Have you browsed online for cake ideas lately. Not all of the latest and greatest cake designs are complicated. Many of these cake ideas for birthdays and other celebrations look like just plain ol' fun! And if you've visited with wedding cake designers lately, then you know that the times are a changin' in this area.



Party Cake Ideas

Whether it be a guitar for a teen musician's birthday, a ship for a going away party or a Scooby Doo cake for a child's birthday; the character or novelty cake continues to be a favorite, especially the kind that is so easily made with a mold cake pan. Character and novelty pans are sold at large craft stores and baking supply stores. You can also find them online from well- known suppliers.

We're seeing more and more castle cakes at parties now too, from Cinderella's castle to enchanting sculptures for Renaissance events.

The more unusual birthday party cakes are getting lots of attention lately, such as the volcano cake. It's not your typical chocolate lava cake that's for sure! This one steams and spews lava, thanks to dry ice and one of the fun cake recipes from the "Cake Decorating Made Easy!" Video Books.

Another unique and fun cake idea is the beach pail cake. A variation of the flowerpot cake (a fun one for a gardener or kids by the way), the beach pail cake is a big hit with toddlers who enjoy really digging into their cakes. A plastic beach pail is filled with pudding cake and topped with a thin layer of cookie crumb sand. Vanilla sandwich cookies are a good choice for this because the filling adds some moisture to the crumbs. And when the cake's "all gone" your toddler has a new toy!

Speaking of toys, doll cakes continue to please. Barbie type dolls featuring a real doll with a cake and icing dress are popular not only with young school age girls, but grown up girls as well. Creating this type of cake appeals to the fashion designer in us!

And last but not least, buttercream and royal icing roses continue to be a top request for cakes from a young girl's birthday to a grandmother's retirement party.

Wedding Cake Ideas.

The word from wedding cake designers is "Less is more." Today's bride prefers a far less ornate design. Whether classic or whimsical, understated is often preferred. Fondant continues to be a favorite cake covering because its satiny smooth finish lends itself well to the wedding cake ideas that brides are bringing to their cake decorators. Many of the more popular cake ideas are coming from an Asian influence, such as white decorations on white icing, accented lightly with red.

Popular wedding cake ideas are also influenced by the current wave of colors that are replacing the white fondant and buttercream. Ice blue, light blush, rum pink, and lavender

are providing the backgrounds for quietly elegant or whimsical decorations such as

silver polka dots, sugar crystallized fruits and daisies. Roses, orchids and lilies continue to be part of today's wedding cake ideas.

Of course, decorating alone doesn't make a great cake. Taste and texture count too!

To learn more, check out our article on cake recipes.

And here's one more cake idea: For an easy to make castle cake, use empty paper towel tubes and ice cream cones (the sugar cone variety) for the turrets. Or just the cones alone can be used. Cover them first with icing and glue with royal icing to a graduated square or round, stacked cake (use two or more graduated square pans to create the cake). Fly colorful flags off the top of the turrets. These can be made with construction paper, cut in triangular shapes and attached with icing or glue to toothpicks. If you have enough ice cone turrets to go around, you could even fill the cones with icing - that is if you do this just before serving!