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31 Incredible Birthday Cake Designs

Step-by-step recipes, designs and color pics of the easiest (and cutest) birthday cakes for boys and girls

Ingredients:

• 1 (9-inch) round cake
• 1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting
• Purple food coloring*
• Granulated white sugar
• 8 purple gumdrops
• 8 yellow gumdrops
• Yellow and purple Spree candies
• Yellow and green M&M's Minis
• 6 yellow M&M's
• 5 green gumdrops
• 1 green Twizzler

What you'll need:

• A bread knife
• A serving platter
• 1 resealable sandwich-size plastic bag (Ziploc)
• A cutting board or a clean work surface

Trimming the cakes:

1. Using a bread knife, cut the cake in half along the diameter to make 2 half circles. Cut a 1 ½-inch triangular notch from both cut sides, 2 ½ inches from the bottom (see template). Discard scraps.
2. Transfer cake to a serving platter, putting the curved edges of the cake up against each other to form the butterfly wings.

For the dark-purple and light-purple frosting:

1. Spoon ½ cup of the vanilla frosting into a bowl. Add enough food coloring to tint the frosting a dark purple. Spoon the dark-purple frosting into a resealable plastic bag.
2. Add a smaller amount of purple food coloring to the remaining vanilla frosting to tint it a lighter shade of purple. Spread the light-purple frosting over the butterfly cake and make smooth.
3. Snip a very small corner from the bag of dark-purple frosting. Pipe an outline of dark-purple frosting along the edges of the butterfly wings, as pictured.

For the butterfly-wing design:

1. Spread the granulated sugar onto a cutting board or a clean work surface. Press 4 of the purple gumdrops together and roll out.
2. Cut the rolled-out purple gumdrops into a large teardrop shape, as pictured. Repeat with the remaining purple gumdrops so you have two matching teardrop shapes.
3. Press the yellow gumdrops together in pairs. Roll out each pair of gumdrops until flat. Then cut out two 2-inch circles, two 1 ½-inch circles, and two 1-inch circles.
4. Arrange the gumdrop cutouts, M&M's, and Spree candies as pictured.

For the butterfly's body and antennae:

1. Decorate the top of the cake with the cut gumdrops and the candies as shown (see photo).
2. For the butterfly's body, arrange the green gumdrops in a line along the center where the wings meet. Cut the green licorice twist in half lengthwise and arrange as the antennae.

Cake Anatomy:

Cake Cutout: