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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 (8-inch) round cake
• 1 can (16 oz) chocolate frosting
• 1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting
• Yellow food coloring
• 1 large box chocolate-coated wafer cookies
• 2 large marshmallows
• 4 thin pretzel sticks or Pringles Stix
• 10 yellow M&M's Minis

What you'll need:

• A bread knife
• A long serving platter
• 3 resealable sandwich-size plastic bags (Ziploc)
• The lid of a frosting can or a large round biscuit/cookie cutter

Trimming the cake:

1. Using a bread knife, make a 2 ¾–inch-deep curved cut from one edge of the 9-inch cake so that you can nestle the 8-inch cake into the cut area for the guitar's body (see template).
2. Transfer the cakes to a serving platter. Secure cakes together with some chocolate frosting.

For the white, beige, and brown frosting:

1. Spoon ¼ cup of the vanilla frosting into a resealable plastic bag.
2. Spoon ½ cup of the chocolate frosting into a resealable plastic bag.
3. Add 2 tsp of chocolate frosting and a few drops of yellow food coloring to the remaining vanilla frosting. Mix well to achieve the guitar top's blond-wood color.

Frosting the cake:

1. Spread the sides of the cakes with the remaining chocolate frosting.
2. Spread the top of the cakes with the beige frosting.
3. Press the lid of the frosting can into the center of the guitar body to create a round outline for the guitar's sound hole.
4. Snip a very small corner from the bag of chocolate frosting. Pipe the circular area you've just marked on the cake with chocolate frosting and fill in.

For the guitar neck:

1. Arrange a row of 8 chocolate-coated wafer cookies above the top of the cake for the guitar neck. Pipe some chocolate frosting on top of this row; add another layer of chocolate wafers. Pipe more chocolate frosting on top.
2. Cut the marshmallows in half, crosswise. Insert a pretzel stick into the curved side of each marshmallow half to make the tuning keys. Place 2 of the marshmallow sticks on either side of the top of the guitar neck, securing with chocolate frosting.
3. Add the third layer of chocolate-coated wafer cookies on top.

For the strings:

1. Place one of the chocolate-coated wafer cookies onto the lower third of cake, underneath the sound hole (see photo).
2. Snip a very small corner from the bag of untinted vanilla frosting. Pipe 6 lines of vanilla frosting from the top of the neck to the chocolate-coated wafer cookie near the bottom of the cake for the guitar strings.
3. Add the yellow M&M's Minis to the end of each guitar string.

Cake Anatomy:

Cake Cutout: