It is commonplace in the US to celebrate our birthday with a beautiful and tasty birthday cake. Although the Greeks were the first to use cakes to celebrate birthdays, they were commonly used to celebrate the birthdays of gods and
goddesses.

And the inclusion of candles on a birthday cake is also of Greek origin as the cake to celebrate the birthday of the Greek moon god Artemis was topped with lit candles.

In the middle ages, the English would conceal symbolic items inside the cake. Each item was a prediction for the finder’s future.

Usually items such as gold coins, rings and thimbles were baked into the cake. The birthday cake made its way to Western culture in the mid 19th century and has been an important part of birthday celebrations since.

When cutting into ones birthday cake, there are little superstitions some people believe. If the knife touches the bottom, or when pulling the knife from the cake itself there are pieces of cake stuck to the knife, than the birthday person must kiss the nearest person of the opposite sex.

Another belief is when you blow the candles out on your cake, you are supposed to make a wish. If the candles are blown out in one blow and the wisher keeps the wish a secret, then it is believed the wish will come true.

Birthday cakes are typically highly decorated with lots of colors and flowers or something of that sort. For kids, it is popular to have cartoon characters or their favorite them on the cake.

Cakes can go from home made, simple designs to more elaborate cakes that can cost hundreds of dollars.

Photo credits: I would like to thank twokingsconfections for the use of the photo on this page.

Cake decorating Equipment: When you are decorating for birthdays and the holidays, you don’t need every cake decorating tool out there, but you do need a few basics. The following are a must for cake decorating.

- Rubber Spatulas: These spatulas are made of flexible material and they are the best for scraping cake and frosting bowls.

- Metal Spatulas: Every cake decorator needs one large and one small angled spatula to spread and smooth frosting on your cake. To keep your cake from crumbling, use the small metal spatula to carefully spread a thin layer of frosting on the cake. This is followed by a normal layer of frosting.

- Piping Bags: You can purchase reusable 8 inch, 12 inch, and 18 inch bags, or disposable plastic bags, for cake decorating. Zip-lock bags will work in a pinch.

- Couplers: Coupling nozzles are needed to hold the icing tips in the bag. They allow you to change tips when you need to.

- Food coloring paste, gel, or powder: These food colorings are more concentrated than liquid, and they will not thin the icing.

Important tips for cake decorating

1. All ingredients should be at room temperature, as they will mix much better than when they are cold.

2. Always use and electric beater when mixing the cake. You will have less lumps than if you beat it by hand.

3. You really need a wire rack to invert and cool your cakes.

4. Trim your cake so it will sit flat. Never use this part of the cake as the top, always use the smoother side of the cake to decorate with icing.

5. To reduce crumbling, bake your cake the day before you will be decorating it and place it in the freezer until you are ready to frost it. When you take it out frost it right away.

6. You can purchase cake boards from any hobby or cake decorating shop. You can also cover a large piece of stiff cardboard with colored foil and use that instead.

7. A great icing for cake decorating is Butter Cream, especially for a child’s birthday cake.

8. Cut strips of waxed paper and place them under the unfrosted cake. When you are done with your cake decorating they will pull out easily and the cake board will not be smeared.

These are the basic tools that everyone needs for cake decorating. The tips given are meant to make it a bit easier to ice your child’s birthday cake. It doesn’t matter whether you have decorated a cake before, there are many sites on the internet that will give you ideas for cake decorating. And others that will take you step-by-step through the decorating project.

My advice is to gather as many useful tips that you can and keep them in a little booklet. When you run into a problem, you can consult the book. I know that anyone who has a desire to learn cake decoration, can do so just by visiting the various sites that are available to show you how to go about cake decorating.

Photo credits: I would like to thank ohmeaghan for the use of the photo on this page.

What makes a birthday cake special? It’s got to taste great, no doubt, but visual appeal makes a cake truly dazzle. In Portland, Oregon, Papa Haydn’s is famous for incomparable birthday cakes that look as fabulous as they taste, so we asked co-owner Evelyn Franz to share a few of her secrets for cake decorating success.

