Posts Tagged ‘cakes’

Ancient Greek Vase Cake

Monday, October 31st, 2016

Greek-vase-cake

If you are studying Ancient Greece, why not make an Ancient Greek vase cake? It’s super easy to make, and your kids can pay closer attention to the artwork on Greek vases.

First we baked a chocolate rectangular cake. We grabbed a piece of cardboard and covered it with foil, taping it down in the back. Then we placed the cake upside-down on a cutting board and cut the shape of the vase.

ancient-greece-cake

I picked up the cake and placed it on the foil. We iced the cake with chocolate frosting. Then we mixed some skin color icing by putting a couple of drops of yellow and red into white frosting until the shade was right.

Now comes the fun part. I placed the icing into a plastic bag and cut a hole in the corner. I decorated the vase with various patterns. We have a Greek vase, so I looked at the vase while I was working. If you don’t have a Greek vase, you can look up a picture online and print it out.

The figures can be a thick version of stick figures, and you can make stripes or other patterns across the cake. If you want to play with different patterns on construction paper first, you can do this art activity:

This Ancient Greek vase cake is a perfect finale for a Greek feast. Here is a video demonstration of a Greek feast we celebrated as a family:

For more hands-on activities for Ancient Greece, including unit studies on Greek mythology, The Iliad, and The Odyssey, join the Unit Study Treasure Vault!

Clock Cake

Friday, October 28th, 2016

clock-cake

If you have a friend who loves math, or someone who is constantly late and you want to give them a hint to start being on time, then you can bake this fabulous clock cake.

To make this super cute cake, you will need two round cake pans. I used one cake mix box. You can bake whatever flavor you want. When the cake is cool, place the cake on a plate, cover it with cellophane, and put it in the fridge. A cake is always easier to frost when it has been in the refrigerator.

Frost the cake with white frosting. If you want to be fancy, you can put strawberry jam in between the two layers. Then grab some Hershey’s kisses, turn them upside-down, and use one for the center of the clock. Place one on the top, one on the bottom, one on the right, and one on the left. Then place two Hershey’s kisses equidistantly between the others, so that you have twelve kisses going around the clock where the numbers should be.

Grab some Fruit by the Foot or other Fruit Roll-up-type candy. Cut out the arrow hands with scissors and place them on the cake. Then put a “ribbon” of Fruit by the Foot around the entire cake to give it a polished look. Now your clock cake is complete. Enjoy!

Calculator Cake

Wednesday, October 26th, 2016

calculator-cake

This calculator cake is super easy to make and is perfect for a nerd, a math teacher, or anyone who enjoys math. All you do is bake a rectangular cake in whatever flavor you want. We placed the cake on a piece of cardboard lined with foil and taped at the back. Then we frosted the cake with chocolate frosting.

We used white icing for the top rectangle, which is where numbers show up on the screen of the calculator. If you’re clever, you can put some numbers into that rectangle. (For example, 4+4 or something along those lines.) You can find candy numbers in the baking aisle of a grocery store or in the cake supply aisle of a craft store.

I left the screen blank because the calculator is off. We used Sweet Tarts for the buttons of the calculator, but you could use any round candy that is about the same size.

Now your calculator cake is complete. Give it so someone you love and stand back and watch the amazement in their eyes as you present them with an edible calculator!

math-cake

If you enjoyed making this calculator cake, you will probably also like these hands-on math activities:

Airplane Cake

Friday, October 21st, 2016

airplane-cake

I’m going to show you how to make this cool airplane cake. My son recently had an airplane-themed birthday party, and we placed his model airplane in the middle of the table on top of some sand as the centerpiece for the table.

We baked a rectangular cake and up-ended it on a cutting board. I cut out the shape of an airplane. The wings weren’t long enough, so the cake that was cut out of the sides–I used this extra cake to expand the length of the wings. I also placed a triangle on the front of the plane.

airplane-party

I placed foil on an upside-down cookie sheet. Then I frosted the cake with chocolate frosting. If you want to use candy for a propeller, you can add that detail.

airplane-cake-party

We looked for an airplane piñata, but we couldn’t find one. We saw a beach ball piñata, and we covered it with blue and green tissue paper to create a world. The world, after all, is for traveling. Airplanes help people to travel around the world!

world-pinata

We covered the entire piñata with blue tissue paper first and let it dry. Then we cut out continents from green tissue paper. I outlined the continents with black Sharpie marker.

If you want to see our Airplane Unit Study, it is in the large Modern History section of the Unit Study Treasure Vault!