Cheap & Unique Cakes for Kids

You've certainly seen the elaborately decorated cakes in the displays at bakeries and even in supermarkets, and maybe you've considered how much your child would enjoy a fancy cake. But these cakes can be costly, especially if you have a lot of children attending a party and need a large cake. Packaged cake mixes are affordable, so you can make a cake at home and try out these unusual decorating ideas as an alternative to buying lots of icing colors, pastry bags or specially shaped cake pans.

Cake in a Bowl

After you have mixed it up, pour the cake batter into a glass bowl and bake it on a slightly lower heat for longer than the package recommends. One cake mix will usually yield two "bowl" cakes. When they're done, you will have really unusual cakes that you can make into a ball, a child's face, a globe or planet. You could leave the two halves separated and make them into sand dunes by crushing up wafer cookies for sand or into bugs with licorice antennae.

Monkey Brownies

Instead of a cake, make some brownies either from a mix or from scratch. Spread a thin layer of creamy peanut butter over the brownies. If you do this while they are still a little warm, the peanut butter will spread more thinly. Cut up a banana and place the slices all over the top of the brownies. A regular sheet cake will work for this as well, but the brownies are a little stiffer and easier to cover with peanut butter. You might already have everything you need in the cupboards for this cake.

Undecorated Sheet Cake

If you are hoping for a cheap kids' cake that you don't have to bake yourself, you'll have to search for something a little higher in price, but you don't have to go too far. The same bakeries that sell the cakes with complicated buttercream designs will often sell you a sheet cake that is undecorated for much less than one they had to decorate themselves. This way you don't have to bake the cake, and you can add inexpensive embellishments. For instance, use cookies cutters or just a knife to cut out circles and stars from a couple of fruit roll-ups in a couple of colors. Then set these on a plain white sheet cake to give it some pizzaz.

Cupcake Creations

Cupcakes can be easier to dress up than a regular cake. Since they are so small, adding just one item to each one can make them stand out. Ice cupcakes in chocolate and place one gummy worm on each one for "worms in the dirt" cupcakes. Buy a small tube of red icing gel for only a couple of dollars and ice the cupcakes in vanilla; add two red curved lines on each one to make little baseballs. Even just adding two chocolate chips for eyes and five for a little smile will make a special smiling cupcake.