Evelyn helped her sister and brother-in-law Heidi and Jeff Van Dyke, who founded Papa Haydn’s in the late 1970s, create their legendary dessert menu. Since then, Papa Haydn’s has become Portland’s dessert destination, consistently winning awards and accolades from food lovers and restaurant critics alike.

With an MFA in sculpture and a lifelong love of baking, Evelyn guides her pastry staff in combining visual appeal with exceptional flavor and texture. “I think it’s as important to pay attention to looks as it is to flavor,” she says. “The looks can make a huge difference in terms of what you actually taste on your palate. I don’t think it’s a successful dessert unless it looks as good as it tastes.”

If you want to try your hand at creating spectacular cakes for the birthdays, anniversaries and weddings in your life, consider these helpful hints from Evelyn.

Tie a yellow ribbon: An easy and elegant way to jazz up birthday cakes is by tying a colorful ribbon around the bottom of the cake. “You can use chiffon or just a French ribbon to really doll up any cake,” says Evelyn. Just remember to remove the ribbon before serving.

More terrific toppers: Check out cake decorating stores for ideas, says Evelyn, who likes to adorn birthday cakes with dragees or candy pearls. Silk or edible flowers also make elegant cake toppers, turning an ordinary layer cake in to a birthday cake to remember.

Fabulously frosted: With a little practice, you can turn frosting into an intricate birthday cake design. By alternating vertical and horizontal ribbons of frosting, for example, you’ll create a delicate woven pattern that dazzles the eye. Even simpler designs can be achieved by creating swirls or peaks with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

Wrap it up: For the more advanced pastry chef, wrapping a cake in a thin layer of another cake can add an elaborate touch that dazzles even after a birthday cake or anniversary cake is sliced. Papa Haydn features such delicacies as White Chocolate Mint Truffle Torte, wrapped in a patterned chocolate sponge cake, Hazelnut Mousse Torte, wrapped in a striped almond sponge cake, and Georgian Peanut Butter Mousse Cake, wrapped in a polka dot sponge cake and topped with ground peanuts. It takes some practice, but the effect is well worth the effort.

The fine art of chocolate: Evelyn and her crew are well-practiced in the art of decorating with chocolate, too. Simply spread a thin layer of melted chocolate on a cooled marble slab or baking sheet, then carefully make curls or ribbons with a metal spatula to decorate your special cakes. For birthday cakes, you can cut out rectangular banners of dark chocolate, write a “Happy Birthday” message with white chocolate or frosting, then place the banner upright on the cake for an edible birthday greeting. This, too, takes practice, but once you’ve mastered the technique, you’ll be a cake decorating star.

Designing from the ground up: Another way to create dazzling birthday cakes is to layer different cakes and fillings for a variety of flavors and textures. “We’ll do a cake that has meringue in it as well as chiffon and maybe a flourless chocolate cake,” says Evelyn, “to give it a nice texture and a little crunch.” Using cakes and fillings of different colors adds to the visual appeal as well as the taste.

If you approach cake baking and cake decorating as Evelyn Franz does – like a true artist – your birthday cakes, anniversary cakes and even wedding cakes will dazzle your guests before, during and after they enjoy the delicious taste!

Our kid birthday cake idea collection makes cake decorating fun and fearless. You don’t have to be a pastry chef to create a professional quality cake for your child’s birthday or other special event. Learn unique and easy cake decorating ideas to make spectacular homemade cakes.

PARTY CAKE CONCEPT AND DESIGN

The most important kid birthday cake idea is choosing a cake concept which fits with your party theme. You can start with a simple sheet cake topped with small toys or figures, or piece the cake itself to form a unique design.

For example, a Construction Party cake could be topped with tiny toy dumptrucks and bulldozers pushing a chocolate chip mountain. Or, the cake itself could be cut, pieced and frosted to look like a dump truck.

For a Train Party, set a miniature choo-choo train on licorice tracks atop your cake, or line up several brightly colored frosted loaf cakes to form train cars.

For a Luau party, a simple round or sheet cake can be festooned with a silk flower lei, or form a string of cupcakes in a circle and adorn each one with silk or frosting flowers. Connect with a licorice string to make a cupcake “lei”.

