With the average price of a store bought cake around $20, you can quickly eat up your birthday party budget. For just a few dollars, you can make a cake that tastes fresher and is from the heart. Growing up, I loved it when my mom took the time to make me a special cake. I will admit, I’ve not done this as often for my own children. I’m not that handy in the kitchen but I’m trying to learn.
When I was contacted about the Birthday Planning section on BettyCrocker.com, I was excited browsing around the site. There are so many creative party ideas like a Dinosaur Party, Rubber Ducky Party, and a cute Winter Party, which even non-creative cake making people like me can make. Each Party Theme includes ideas to coordinate with your theme. For example, the Green Dinosaur theme suggests making “Roaring Tyrannosaurus ‘Wiches”, cutting out dinosaur footprints for invitations, making a lifesize dinosaur out of cardboard for decorations, and staging a “fossil” hunt for a game. It is like your personal party planner – all for free. Many of the cake recipes have video tutorials to help you on your cake making journey.
So my mission was to make the Purse Cake. It has a nice video tutorial along with it. However, I did not see this until after I made my cake. Oops! It is about 2-3 minutes long and shows exactly how to make this cake. It gives some helpful hints not included in the actual recipe – like putting a “crumb” layer of frosting on the cake, freezing it for an hour, and then putting the final layer of frosting on the cake. I highly recommend watching the tutorials before attempting your cake.
I had almost everything for this cake already on hand. Basic ingredients like Cake Mix, (1) Egg, oil, water, frosting, and candy to accessorize. (Of course, one of the kiddos wanted in the picture!)
Let’s run down the costs:
- $1 Betty Crocker Cake Mix (These go on sale for $1 frequently but there aren’t usually many coupons for the cake mix.)
- 40¢ Betty Crocker Frosting (This is one of the lowest prices I’ve found with coupons. These do go on sale for $1 frequently)
- $2 ? Candy Decorations (this is a estimate – BettyCrocker.com recommends buying individual candy from the candy bins to save on candy costs! Great idea as it would be much more expensive to buy a whole bag of candy just to use a few pieces to decorate.)
- 10¢ 1 Egg
- 10¢ 3/4 c. Oil
Total: $3.60
Savings of at least $16.40 for making this cake instead of purchasing a store bought cake.
What I’m getting ready to show you is only my second homemade decorated cake, so judge accordingly. I’m not Martha Stewart – just a mom with limited baking skills who was never involved in 4-H. I also didn’t have any green licorice, which I would have purchased if I was really making this for a party. I used whatever candy we had on hand to decorate. This was just a test run and I know the next time I will have a better idea how to do it.
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Thank you so much for the picture of the purse cake–my daughter needs to know to not expect the picture on the Betty Crocker page because I’m not that good AND we won’t be buying a bunch of specific candy when we have so much from Christmas! She does love the purse idea and we’re gonna start tomorrow!
Great job! I won’t buy store-bought cakes when it’s so easy to make one at home. In the interest of full disclosure, I must also say my sister is the decorator most of the time. She really enjoys it and has made Elmo, Blue’s Clues, Incredibles, Barbie, princess castle, Backpack (Dora), a Lego brick and a pirate cake. The next birthday is High School Musical so she is going to make a Wildcat from the logo on the back of my daughter’s friend’s coat. That will be another (fun) challenge!
Good job!
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My kids love when I make their cakes…they can’t wait to wake up in the morning to see their cake! We have had Dora, a 4-wheeler, circus train, Barbie (X2), spiderman…Every year they get a little bit more difficult, but my skills seem to improve! I found the less perfect they need to be, the better they end up looking! I’m certainly not a cake decorator, but if you ever need any help, look me up!
Another easy way to do the homemade cake thing is cupcakes in a shape. We have so many nieces and nephews (20, plus our 4 kids) that cupcakes are sometimes the way to go for the little ones. Either mini cupcakes or regular. I’ve just personally made a flower out of the shapes, but our WalMart bakery does a lot with cupcake cakes. Occasionnally I will buy off their discount rack if they have just the right toy/decoration on them (they freeze well, too), but never full price!!
Great job! I always make my boys’ birthday cakes…since my mom always made mine. Plus, I can’t spend that much on a cake that doesn’t taste nearly as good as a homemade cake :-). I’m lucky, though, that my mom is retired from her wedding cake business…so I got to watch her in action when I was little (even though she was just learning too back then).