24 Super-Fun Cakes – Birthday Cake Designs for Kids – Parenting.com.

My son wanted a Super Mario Bros themed birthday this year and when I asked what kind of cake he wanted he said “A 1UP Mushroom!” After some research on the internet and a little creativity I was able to put together a fun party for him and his friends.

To make the 1UP Mushroom I used a Wilton Giant Cupcake Pan and for the star a Wilton Star Pan. For both cakes I just used cake out of the box and frosted them with icing  I bought and colored with food coloring. For the eyes and spots on the mushroom I used store bought rolled fondant and cut the shapes out.  I don’t like to completely cover cakes with fondant because in general people don’t like the taste of it.  So to get a smooth look with butter cream I use the paper towel trick.   My cupcakes were bought from Sam’s Club and I placed gold coins that I bought from a party store on them.

For games we had a Boo Ball Bounce, which is basically like beer pong   I painted white ping pong balls with boo faces and covered plastic cups with silver paper to resemble pipes.  The kids had to bounce balls into the cups to earn gold coins.  We also played pin the mustache on Mario and Yoshi Egg smash.  I modified the game from the video I linked to make it more challenging.  My son created a poster with Shy Guys on it in random places.  Each Shy Guy had a point value assigned to it.  The kids were awarded gold coins based on which ones they hit.

At the end of the party the child with the most gold coins one a treasure box with small prizes in it.  All the children received yellow goody bags with question mark boxes glued to them.  The winner of each event got a framed award and a ribbon.

To learn how to make this cake visit Pirate Ship Cake Recipe | Themed Cakes | FamilyFun.

Consider the possibilities:

Spell out names and messages

Use as roof tiles, brick or stone.

They can be jewelry, gemstones or pendants on a necklace.

Eyes, nose or mouth for critter cakes

They can make colorful borders .

Create rainbows, flowers, butterflys or other designs and patterns with them.

Have additional uses for Jelly Beans?  Let us know!

This lemon flavored SpongeBob cake was made by a friend for her son’s 6th birthday. She made her own marshmallow fondant and swears it is fairly easy to make and work with. I look forward to trying it soon.

If you search the internet you will find different versions of Marshmallow Fondant Recipe, here’s one from All Recipes:

INGREDIENTS

* 1/4 cup butter
* 1 (16 ounce) package miniature marshmallows
* 4 tablespoons water
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 pounds confectioners’ sugar, divided

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the butter in a shallow bowl, and set aside.
2. Place the marshmallows in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on High for 30 seconds to 1 minute to start melting the marshmallows. Carefully stir the water and vanilla extract into the hot marshmallows, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Slowly beat in the confectioners’ sugar, a cup at a time, until you have a sticky dough. Reserve 1 cup of powdered sugar for kneading. The dough will be very stiff.
3. Rub your hands thoroughly with butter, and begin kneading the sticky dough. As you knead, the dough will become workable and pliable. Turn the dough out onto a working surface dusted with confectioners’ sugar and continue kneading until the fondant is smooth and no longer sticky to the touch, 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Form the fondant into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. To use, allow the fondant to come to room temperature, and roll it out onto a flat surface dusted with confectioners’ sugar.

For our end of school year pool party, my friend Brenda made this super cute cake to match the flip flop invitations I made.

She shaped two layered cakes and used ribbon and a paper cut out of a sunflower. She has good piping skills as well, but if like me you don’t, you could consider using hard sugar decorations and letters.

Bunny Cupcakes

There’s directions to make this cake from McCormick’s here.

Also, you can find more Easter decorating ideas on their holidays site.

Marshmallow Peeps Cake

Peeps has instructions for this super cute Easter Basket cake at the Marshmallow Peeps website or download the PDF instructions here.

WE tv (The network that brought you Amazing Wedding Cakes) is proud to announce the first WE tv Wedding Cake Competition hosted by the Great American Cake Show in Westminster, Maryland (May 2 and 3). Wedding cake makers of all skill levels are invited to apply, but only 20 lucky people will be chosen to compete in this exciting contest to be aired on WE.

It doesn’t matter if you’re an amateur or a professional. To enter this competition you just need two things: the passion for making STUNNING wedding cakes and the desire to be crowned WE tv’s Best Wedding Cake Maker. And here’s one final twist: You will be given a mystery design theme just days before the competition, but your cakes must be decorated LIVE in front of our judges and cameras!

This is your chance to show America what you’ve got. APPLY TODAY!

VISIT www.greatamericancakeshow.com for rules and application or EMAIL Cakeslive@gmail.com for more details. Applications must be received by April 12, 2009.

It isn’t necessarily a “simple” cake. However it wasn’t terribly difficult either, just very time consuming.