Birthday Cakes

I've got the perfect thing for you!!!!Forest cupcakes. Regular cupcakes with green frosting, a pretzel for a palm tree with icing or some other sticky green candy on the top for palm leaves, jelly beans next to the tree for coconuts, a different animal cracker on each one, and whatever else you can think of to make them fun looking.

M.,
Who says you actually have to use a recipe? How about just a box cake? I have been making my kids their birthday cakes each birthday- ut just out of a box. I take the time that I would have spent making a cake from scratch and making it specially decorated for them. On my daughter's 3rd bithday I made her the Barbie Doll cake- but I made three of them to look like Belle, Cinderella and Princess Aurora. I have made train cakes, dora cakes, etc. I realized that the box cake tastes really good- and my kids felt really special having their own specially decorated cakes- (And besides...I am not a baker either- I don't follow recipes very well so I couldn't gurantee how a recipe cake would turn out)

Have fun!!

K.

I have started the tradition of making my boys their birthday cakes. So far it has been a lot of fun planning and actually decorating. I have learned tons of things from the wilton website. I believe it is www.wilton.com (or something similiar) There is a link on that page that is a discussion forum where you can search by key word. What I have done to make my cakes good is just use the box cake but add just the powder of pudding mix of the same flavor. It makes the cake super moist. Good luck!

Hey M.,

I'm in the same boat..my daughter turns 1 saturday and I've been practicing my baking skills for the past month! i'm making a chocolate layer cake (using box mix) and have the most fabulous frosting recipe(seriously, friends have flipped over it) 16 oz cream cheese, 1 cup melted butter, 1 and 1/2 bags melted white chocolate morsals. Mix with hand mixer till smooth and voila..it is amazing. I've finally almost mastered the art of layer cakes and decorating(thanks to the advice of many women on this site) if you need tips, let me know!

A.

I love those 2 websites for recipes: cookinglight.com and allrecipes.com. Both have very easy recipes that always turn out great (especially cookinglight). I would go for a basic chocolate cake, if your daughter likes chocolate. They're usually pretty much foolproof and taste great!

Good luck!

J.

I love the "Cut Up Cake Book" - it has instructions on cutting sheet cakes into different shapes. Butterflies, rocket ships etc. The Super Baby Foods book actually has a small section on this too. I personally love all of the cake recipes from Betty Crocker (I have a 1969 cookbook but I don't think they've changed much) - they're easy and very good.

Im a chef but im also a mom and know there isnt always time for the whole from scratch thing box mixes work well to make them extra moist use butter instead of oil and use milk or cream instead of water trust me no one will know a really pretty idea thats easy for little kids is to get those nice little cake molds i recently purchased flower ones there easy to decorate and girls love flowers and you can do a whole theme around it get little pails and put goodies in them use little daisies fake and real around the house cheap and pretty little pudding cups with the gummies etc all work with that theme and can even make little flower necklaces witch is a fav among little girls

Hi M. - My M. has a friend that makes wedding cakes and she doesn't even use a recipe - it is box all the way. Sounds weird, I know, but she is booked for over a year! Her secret is that she adds a little bit of vanilla extract to her white cake and a bit of cinnamon to her chocolate.

Good Luck!

Jessica

Hi there,

I would try www.allrecipies.com, type in kids cakes. They have a ton of cake recipies. Also, Wilton.com They make all the cake pans and stuff. You can try pillsbury or bettycrocker.com, too. Your best bet is to go to Michaels Craft and get a cake pan and start from there. You should use the "funfetti" cake mix and frosting.

Good luck.

Jolie