Ideas on Birthday Cakes

Go to the library and look at some copies of Family Fun and Wondertime magazines. They have great ideas for everything with kids, including cute and easy ideas for birthday cakes. I always gave my babies a chocolate cake for their first birthday because they aren't supposed to have chocolate until they are one. This way their first taste of chocolate is their first birthday cake.

You can bake the cake in a large oven-safe bowl with a rounded bottom. When inverted, the cake looks like half of a sphere. Then you decorate it like a ball - soccer or baseball or basketball. Way cute, and pretty easy.

My husband LOVES baseball, so for my little boys birthday my sister-in-law made the cakes for me. She did a baseball as one cake, a mound as another cake, and then a small square cake with baseballs all over it for his (my baby's) own personal cake. It was really cute and fun. She put my husbands favorite team on it. Also, a lot of people are just doing cupcakes these days and making them really cute and then giving their baby just one of them.

1 can of applesauce, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1 3/4 cup flour, 1 tsp ginger 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-45 min. top with smashed banana mixed with 1 tsp of lemon juice or top with banana pudding. with pudding idea, poke holes in the cake and pour the pudding on right after you make it before it cools down.

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/special/specialfeature/ca...

here is a site with lots of cute ideas. Sometimes even cupcakes are fun, especially for very little ones. Good luck choosing!

www.familyfun.com has some super cute and easy to make cakes. I've made the pig, sheep, pirate ship, ladybug, pool, and a bunch more. It's a tradition at our house that each child gets a 3D cake for their birthday. Also just do a search about what you theme is. I did a great tank cake for our Young Marine CO's birthday party. The only thing when doing some of these fun cakes is use a dense cake(no pudding in the mix) and leave plenty of time like more than 24 hours unless you are just decorating something flat. The pirate ship was a disaster and we ended up improvising last minute but it still turned out. I'm just happy I'd left enough time.

For my daughters 1st bday I made a sheet cake and cut out the shape of a big "1". I then frosted it and outlined along the outside and wrote Happy Birthday! down the middle in another color of icing. I made invitation in the shape of "1"'s on my computer and printed them on cardstock paper. It all turned out really cute and it was really inexpensive and easy!! (Email me if you would like to see pictures.)

Go to coolest-birthday-cakes.com

I started a tradition of making a homemade sheetcake with a lego on the top. So for a one year old a big Duplo would be cute( build the lego like the pic on the box). My kids love this, ofcourse they get to keep the lego! I usually make the frosting color match the toy. A sheetcake is easy too, low stress! I totally agree with you, store bought cakes are not good! If you want to splurge though Das Meir or Gateaux bakeries are good.

For my son's second birthday I decided to do a fish theme because he just absolutely loves anything having to do with water. For his cake I just made a 9x11 rectangle size and colored the frosting blue and lifted it to look like waves and then baked fish shaped sugar cookies, decorated them and positioned them to look like they were jumping in and out. Everyone loved it, especially the kids because they got to eat the cookies AND cake. If anything else, think of something he likes and base your theme around that. There are tons of creative ideas online.

You could make a watermelon cake, they're super cute and pretty easy to make. I made one when I was about 12 or 13 for a summer party. All you have to do is get a red jello mix and add it into a boxed cake mix, bake it and then let the cake cool and frost the outside of the cake with green frosting and the top with red frosting and use chocolate chips or raisins for the seeds in the watermelon. It also looks best if you use round cake pans. Hope this helps some.

~M. J

I have seen this snake cake made and it is super cute!
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50199

Try family fun magazine or their website www.familyfun.com They have show many simple easy to do cakes. I was going to attempt a dump truck cake for my son's first birthday last month but got lazy and ordered a cake. Not sure where you are but here in SLC Ut most bakeries will give out spash cakes for free. If that's the cake perhaps you can plan on making just the big cake that your guests will eat. Good luck!

What we did was have 2 cakes. Safeway gives free 1st birthday cakes. They are small cakes that are just for the child. We got one of those and decorated it to look like the home made one. This way he was able to destroy his cake and it didn't matter for anyone else.

When my oldest turned 1, I made a train cake for him. I cooked small cakes in little loaf pans for the cars. I used mini-dougnuts for the wheels, and connected the cars with licorice. For the smoke-stack on the front, I used a cupcake. Then I decorated and "loaded" each of the cars with different treats...animal crackers in one, Runts in another, etc. Your invites can say something like, "Baby is on track to turn 1!"

