Posts Tagged ‘cake’

Star Wars Cake

Monday, December 14th, 2015

star-wars-cake

For my son Stephen’s 14th birthday, I made him a Star Wars cake–or to be more precise, a Darth Vader cake! I started with a simple rectangular cake. I baked it the previous day and cooled it overnight in the refrigerator.

I googled “Darth Vader” and tried to find a simple silhouette of his head so that I could cut out the shape with a knife. I cut the cake little by little until it was the perfect shape of Darth Vader’s head.

I found a piece of cardboard in the recycle bin in my garage, and I cut it slightly larger than the cake. I taped foil to the cardboard to make a base for the Darth Vader cake.

Next I grabbed the chocolate frosting. Since I didn’t want a black cake, I thought brown would be fine. I opened the frosting container and frosted the entire cake, including the sides.

Finally, I used a tube of black frosting to outline the details of Darth Vader’s face. First I outlined the outside of the cake. Then I did the forehead and eyes. Last, I did the mouth. My husband proclaimed that this Star Wars cake was one of my best cakes of all time!

princess-leia

We decorated the dining room table by throwing a dark blue sheet over it. Next we crossed two toy light sabers in the middle of the table. Last, we scattered star confetti and Star Wars paper chain links that we got at a party supply store.

While watching a movie marathon of Star Wars movies on DVD, I braided my daughter’s hair like Princess Leia. She looks so cute, don’t you think?

Italy Cake

Monday, September 28th, 2015

Italy-cake

When you are studying Ancient Rome, why not make an Italy cake? Kids always enjoy eating their homework, and what better way to learn geography than to have your cake and eat it, too?

Bake a chocolate cake in a rectangular pan according to the directions on the package. Let the cake cool by placing it into the refrigerator. Cakes are easier to cut when they are cold. Cut the shape of Italy out of a rectangular cake pan. You will need to look at a map of Italy to make sure you get the shape right.

chocolate-italy-cake

Next you will want to get a cookie sheet. Place two pieces of light blue construction paper on the bottom of the cookie sheet to represent the water of the Mediterranean Sea. Put cling wrap over top of the blue construction paper so that the cake doesn’t soak through the paper.

cookie-sheet

Pick up the cake with a couple of spatulas (or with your bare hands) and place it on the cookie sheet. If you want, you can leave it like this. Otherwise you can frost the cake with green frosting. (Tint white frosting green with food coloring.) You can add other embelishments like mountain ranges with chocolate chips, rivers with blue frosting, etc.

italy-cake-2

Now you can enjoy eating your Italy cake!

To see more hands-on activities for Ancient Egypt, join the Unit Study Treasure Vault!

Modern History: 1950’s Party

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015

modern-history:1950s-party

If you are studying modern history, you might want to throw a 1950’s party! You will want to grab some poodle skirts from a local costume shop (or at a yard sale!) Match those pink poodle skirts with white or pink shirts, and you will have a 1950’s look. The men can wear white T-shirts and jeans. They can slick back their hair with jell, while the women can wear a pony tail or two. Ribbons can be wrapped around the pony tails.

If you have a 1950’s diner where you live, you can go out for a hamburger and a malt. Back when I lived in California, I took my dad to the local 1950’s malt shop. Unfortunately Eastern Washington does not have a 1950’s diner, but you could create a similar ambience in your home.

If you want to make your dining room into a malt shop, that can be fun. Back when I was in college, my friends threw a 1950’s-themed murder mystery party, and the entire downstairs was transformed. Use your imagination.

How to Make a 1950’s Jukebox Cake

1950s-jukebox-cake

If you are throwing a 1950’s birthday party, you will want to have a cake. My dad loved the 1950’s, so I made him a jukebox cake for his birthday. I started with a long rectangular pan, and I baked a chocolate cake. I rounded the top part of the cake, and I frosted it with chocolate frosting.

Next I mixed some white vanilla frosting with some food coloring to make yellow, red, and gray frosting. I put each in a ziplock bag and cut off a hole in the corner to place the icing where I wanted it. I make an outer arc of red and an inner arc of yellow. I flattened it out with a table knife.

I made a red rectangle with yellow bars across it for the speaker. Then I used gray frosting for the bottom of the arcs and the bottom part of the jukebox. I cut two Peppermint Patties to place on the top and middle of the cake in the configuration shown in the picture. I used red M&M’s as embellishments.

When we lit the candles, it looked like the jukebox was lit up from the inside!

1950’s Music

You can find plenty of 1950’s music on YouTube, and you can play it in the background of your 1950’s party. One of the most famous songs of the 1950’s was “Rock Around the Clock” by Haley and the Comets. Watch the fun 1950’s dancing and the styles of clothing back then:

Have fun throwing your very own 1950’s party!

World Cake

Monday, April 6th, 2015

world-cakeIf you’ve ever wanted to excite your children about geography, why not make a world cake? It’s super easy!

Just bake a round cake in any flavor (I prefer chocolate). Get some white frosting. You will want to get two containers so that you don’t have to scrimp.

You will be frosting the entire cake with blue frosting, so one whole frosting container should be tinted blue with cake icing tint, which you can get at party stores and even some craft stores. Frost the cake.

Now open the second icing container and tint it green. Looking at a globe or a world map, grab a table knife and outline the shape of the continents on the blue icing, making a ridge. Now fill in the ridge with green icing.

It’s easier if you put the green icing into a ziplock bag (not a cheap bag that will pop and leave your hands green for a week). Snip a small hole in one corner of the bag, and outline the continents before filling them in. Depending on the look you want, you can use a table knofe to smooth the green continents.

Now your world cake is complete. This is a perfect cake for a themed party about geography, world travel, missions, or airplanes.

If you enjoyed making this world cake, you will love Living Geography: Travel the World from your Living Room.