Baking and decorating cakes for children is a creative venture that is limited only by your imagination and decorating skills. Common kid's cakes include character-related sheet cakes, fanciful cupcakes and decadently decorated candy cakes. But more for something more creative, consider something beyond the typical cake. Children love anything that is colorful and full of whimsy and there is no better place to let the imagination soar than on a celebratory cake marking something special for a youngster. Does this Spark an idea?
Pizza Pizzazz
Almost everyone loves pizza. Try a pizza party complete with a pizza cake. For this cake, use a 12- or 14-inch white or yellow cake. Ice with 2 cups red frosting, which can be fabricated using any white icing and red food coloring, and then add shredded coconut for cheese, fresh fruit such as blueberries, strawberries, banana slices and pineapple as toppings. Familyfun.com recommends serving the pizza cake in a pizza box from a local pizza shop.
Go to Candy Land
Candy Land is a popular kid's game that has been around for several generations. Incorporate this cake into the festivities to add some vintage flair to any children's party. To make this cake, cover a standard 9x13 cake in white buttercream frosting. Use the Candy Land game board for inspiration. Candy gumdrops, Starbursts or the starburst nozzle on most icing bags can be used to create the candy path that swerves throughout the board. Decorate each section corresponding to the board. For example, jelly beans or purple lollipops may be used for the purple plum trees, crystallized rock candy adds to the theme, and inverted ice cream cones with icing on top are commonly used as the castles.
Play Ball
Cupcakes are often overlooked as an alternative to a large cake. However, cupcakes are great for kid's parties because they offer portion control and an abundance of decorating options. Cupcakes iced with white icing can be converted into baseballs, soccer balls and golf balls with ease. Use a black or red piping to fill in the ball details.
In addition, sugar cookies can be rolled out and cut to represent complementary sporting equipment. For a baseball enthusiast, use a baseball bat cookie cutter to shape the cookie. Once the cookies have been baked and cooled, decorate them accordingly. Serve the cookies with each cupcake.
Color Me Festive
The colors of this cake add a festive touch to the celebration. Bake a standard 9x13 cake. From one of the short ends, cut a step out of about a quarter of the cake's length (cut to a depth of about halfway into the cake). This will create the crayon holder. Then ice the entire cake in yellow buttercream icing. Fashion crayons by inverting ice cream cones and placing them in a row along the divided portion of the cake. Using a decorating bag, ice the crayons to resemble standard crayons. Use green fondant or green fruit roll-ups to design the outside of the crayon box. Coolest-birthday-cakes.com suggests writing the child's name in place of the crayon brand.
Tags: this cake, Candy Land, 9x13 cake, cream cones, pizza cake, standard 9x13