C.,
For my son's first we did a fire truck. A my husband is a firefighter and b, he is our little hero. He is 21/2 and loves to wear his helmet and his boots. Unfortunatly for our daughter we didn't do a special cake. But I used a tray for his and I decorated it myself. It was so cute.

Good luck.

I made a really cute catipiller cake. I baked the cakes in pirex bowls, two cake mixes split between three bowls. I tinted the frosting green and put fruity mentos for the spots and used nerd ropes for the anteni. If I remember correctly I needed to push a bamboo stick to help suport the ropes. You trim the cakes a bit so they fit together nicely. You could easily make it longer for a big group. Good luck.

One of the easiest cake ideas is to use candy to decorate, I made my daughter a rainbow cake using M&M's last year and she loved it! It was jsut a rectangle cake with blue frosting all over, then M&M's inj the shape of a rainbow, and white frosting for clouds on either side of the rainbow. You can also try using small toys on the cake for decoration, just make sure they are clean! Buy on or two good cake pans and a cake "knife" that is used to spread frosting, that will help you so much. Cake decorating tips and bags are also great but can get a little spendy. Food coloring is dirt cheap though, and sprinkles. All kids love sprinkles! Just use your imagination and have fun! And be sure to take pictures of all the cakes you decorate over the years.

Here is another really good sight for cake ideas, I like to do cupcakes, there isn't the mess of cutting them and you aren't wasting time standing around serving everyone. SOmetimes I will do a small cake with cupcakes on the side.

http://www.bakedecoratecelebrate.com/

For my sons I have done baseball cakes, and a dinosaur cupcakes. For the baseball cake I just made the cake in a round pan instead of a square and then frosted it to look like a baseball. For the dinosaur cupcakes I actually didn't make the dinosaur I bought several plastic dinosaurs and put them on the top of the cupcakes after frosting them. I usually find some pretty cute sugar cake toppers at Walmart or the grocery stores---this year I found one with bugs and frogs for my 2 yr old (he was/is really into frogs). But the sites that you have been given have other ideas. I think you are only limited in your imagination and your ability to put the cake together. I agree with another post that cupcakes are fun too---especially if you have lots of little children coming, because they are the perfect size for them and you don't end up with a lot of wasted cake at the end. Good luck and Congrats on the upcoming birthday.
J.

We just did a sesame street party. I bought paper supplies from a party warehouse, but apparently there are paper goods with sesame street at the dollar store! I did two cakes- one for the family party and then one for us on her actual birthday at home- they were BOTH adorable. Give me your email and I'll send you pics. Both were super easy to make and required little technical difficulty but wooed everyone. Good luck whatever you choose!

Hi C.,
I love the wilton cake pans.They are at walmart and any party store. I have made a barbie, palm tree(hula party), and Elmo cake.
they give simple directions and they are soooo cute. When I tell people I made the cake they can't believe it.They also have awesome food coloring that you mix to make the perfect color. (I had a 2 tone green brown and tan palm tree that looked real!)
Wilton has tons of different shaped cake pans to choose from.
I actually pick out the cake pan I am going to use before I choose a theme. Good Luck!!

If you want to be ambitious, try this cake: http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50134

I just made it last weekend for my turning 4 daughter and she absolutely loved it! It really wasn't that hard to do if you follow the instructions. Here's a picture of my finished product if you want to see it actually made. http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z137/ashleighfarnswort...

I found the little cowboy boot candles at a party shop, and the carrots are just vanilla frosting tinted orange and green.

If you're not into horses or cowboys, there are plenty of custom cake pans at craft stores like Michael's or JoAnn's. I have a "ball" pan where you fill two halves of an actual sphere with batter and bake. When it's cooled and time to decorate, you put frosting in the middle and put the two halves together to make an actual ball. I've used it that way, as well as used only one half and placed it on top of a 13x9 cake, then frosted it like a baseball or basketball so the ball was 3D on top of the flat cake.

Anyway, I have tons more ideas if you want that kind of cake or that kind of work to do it. Just email me and I can tell you more. Good luck and Happy 1st birthday to him! How fun...