Baking cakes in an oven-safe glass bowl or in a special 3D sports ball pan is great for making any kind of perfectly round ball cake, or the dress part of a Barbie doll cake. A wonder mold cake pan makes small single serving doll cakes and other cute creations!

Think of the design you’d like to make and what shapes you need to make it – round, sheet, loaf, cupcakes, or a combination.

Peruse cake decorating books for a kid birthday cake idea which fits your needs. Many books provide templates for cutting and piecing cakes to create any number of popular designs. You decide just how simple or challenging your cake will be.

For a no-fuss kid birthday cake idea, apply an edible cake art image to the top of a frosted cake. Many popular themes and copyrighted images such as Disney are available to provide a professional looking cake design.

Themed cake pans are another popular cake decorating option. They provide the shape and visual design to follow for an impressive finished cake. Popular TV and cartoons characters are well represented in cake pans, as well as teddy bears, butterflies, pirates, Tigger,Mickey Mouse, and lots more.

FROSTING CHOICES

Homemade Frosting - Dig up that famous family recipe or check out one of the many online recipe sites and make your cake frosting from scratch. Be sure to plan ahead how much of each color will be needed for both basic foundation and decorative trim.

Canned and Tube Frostings - Easiest and quickest, prepared canned frostings are available in grocery stores in the baking aisle with the cake mixes. They generally come in white, chocolate, and a handful of other popular flavors. Keep a few ready-to-use tube frostings on hand in various basic colors to add the finishing touches.

Fondant Frosting - Gaining in popularity in this country in recent years, fondant frosting gives a beautiful smooth finish to your cake decorating creation. Fondant can be rolled out and draped over a cake, poured on as a glaze, or sculpted into shapes. It is easily tinted, and can be flavored as well. Ready-made fondant is available through party supply outlets. There are also many recipes online for homemade fondant.

CAKE DECORATING WITH CANDY AND SMALL TOYS

Cookies, candies, and other materials can be used for special and impressive effects. Frosted sugar cones can serve as the fins on a space ship cake or the turrets on a castle cake. Make a surprise cake filling with jello.

A wide variety of plastic stand-ups or cake toppers are available in craft stores. Or, simply use a toy which fits in with the party theme as a cake topper and give it to the party child when the party is over. Action figures, small dolls, animals and cartoon characters all make good choices.

Add cool candy accents with M & M’s, licorice pieces, licorice whips, animal crackers, oreo cookies, paper umbrellas, pretzel sticks, tootsie rolls, jimmies, gummies such as worms, bears, etc, gumdrops, mini marshmallows, colored coconut, jellybeans.

THE LATEST CAKE DECORATING FADS!

There are many novel choices for placing the finishing touches on your party cake. Dress it up in style with one or more of these unique special effects:

Spray Color Mist - is a fun addition to your baking repertoire. Frost your cake white, then spray on edible color from an aerosol can. Available in many colors, it can be used with stencils to make unique designs, as a highlight to whipped topping – even on your child’s mashed potatoes!

Luster Dusts - are an edible food safe “dust” which can be used on any frosting recipe that dries hard and firm to the touch. Brush it on white frosting for a metallic-like glossy sheen or layer it for interesting color effects.

Cake Stampers - can be used along with brush-on color for fondant icing. Simply stamp shapes and designs into the finished fondant and tint with brush-on color.

Cake Stencils - Place stencil on iced cake and sprinkle edible glitter, confetti sprinkles, or use spray-on color mist.

Edible Color Markers - These unique markers are used just like an ink marker. Draw fun designs on cakes, cookies, fondant frosting, even cheese, fruit slices and bread. Decorating marker kits are available for children.

Edible sugar-shape decorations,
decorative candles, themed cake picks and rings,and edible glitter are all fun tools in your cake baking arsenal.

Now you’re armed with lots of great ideas for cake decorating success – without fear!

Go forth and create… and above all, have fun!

Photo credits: I would like to thank dasqfamily, jonathanjo and techiedog for the use of their photos on this page.