Beach Birthday Cake

by Shiri
(Cincinnati, OH)

A couple of months before my son's first birthday, we spent a week at the beach. He was so excited by the water and sand that I decided to make a beach cake for his first birthday.

It was a chocolate cake, baked in a half-sheet pan. I made two layers and used simple buttercream in the center. I also used buttercream to ice the cake. I colored the buttercream icing a very light shade of brown.

I then took some left over white cupcakes and dried them up in the oven. Using a food processor, I created "sand". I used piping gel, coloring it blue.

The beach toys, towel and umbrella were made of gum paste and the lighthouse and sea shells were made of chocolate. I brushed the shells with different colors luster dust to give them a more real look.

Editor's Note: Thanks for sending this in, Shiri. It's a great cake and it's easy to see that a lot of creativity (and love) went into making it!