I have done a caterpillar cake. It is so cute and is always a big hit. I take the sculpted round cake pan with the hole in the center (I think it is like a bunt cake pan). Cut it in half and line up the two halves to make a squiggly. I get the snowballs for the head. I decorate it with drop stars or I get candy to stick to the frosting. Liquorish works for antennas. White frosting and something like m&m's for the eyes. I just play with it and have fun.
Good Luck

I saw a really cute cake in the back of a plastic dump truck, someone had made a chocolate cake in a regular pan and then transfered it to the bed of the dump truck then put choclate pudding as the frosting and crushed up oreos. they served it with a clean shovel, like you would dig in the sand box with. It was really cute and becuase its saposed to look like messy dirt, it didn't matter if it was perfect or not! Good luck

For my daughter's 3rd birthday, I made her a bunny cake that was VERY simple. I made two 8" round cakes. The first was used for the head and the second for the ears and bowtie. To make the latter, picture a baseball and cut the cake along the stitching lines. The outer pieces become the ears, and the inner part the bowtie. I used candy (gumballs, licorice, etc.) for the eyes, nose, whiskers, etc. Good luck!

I made my son a frog cake for his first b-day. I used 1 round cake pan for the face and did two small cupcakes for the eyes. then I decorated it to look like a frog, it turned out so cute. I found really cute invitations online and had a whole frog themed party. If you want to send me your e-mail address I will send you a pic.

Check out Michaels or Hobby Lobby they usually have a good selection of specialty cake pans that make it easy. Visit Childs Bakery and see what they have, you may decide to buy one (way better than grocery cakes) or get ideas for making one.

Hi C.,
What is your little guy into? Probably the same things as your older one. It is very simple to theme a cake. Many craft stores like JoAnn's have a cake decorating department and you can buy some fun add ons to dress up any plain cake. There are also cake pans in varying shapes to make it a bit different and special. Also, go to www.BettyCrocker.com and they have all kinds of ideas for fun cakes.
Good Luck.
L. P

I'm a cake decorator and when talking w/ my clients, I usually ask for a theme and do the cake around that. Some of them choose a favorite toy or TV show or even something w/ a nickname. Once you have that decided, it's easer to come up w/ a cake. I did a little #1 cake for my kids turning 1 for them to dig into and a bigger theme cake for everyone else. Look through the Wilton cake books you can find @ Roberts or Michaels for ideas. Those can be pretty complicated if you don't know what your doing. Google theme birthday cakes and see what you get. Good Luck!

There are all kinds of websites that have ideas. I always have theme parties. I type in the theme and go to the site. Here are some of the cakes I've made in the past... For my son's construction party --- I made brownies and put them in the back of a toy dump truck. For my son's train party --- I made several little cakes with little loaf pans. The first loaf was the engine, the second loaf was the car, and the third loaf was the caboose. For my son's race car party --- I made two circle cakes. I put them side by side to make a figure 8 race track. I put cars on top. For my son's monster truck party I made a rectangular cake and cut it into the shape of a monster truck. I used two small mini bundt pans to make the wheels. I have used both box mixes and recipes. Have fun! I haven't bought a store cake, yet.

Our friends have done a cupcake cake for their son's first and second birthdays. Basically they make the cupcakes and then lay them out in a shape (they've done a teddy bear and Elmo). Then they frost the cupcakes individually, but decorate them all together (ie they frosted a couple a lighter brown for the ears of the bear cake and put eyes on a couple of the cupcakes that were placed in that spot). It is a really cute idea and makes it easy to "cut" since you just pick up the cupcakes.

I am a fan of the cake pans that are shaped, then all you have to do is frost. My fist baby I did Elmo, my Second baby I did a cut out of Blue's Clues. I tried to do the whole frosting in a bag and use the special tips, but it is time consuming... so I decided that frosting the cake like a normal cake worked just as good.

Have Fun!

I always make my kids their cakes... and they can be pretty demanding on what they would like, so I have learned to be creative!! Anyway a great place for ideas is www.familyfun.com, then go to thei birthday cakes ideas link... thi also gives you instructions on how to make them. For one of our first birthdays wi did some cute building blocks with ABC on one side and the number 1 on the other... or you could do a cute little baseball hat and some baseball cupcakes on the side?! Anyway, check out family fun for some great ideas!

