The centerpiece of any birthday celebration is the birthday cake. It not only serves to feed the celebrants, but can also carry the party theme onto the dessert table. This guide to how to make a birthday cake will help you create a cake that will be the hit of the party!

The centerpiece of any birthday celebration is the birthday cake. It not only serves to feed the celebrants, but can also carry the party theme onto the dessert table. This guide to how to make a birthday cake will help you create a cake that will be the hit of the party!

• Baking and decorating a birthday cake is an act of love and caring. Select a theme that reflects the honoree, and pick a recipe that they will enjoy. make sure to display the cake throughout the celebration, so it will serve as a decoration as well as a dessert.

(Creative Commons photo by Samdogs)

• Before deciding on a recipe, you need to have a theme. If you'll be attempting to mold a dump truck out of cake ingredients, you'll need a more substantial cake than you would for a traditional frosted layer cake. Think about the guest of honor to determine an appropriate theme.

1. You can use a favorite color as a theme.
2. Does the birthday boy or girl (or man or woman!) have any particular hobbies or interests?
3. Is this a special "number" birthday, such as 16, 30 or 100?
4. Has the guest requested a particular theme?

• There are a number of things that go into selecting a recipe for cake and frosting. The most important is whether or not the honoree will like it! So, make sure you consider their tastes first. After you have an idea of what they like, you also need to consider a few other factors.

1. Do any of the guests have special dietary needs?. If its a child's party, and one of the guests has a peanut allergy, you'll want to make sure that you exclude nut products from the cake and decorations.
2. Will the cake hold up to what you want it to do? Molded and shaped cakes need to be based on a dense recipe; and angel food cake doesn't cut and stack well, for example.
3. If it's a recipe you've never tried before, you'll want to make it once before the big day, to make sure it comes out as planned.
4. Sometimes using or altering a packaged cake mix, can produce great results.

• Google Images: Birthday Cake

• Family Fun: Birthday & Celebration Cakes

• Betty Crocker: Best Birthday Cakes

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• Introduction
• Step 1: Decide on a Theme
• Step 2: Select a Recipe
• Step 3: Birthday Cake Ideas