Using simple flavors and ingredients can help you keep your birthday cake under budget.
Cake is the quintessential element of every birthday party, but it does not have to be expensive to be breathtaking. Simple inexpensive flavors are sometimes the most nostalgic and comforting treats. Decorations can be kept simple with butter cream, dyes and even candy accents that fit within your budget. Careful execution can make even the simplest cake stand out. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Evaluate the need. Before designing or planning a birthday cake, evaluate how many people it needs to feed, as well as what type of cake is desired by the person having the birthday. If the cake must feed 10 to 15 people, then the best option financially is to create a sheet cake. Sheet cakes have a larger amount of surface area and are shorter than round cakes. Consequently, the actual cake substance is spread out farther and can be divided into smaller pieces to accommodate more people. Sheet cakes, though not as glamorous as round cakes, can be covered with frosting, designs and written messages.
2. Keep the flavoring simple. Chose basic cake flavors, such as vanilla or chocolate, that easily can be made with affordable vanilla extract or cocoa powder. Lemon and orange zest are also powerful-but-simple ingredients that can add an inexpensive boost to your cake. Frosting flavors should also be kept simple. Rely on extracts instead of fresh ingredients, which tend to be costlier.
3. Make your own cake batter and frosting. Flour, eggs, oil and baking powder are inexpensive items, and many of them are probably already present in your pantry. Making a cake from scratch takes more work, but it is generally less expensive than purchasing multiple boxes of cake mixes that still require you to add ingredients. Homemade frosting is generally less expensive than packaged frosting. Butter cream frosting is the most economic as it requires only butter, icing sugar and extract, such as vanilla.
4. Incorporate creative elements. Magnificent cakes can be created out of simple ingredients -- such as vanilla cake and butter cream -- as long as you add creativity to the mix. Add food coloring to the frosting to bring color to the cake. Use a pastry bag or a plastic bag with a snipped-off corner to pipe edges, swirls or even writing onto the cake. You can also purchase inexpensive candies, sprinkles or cookies to decorate the exterior.
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