I just saw an idea for a super-cute snake cake! My daughter loves creepy-crawly things so I'm considering making it for her birthday next month. You bake 2 bundt cakes, then cut them in half. You place them end to end, connecting the ends (similar to this ~~ that's the best I can show you on the computer!) Then of course frost with green, etc. frosting and cut out a red fruit roll-up tongue. So cute!! There was also an idea for butterfly cakes - baked with a round pan, then cut in half and placed together like this )( - use licorice for the body. They also did the butterfly cakes with cupcakes. You could do a whole plate of butterfly cupcakes and say that your little one is "flying into his second year." Just yesterday I purchased an awesome book off the clearance rack at Barnes & Noble ($7.98). It's called "Kid's Cake Mix FUN" and it had lots of super cute cake ideas plus tons of yummy recipes for cookies, cupcakes, bar cookies, etc. using cake mixes. You can always go to Barnes & Noble and browse through their cookbooks to get some ideas, too. Good luck!

My daughter's birthday is this weekend. since she is turning 4 I am letting the kids decorate their own cupcakes. But since your child is 1 I would recommend a cupcake cake. BAke cupcakes, leave them all in their wrappers and put them on a cookie sheet. put them close together and frost the whole thing like a cake (use a soft frosting or a frosting squirter to keep the cupcakes from moving around all over the place). Decorate as desired (sorry no cute thing comes to mind at 11pm). This way cake is already portion cut (just pluck a cupcake), no plates or forks needed. And everyone thinks you are smart. :)
Happy #1 to your little one.

I'm going to suggest the bunny cake too. You could take it a step further and make a healthy carrot cake (with or without nuts) with cream cheese frosting (extra calcium). Two 8 or 9-inch round cakes is all you need. One stays round for the head and then you cut out ears from the second one and use the leftover to make a bowtie. Your invites could be homemade too - "Hop on over to celebrate". You could go to Oriental Trading to get little rabbit noses and ears for the kids to wear (and take as party favors). Have carrot eating contests for the adults and/or older kids, if any. Hopping games; play Wallace & Gromit's Curse of the Were-Rabbit in the background; use small easter baskets for party favors, larger baskets for serving chips or any other food you plan to serve; your food could be labeled as 'rabbit food'. You could take this in lots of different directions. Plus, bunnies are a pretty neutral theme for a one-year old. Have fun!

I don't have decorative ideas, but here is a terrific cake recipe for the cake part (soooo yummy and easy, the perfect cake for chocolate lovers, and better than almost every chocolate cake I have ever tried including restaurant cakes... it always gets rave reviews, and it comes from the Cake Mix Doctor cookbook:

Darn Good Chocolate cake
1 Cake mix, devil's food or chocolate fudge
1 3.9 oz box of instant chocolate pudding
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
2 cups chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients well except chocolate chips. Add them last.

Bake according to type of pan used at 350 (~50 minutes for a bundt pan, my favorite). Cake is done when a toothpick is almost dry. Try not to underbake or overbake.

Sprinkle with powder sugar. Serve with strawberries (optional).

I guess this is such a rich cake that it doesn't need to be frosted... of course if you are serving it for a special birthday, frosting is probably necessary. You could alter a white cake mix and use vanilla pudding instead of chocolate and omit the chocolate chips for a superb cake that doesn't taste like it utilizes a mix.

Good luck!

I made this race track cake for my boys for their birthday. THEY WERE IN LIL BOY HEAVEN!

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/326710_how-to-make-a-race-...

in the Family Fun magazine from April 08 I totally LOVED their cakes. I think you can go online to look them up. They had the cutest truck one that was adorable. I think a truck theme for a 1-yr-old boy is fun because they already love trucks and cars at that age. They had oreos for dirt, a twinkie was the bucket on the loader, adn they frosted it all in yellow frosting. They just used boxed cake mixes and you make it in a 9x13 pan. It's darling. If you can't find it, i can try to describe it more in full and email a picture of the page. you can email me directly at ____@____.com if you're at all interested. Good luck and have fun!

I like to put fruit between two layers of my homemade cake to make it special. You can use fresh fruit like strawberries or thaw and drain some frozen fruit, then mix in sugar until it tastes the way you want it. Or you can just spread a layer of jelly/jam, but i prefer the fruit.

I saw a great idea in a magazine....not a cake, but a easy and fast way to serve ice cream with the cake(wish I had thought of this) the day before the party put individual scoops of ice cream in cup cake papers, then place them on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer. Then when you serve your cake you have individual servings of icecream all ready.

J. B