Question - Birthday Cakes

April is birthday month for us. Three of our four children have birthdays within ten days.

Not only am I dealing with the shock of having my baby turn two and my oldest turn seven - I have three birthday cakes to bake.

I love to bake. You all know that. But cakes and I are not on friendly terms. I'd much rather bake bread. My cakes fall, the layers slide off and the frosting is covered in cake crumbs.

When I was grumping to Ed about cake baking, his solution was more practice. I can see he has his best interests in mind! And I'm sure he is right. I would tell anyone who said they couldn't bake bread that they just need a little more practice - and cakes should be no different. My problem probably lies in the fact that I rarely bake a cake unless it is a special occasion and then I don't have the patience to learn from my mistakes.

I'm going to share what has worked for me. And hope you share some of your own tips, recipes and decorating ideas.

I do have a couple no fail recipes. For some reason I can do an angel food cake (could be all the practice when I was a girl when we had tons of eggs)  and a chocolate wacky cake. I like cakes that are good without frosting.

My favorite trick is to make a trifle. It is so simple. Layer cake, pudding and cream in a clear glass bowl. Fresh berries are another great addition. The outcome looks pretty enough to serve to guests and no one has to know that my cake had a huge dip in the center! Plus it tastes good!

My daughter wanted a bunny cake this year from a cake she saw at a friend's birthday. I made two round chocolate cakes. One cake was the head. The other cake was cut into the ears and bow. The worse step for me is the frosting. Especially in a cut cake, the crumbs lift up into the icing and the result is a lumpy grainy mess.


A tip I learned from my mom is to cover the cake with whipped topping (Cool Whip) instead of frosting. It can be tinted with food coloring and is much easier to cover without picking up crumbs. I find the whipped topping ingredients rather scary but I throw out healthy eating with birthday cakes. At least it isn't as sickening sweet like frosting. The cake does need stored in the fridge.

For my four year old son, I knew his cake had to be something with wheels. I attempted to replicate a back hoe cake found on Family Fun. For the base I used a pound cake from Kay's Country Cookin'. (Still loving this cookbook!) The cake was quite tasty - and didn't fall. I used regular frosting and as expected the crumbs blended into the frosting - but I just said it was part of the mud and dirt effect on the back hoe. 


It didn't exactly look like the picture, but I didn't show my son the picture so it was all okay! My children are so accommodating. I'm the only one who complains about my cake skills! As long as I tell them what it is, and it contains candy decorations, they are pleased.

Now I have one more birthday next week. And I have no idea what I'm going to do. This is for a two year old girl. Any ideas?