Great kids cakes

This one will be for my son's fifth birthday in January.

This one was for one of the doctor's at my office. He is turning forty this week. When he saw the hockey cake I made, he mentioned that he likes castles and ships -- so I thought the pirate ship cake was appropriate for this momentous occasion.

I used two 13x9 sheet cakes. I cut out the shape and then used leftover pieces for the top part of the boat. I used black licorice and life savers as decoration and then made pirate flags with skewers and black construction paper. I was very happy with the way this one turned out and so was the birthday boy.

In my adventures with these cut out cakes, I have finally learned to use a layer of crumb icing to make the final decorating much easier. So every cake is a three stage process. 1. Baking. 2. Cutting and crumb icing. 3. Icing and decorating. The crumb icing makes a huge difference in the decorating stage. It makes things much easier. I think this is why I had such a huge problem with my Easter bunny (farther down). If I had used crumb icing, the cake wouldn't have fallen apart so badly. The last couple of cakes I have used this on and it has been much easier to decorate them.

How I Became a Pirate

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN PIRATE GEAR SET 6 PIECES

Melissa & Doug Pirate Chest

Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden 48-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle
Pirates

Pirates Of The Carribean 3:
Ultimate Jack Sparrow

Pirates of the Caribbean

I used three cake mixes and made five eight inch squares and some ice cream cone cakes. I used four of the squares for the body, trimming the bottom one in some on the front and back to make it look like he is off the ground.

The other square I used for the treads. I iced the whole thing in chocolate icing then iced yellow over the body, mixing it in some to make him look a little worn out and old. I used a chocolate bar with decorators icing and gel to make the computer screen and "E" emblem. I used black licorice for the treads and Oreo cookies and pieces of black licorice for the wheels.

I used ice cream cone cakes for the eyes. I tied them together with yarn and then set them on a paper towel roll cut in half and taped together at one end and iced all over. The eyes were done with decorators icing. I made the hands with dowel sticks and manila paper. He was definitely a hit.

This one was a collaboration between myself and a coworker to make a great cake for our billing lady, Susie. My coworker -- whose turn it was to be in charge of birthday cake, but does not bake -- commissioned me to do this for her. It didn't turn out quite like I wanted, but Susie loved it and that is all that matters.

The idea was Suji's (the non baker). She had a small Avalanche hockey stick that she let me borrow to use as a guide for the hockey stick cake. I made two nine inch rounds for the large "puck" and then a sheet cake for the hockey stick. I had planned on using burgundy and blue somehow on the cake but ran into trouble with the food coloring. I bought some of the Wilton's paste but, having never used it before, ran into problems with it making the icing taste like chemicals. It was bad. So Suji brought an Avalanche throw she has and we set the cake plate on it so the team would be well represented. Like I said, Susie loved it.

Colorado Avalanche Car Magnets
(Set of 2)

Colorado Avalanche Socks Three Pair Pack

Joe Sakic Reebok NHL -Burgundy- Premier Colorado Avalanche Jersey
Small

Colorado Avalanche Ware Alpine Knit Hat

Colorado Avalanche Plush Blanket

Colorado Avalanche Team Snowman Wreath

Preston was a HUGE fan of Thomas at the time of his second birthday, hence the train cake. Mom and I used five small loaf pans for this cake, probably two cake mixes (I don't remember). One of the "cars" we trimmed down to be a little shorter than the others and then used the excess to build the "engine". Obviously we used chocolate icing and blue decorators icing. We filled the cars with whatever kind of candy we wanted, peppermints for the wheels, Twizzler pull'n'peels for the tracks and writing, marshmallows for the stacks. He loved it -- mostly ate Skittles out of the middle car there.

My mom did this one. We used the largest baking dish I have (11 x 13), and covered it in chocolate icing. We made a central grassy area with green sugar and used gum drops for color. She found same small "Cars" decorations and the flags are actually drink stirrers. He loved it.

I made two chocolate pound cakes and trimmed them down to round them some. I put one down on the plate and iced it in chocolate, using a lighter brown for the ends of the logs. I surrounded that with chocolate donut holes and then placed the second "log" on top. When I was done icing it, I used a fork to make the logs look a little more real and piled up some more donut holes for the coal. I used fruit roll ups for the flames along with some red and orange decorator's icing.

This was a simple nine inch round cake covered in light blue icing. I dug out the lake from the top before I iced it. Then covered the entire top with graham cracker crumbs (I actually had these left over from a cheesecake mix). I used goldfish crackers, fruit roll-ups cut into seaweed shapes and Hershey's little treasures for the underwater scene. On top, I used Teddy Grahams (decorated with a little decorator's icing for swimsuits), gumsticks for towels, gummy Life Saver for an intertube and pretzel sticks with real mint leaves stuck on with icing for palm trees. The "lake" is blue jello added at the very last minute. I had a great time putting this one together.

This was, of course, an Easter cake I did this year. I used a carrot cake mix (will probably try something else next year). It only takes one nine inch round to make this little guy, plus a little if you want to make the hind legs. You cut the round in half and stick the two pieces together with icing (cream cheese, preferably). You cut a small notch out of one end to make the head and stick the cut out piece on the other end to make the tail. Then ice him with white icing, cover him completely with shredded coconut, jelly beans for the eyes nose. I tinted some coconut green so he was sitting in the grass and sprinkled more jelly beans around him for decoration. His ears are simply white paper colored pink with a marker. He was super cute. But honestly, I had a heck of time icing him as the cake wanted to fall apart. Next year, I will try something else.

This was a simple sheet cake. I learned, making this cake, not to use whipped icing. I had to add so much green food coloring to make the grass that the icing was really runny. I used graham cracker crumbs for the sand pit and blue gel icing for the water. I made the flag out of toothpicks and construction paper. The golf ball is a white tic tac pushed halfway into the sand. The story was the golfer had had it and gone to the bar since he was nowhere to be found on the cake.

This last one is not my best but I could not find a raft cake online anywhere, so I feel like I should add it. I did this for my sitter's husband. I used a sheet cake and then a smaller rectangular pan I had for the raft. I did one cake yellow and one chocolate just for variety. I froze the cakes overnight so they small one would be easier to carve into a raft shape. It was not easy which is probably why there aren't any of these on the internet. Anyway, this was the end result. My sitter was happy with it and that is all that matters in the long run. Not sure I would try it again.

KitchenAid KSM150PSER Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer, Empire Red

Pyrex Smart Essentials 8-Piece Mixing Bowl Set

Progressive International 19-Piece Measuring Set

Pyrex Prepware 2-Cup Measuring Cup, Clear with Red Measurements

Norpro 8 Piece Decorating Set

Wilton Disposable 16-Inch Decorating Bags, 12 Pack