the studio)
Good to know
Cake smash photoshoots in Central London: questions answered
Cake smash sessions run at the Northwood studio, where the backdrop and props are ready. If you would like pictures at home too, a family session can come to you in Westminster or the City, and the travel for that is set out in writing before you book.
The Metropolitan line serves Liverpool Street and Moorgate, and Northwood Hills station on the same line is two minutes' walk from the studio at 21 Joel Street. The studio is about 15 miles from the City. If you drive, there is parking close by.
Close to the first birthday, once your baby sits steadily without help. Book a few weeks ahead, and if you are travelling out from Westminster or the City, choose a start time that follows a nap rather than one that interrupts it.
Yes, the cake comes from you, and the studio has everything else for the set. For the journey out of central London, a tall box and a flat spot in the car or on your lap keep the icing intact until it reaches the table.
Allow one to two hours at the studio, with time on arrival for a feed. Add the journey from central London either side, about 14 to 15 miles each way, and plan the trip out so the nap falls on the way rather than at the start of the session.
Yes. A first birthday portrait session works without the smash, and the clean portraits at the start of every session are exactly that. If you would rather stay in town, a portrait session at home in Marylebone, Pimlico or the Barbican is another way to mark the day.
The price comes on request: call or WhatsApp 07956 505383. Sessions are booked in advance, so tell us the birthday and we will suggest a date and time close to it.
First birthday coming up?
Book a cake smash from Central London
Tell us the birthday and where in central London you are travelling from, and we will suggest a date and time.
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