Choosing a Birthday Cake for a Child's Party

Cupcakes and Ice Cream Sundaes are Dessert Alternatives for Kids

Oct 16, 2009 Caroline Post

Birthday cakes are a traditional choice for a kid's birthday party, but sometimes a cake is just not convenient. Cupcakes and ice cream sundaes are great alternatives.

Choosing a birthday cake is an important part of planning a child's birthday party. Kids love cake. Sometimes though, transporting a cake to the party location, having enough time to make and decorate a cake, or buying a cake for a good price is not always easy or convenient. Alternatives that are also quite enjoyable for birthdays are cupcakes and ice cream sundae bars.

Deciding To Buy or Make a Birthday Cake

Does the cake need to be taken to a party destination?
How easy will the travel be and how much space in the vehicle is there?
Is the temperature outside icing friendly?
How many slices of cake will be needed?
Can cake the cake be cut quickly if time is a concern?

Making the Birthday Cake:

Cake pans come in many shapes that can be bought or rented, and come with directions on decorating. This method is user friendly, but takes a bit of time to get used to piping the icing
Use a cake mix or make from scratch
Icing a cake can be fussy work depending on the temperature in the house
There area lot of web sites with great information and pictures

Buying a Birthday Cake:

Buy a cake at a bakery or supermarket. When ordering ask if they can mix up their decorating options to make a more personal cake with photos, decorating kits, color choices
Another option is to buy a cake and add light plastic toys that the child would like

Also, keep in mind the flavor of the cake. Although the birthday child is the star of the event, everyone else needs to eat the cake too. Some kids don't like a cream filling between the layers or fruit in their cake. Have other options available just in case, like ice cream, frozen treats, cookies or brownies.

Choosing an Alternative Dessert to a Birthday Cake

Cupcakes are great alternative because they are easy to transport, easy to decorate and convenient to serve. Since cupcakes are made batches at a time, a couple of flavors could be made and offered at the party. Another option is to let kids decorate their own cupcakes, which might be messy and time consuming depending where the party is, but kids do enjoy it.

An Ice cream Sundae bar is also a fun alternative to a birthday cake. Dish out the ice cream and then offer toppings, salad bar style, for the kids to add themselves. Crushed cookies, syrups, small candies, marshmallow cream and fruit are all fun choices. Have a few flavors of ice cream available.

Knowing the theme will help with choosing a birthday cake for a child's party. Answering questions about the party itself will help decide if buying or making the cake is a good idea. Remember to get the birthday child's input. Depending on the answers, it just might be time to try a birthday cake alternative with cupcakes or ice cream sundaes.

The copyright of the article Choosing a Birthday Cake for a Child's Party in Party Food is owned by Caroline Post. Permission to republish Choosing a Birthday Cake for a Child's Party in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Shaped Cake Pans are Easy to Use