Here is a video of how I created the shell border on the pool party cake.

Dog birthday cakes may seem kind of different and strange to many people, but in most pet lover families, pet birthday celebrations are a big event, especially dog birthdays. Birthday cakes for dogs come in all shapes and sizes. Of course, you can make one too.

If you are a pet lover, have pets and never had a birthday party for your dog or your pet; you’re really missing out on a lot of fun. You definitely need to try out celebrating your pet birthday the next time. Here are some pet and dog birthday cake tips.

The most obvious design for a dog cake is to shape the cake like a bone. How perfect for a dog birthday cake! A cake bone design can be really cute, but there are a lot of other cute cake designs you could use too such as Dalmation themed cake or even a Blue’s Clues birthday cake.

Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to make a dog cake, people will have fun with it and give the kids a few chuckles. The kids will absolutely love the idea and certainly won’t turn down the chance to munch on a funny birthday cake. Even the grownups will get into the spirit of it when they see such a cute and amusing birthday cake design for your favorite pet. It is really worth your time to bake a decorate the pet birthday cake.

Doggie cupcakes are perfect for the human guests. Frost cupcakes in white frosting. Use mini oreo cookies for the ears, and pipe the face with buttercream.

Don’t forget the dog. The dog needs to eat as well. The perfect cake for a dog is meatloaf style cake, frosted with a savory mashed potato frosting. It is a little time consuming, but it will all be worth it.

Bow Wow Birthday Cake
4 lbs ground turkey
3 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup mince parsley
2 eggs
3 Tbsp chopped garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/3 c whole wheat flour

4 cups cooked mashed potatoes
Beet juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ground turkey, brown rice, carrots, celery and parsley in large bowl. Add eggs, garlic olive oil and vanilla and mix. Stir in baking powder and whole wheat flour.

Place in a lightly greased 9×13 pan, or 2 9×3 inch round pans. I liked using the 9×3 pans as it looks more like cake.

Bake for approximately 1 1/2 hours until cooked and crisp on top. Turn out of pan and cool.

Frost with 3 1/2 cups of the mashed potatoes. To decorate or write on the cake, add beet juice to 1/2 cup of the potatoes and place in a piping bag. Pipe decorations as you would on a regular cake.
Bake your meatloaf with dog eating in mind. You can scoop out the meat into a cupcake type of holder for the dog. Or, shape the meatloaf into a bone. Of course, you need to ice the cake. For your dog, mashed potatoes will make the perfect meatloaf cake frosting.

My pup loved this cake!

Fancy cake writing has become a hobby among people. It feels great to design a cake by yourself for special occasions. While making a birthday cake, most people write a message in icing on the cake. To get fancy, computer typed messages can be placed beneath the waxed paper before placing the chocolate mix over it. Then, transfer the baking pan to the freezer for about 20-30 minutes until the chocolate is set. Remove from the freezer and gently peel your letters and decorations from the wax paper and place on your frosted cake.

Letters and shapes don’t need to just be laid flat either. You can create some fun by standing some up on end or making crazy stacks for your cake design! Lettering, decorations, and candle-holder placement while writing on a cake can be tough if you want to squeeze in a long message on a short cake. Practice writing small letters. You can also trace the cake pan, and then use that template to map out where you want your various cake decorations to go. The secret to cake decorating like a professional is having the right equipment, and practice to get the perfect fancy cake writing

Chill the cake between the filling and the frosting so that the cake is much easier to work with. You can apply a thin layer of frosting to the cake then refrigerate until it is set before applying the final, heavier layer of frosting. This will seal in the crumbs, ensuring a clean final appearance of the cake.

If you end up baking a cake which has a very uneven top, where one side may be much taller than the other. There are several reasons that can cause these results. Here are just a few:

If you are baking more than one pan in the oven, you may not have adequate air circulation. If the side of the pans are touching or too close you can get results like this. When you poured the batter into the pan, you may not have tapped it down or spread it out to make sure that it was evenly distributed across the bottom. These cake mistakes create uneven cakes.

Your oven may be heating unevenly which will produce an uneven cake. You will need to test this by placing pieces of bread across every inch of rack space with your oven set at 300 degrees. After a few minutes start keeping a close eye on the bread. Are any pieces browning faster than others? Once your test is complete (before the bread starts burning) turn off the heat of your oven and open the door to let cool a bit. Using a pair of tongs remove the bread. Your oven or the racks may not be level. While the oven is cool grab a common level to check and see if your oven is truly level.

Picking the right pan for making a cake is also important. If you are baking pies and breads, use a dark pan which will aid in browning the crusts better. When baking cookies or cakes, use a shiny pan. This will help prevent over darkening of the bottoms and sides. And if you decide to use a glass pan, don’t forget to reduce your oven temperature by 25 degrees. You may also want to check for doneness a few minutes before the timer goes off. Make sure you used the right size pan. The uncooked mixture should fill the pan by no more than two-thirds.

For my son’s YMCA Indian Guides Holiday Bowling Party, I decided to make a Penguin cake that I saw online. I made a chocolate cake with oreo cookie filing. The decorated top was all edible buttercream icing, fondant and ice cream sugar cones for the trees.

Click here to read the article and see pictures of the penguin decorated holiday cake.

For my son’s YMCA Indian Guides Holiday Bowling Party, I decided to make a Penguin cake that I saw online. I made a chocolate cake with oreo cookie filing. The decorated top was all edible with buttercream icing, fondant and ice cream sugar cones for the trees.

Here is the final cake as I put it together in the bowling alley.

To read how I put this together, view the full post.

To make the chocolate holiday cake, I began about 10 days before the party by making the fondant and shaping the penguins. To make the wings on the penguins, I used a small leaf cookie cutter. All other pieces of the penguin were hand shaped.

For the igloo entrance, I used paper rolls, ok, toilet paper rolls, for its shape. Cover the paper roll in parchment. Then, cover the paper roll with a piece of fondant. Cut fondant squares using a pizza cutter to create straight, even edges. Begin placing the squares on the paper roll, covering completely. Let dry for at least 4 days.

To bake the chocolate penguin party cakes. I used a 10 inch round pan for the base and half of a ball pan for the main igloo piece. In the middle of the base, I used oreo cookie filling. Making the filling was fun for the kids. We bought a package of Oreos and I let the kids mash them up. We then added the oreos to white buttercream.

Frost the 10 inch cake with white buttercream. Since the igloo can get heavey, I placed three wooden dowels in the 10 inch in the spot the igloo would go. Place the igloo cake on top and frosted that as well. To make the empty pond, I scooped out a little bit of cake then frosted the hole in the cake.

Next, I built the igloo by adding square fondant pieces all around the igloo. As you go up the igloo, the squares will have to be adjusting according to the shape of the igloo. Some might be more triangluar shaped, or have to be cut a little to completely cover the igloo.

To make the treees, I used sugar ice cream cones, I piped the trees using tip 16.

Finally, dust the cake and trees with a little powdered sugar for the snow.

The pond is filled with piping gel tinted blue. The fish is made of fondant.

Finally, at the bowling alley, I added all the penguins for the final holiday cake.

Now that the holidays are upon us once more, many of you are baking, baking, baking and decorating. Whether your creating holiday cupcakes, a Christmas cake or Hanukkah dessert, most of us are busy in the kitchen.





Here is a simple, but cute snowman dessert for your holiday or Christmas party that takes very little time to create.

Ingrediants:

• Marshmallows (marshmellow)
• Tootsie Rolls
• Fruit Roll (choice of colors)
• Round Sugar Cookies
• Frosting
• Food dye marker

Frost your round sugar cookie with white icing. Take one marshmallow and place it on the center of the cookie on the icing. Put a small dab of icing and place it on top of the marshmallow. Now, place a second marshmallow on top of the first. Once the icing dries, both marshmallows should stay firmly in place.

To make the snowman treat hat, unwrap the tootsie roll and roll it around in the palms of your hands. As it warms up, it will become pliable, like playdough. Roll out a tootsie roll so that it is flat and round. Take a second tootsie roll and cut it in half. Place the cut piece on tip of the round piece. The two tootsie roll pieces will stick together, so no icing is needed between the two. Place a dab of icing on top of the snowman’s head and place the hat on top. You’re almost done with your holiday snowman dessert.

Now, cut a small piece of your fruit roll and wrap it around the middle of the snowman for a scarf. Using your food coloring marker, draw a face and you’re done. Sprinkle a little white sugar sparkles (white sprinkles) around the snowman and on the tootsie roll hat. This snowman treat makes a great centerpiece for parties. And, of course, kids will love you for it.

You have the cake ready. A greeting or message on the cake, depending on the occasion, gives the extra personal touch to the cake design; this is the finishing touch to the cake. Writing a message on the cake for the first time may be little tough, but with practice it becomes simple and easy. Before writing on the cake, it is very important to know the likes and taste of the person for whom the cake is intended for, so that a creative and appropriate message can be written on the cake. Of course, a simple message is always appreciated, and usually much shorter and easier to write.

If you are a novice in cake writing, don’t worry, here are some handy tips and advice to make you an expert in cake writing.

Try to use a small piping bag when piping letters or numbers, a small piping bag is easy to hold and gives you more control. It also helps when writing on a small cake surface to not hold something so bulky.

If you are a nervous person and your hand shakes while piping, the best thing is to tuck your elbow against your body and support the piping bag with your other hand.

To write a name in the center, count the number of letters in the name and divide it into two, then pipe them both sides from a central point. For example, for the name Joe, find the center of the cake and write “o” right in the middle. Then, write the “J” to the left of the “o”. Finally, write the “e”. The word should be nicely centered on the cake.

For complex names or a large amound of writing, prewrite the words on the decorated cake. To do this, using a toothpick, lightly write the words directly to the icing on the top of the cake. If you mess up, you can easily smooth out the error. Once you have the words where you want them, you can now pipe over them easily.

Hint: for left handers, write backwards to avoid smudging the frosting on the cake.

A birthday is a special occasion for the whole family to celebrate. Birthday cake has always been and always will be an important and integral part of happy birthday celebrations. No birthday party celebration is complete without blowing out the birthday candles and cutting a decorated cake. As the old saying goes “you are never to old to celebrate your birthday”. Every birthday is an occasion to be celebrated by both kids and adults alike. Decorating your childs birthday cake makes the occasion much more special.

Around the world, kids birthday parties are celebrated with great fanfare. Every child looks forward their birthday party, since this is the day where their every wish is fulfilled. If that’s not the case, the top things they look forward to are their friends, presents and cake.

There are huge numbers of cake options available for you to create. Your choices come in almost any conceivable shape with options of various flavors, fillings and toppings. Creating your child’s birthday cake is only limited by your imagination. The tools available for just about any level of decorating experience is amazing today.

Choosing the right birthday cake for your child can be really challenging. It is very important to know what theme your child likes, and do remember with time, every child fancies and likes change, therefore it is necessary for every parent to be aware of their kids’ interests.

The most exciting and enthralling part of a kid’s birthday party is the birthday cake. Cake cutting is the moment when your child is the focus of everyone, is the center of attraction and this is the moment which is cherished and talked by everyone for the days to come.

Such hints and tips for birthday cake: chocolate, strawberry, swirls, ice cream and confetti cake are all popular.

Cake decorating is big business nowadays. With time, trends in decorating cakes have changed. Once upon a time, seeing a decorated cake was a very rare occasion. Most of the time, people would bake a cake, ice the cake with store bought frosting and put on a few candles. Today, one can see a variety of decorated cakes at every party. We not only see decorated cakes at birthdays, weddings and traditional events, but, we also see decorated cakes for just about any occasion. It might be the soccer team end of year party, a school event or anything else which we never use to see cake or decorations at before.

Decorating a cake is unique for specific occasions, be it wedding cake, birthday cake, corporate cake or anniversary cake. Each cake you make should have its own unique blend of style and color. Cake decoration symbolically represents the emotions and message of the occasion. Cakes are being used as desserts and also as medium of communication and celebration today.

Personalization of cakes is the latest trend in cake decorating. One can decorate a cake with 3D figures of their choice, you can use just about any color, and, you can have just about anything you desire on a cake. During football games, you can decorate a cake with a football theme, even piping on the team logo.

Decorating cakes and personalizing them give it the added human and personal touch. It help to build strong relationships. So the next time you plan to decorate a cake, don’t neglect to give that extra touch considering the person or the occasion.