Super Easy Birthday Cake Decorating Ideas

Looking for an Easy Peasy Birthday Cake?

Barrel of Candy Birthday Cake

I love the words easy when it comes to cooking and if you’re talking birthday cakes then I especially love the words quick and easy and that’s what these birthday cake recipes are.

I love spending lots of time decorating birthday cakes for my daughter as I get a lot of fun out of it, but sometimes time is in short supply which is why I’ve compiled some really simple birthday (or everyday) cake ideas together.

You can use a brought cake and brought fondant for these cakes or you can make your own so let’s have a look at some cool cake ideas ……..

Going Dotty Birthday Cake

Easy Polka Dot Cake

When my daughter had her 11th birthday I made a One Direction cake for her to take to school, but that left nothing at home for us to have. I had a sponge cake left over that I was planning on freezing, but instead I thought why not make her a quick cake to share with the family after school.

I used -

• an un-iced sponge cake
• some vanilla frosting (left over from her other cake)
• some giant chocolate buttons
• a flake bar

With all of these ingredients and very little time I whipped up a cake that impressed hubby, daughter and myself ..... it also tasted good. The only drawback is now I think dd expects two cakes every year!!

Chocolate Button & Flake Cake

I basically covered the sponge with vanilla frosting and randomly stuck the chocolate buttons on the side of the cake - you could have stuck them on the top for a truly dotty cake, but as I had a flake bar I decided to use this on top. Flakes are supposed to just crumble, but as you can see there are some 'clumps' of flake in places, but I didn't say it would look perfect!

If you wanted to you could use chocolate or strawberry frosting along with white chocolate buttons all over the cake - it really is a very simple idea to use if you're caught short and need a cake quickly!

Of course this was made using a brought sponge and frosting, but you can use a home made cake and frosting if you wanted to - I was just trying to produce a cake as painlessly as possible!

Barrel of Lollies Birthday Cake

Easy & Colorful Cake

This cake is best for a layered birthday cake and will take a little more time than the polka dot cake, but is just as easy. The result, however, is stunning as you can see in the picture.

In order to make this cake I again brought all of the ingredients to prove that it really could be made of entirely store brought ingredients and still be a huge hit.

Supplies

• 2 un-iced sponges (my supermarket sells them in a double pack which is handy)
• 1 tub of vanilla icing
• Kit kats
• Smarties
• Piece of ribbon that’s long enough to be tied around the finished cake

Ingredients for Barrel of Smarties Cake

Now I've got some photos below which show you each step as we go, so be sure to check them out.

First you need to take your first sponge and place it on a plate or cake stand - this is a cake that you don't want to try and lift once you've made it so what ever you're planning on serving it on that's what you need to prepare it on. Worried about making a mess? That's okay I'll give you a little tip ......

Place strips of baking paper or greaseproof paper around your plate or cake stand and place your cake on it. This will protect the surface from icing etc and can be pulled out once the cake is finished

Once you've placed the first sponge onto your plate you just need to add frosting to the top and then place your second sponge on top. For this cake you actually don't need to worry about the top being flat which is good.

Now you need to add frosting to the top of the second sponge as well as to the sides of the cake. The frosting isn't going to be seen so you don't have to worry about keeping it really smooth, just make sure it covers the whole surface.

Now you’ll need to get your Kit Kats (this is the most time consuming part of the cake), you’re basically standing them up and sticking them onto the frosting all the way around so that it looks like the side of a wooden barrel. The number of kit kats you need will depend on the size of your sponge (mine used up about 30 'fingers' I think).

The next step is to pour in the M&Ms or Smarties - I used Smarties in this cake because they were on special! You need to make sure that they totally cover the frosting on the top, but how deep you want to make them is totally up to you. We used about 200 grams, but it was very generous!

My final touch was to add some ribbon around the outside of the cake, to be honest I'm not sure it really needed that, but I had a nice dotty design of ribbon which I thought would look good!

I think this is a great cake and it certainly has the wow factor.

This really is a gorgeous looking cake that will impress your children no end and as you can see it's very, very easy to make. There is one question that does get asked however and that's - how do you cut and serve this cake without making a big mess?

After I made it first I did think uh oh, but it actually wasn't too bad! You need to cut between the Kit Kat fingers and use a cake slice to lift each piece out. You will lose a few smarties, but not as many as you'd imagine (and we always have a lot of them on there!), if your kids are anything like the ones I've baked cakes for they'll love to see you lose some anyway and will be hanging around like seagulls at a beach picnic looking for stray ones.

I came across another variation of the Kit Kat Barrel of Lollies cake recently and seeing the picture it looks very easy to make indeed.

Basically follow the directions above from steps 1 through to 4 and then for the fifth step use six Kit Kat fingers to 'divide' the cake and add a large chocolate in the middle (they've used a Ferrero Rocher).

Next fill each 'slice' with chocolates of your choice from m&ms through to maltesers. You could even just use Smarties or M&Ms, but use different colored ones in the different 'slices'.

It does look really good doesn't it? My daughter is already trying to think of what different types of candy she'd like next time I make her a cake!

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