Record Cake Ideas

Vinyl long-playing (LP) records are a throwback to an earlier musical era, before CDs and MP3s. Records ruled the music industry for decades and many deejays still spin LPs in this time of digital sound. Tune in to that musical nostalgia with a record-themed cake to celebrate a music-lover's birthday or a music-related event. Add this to my Recipe Box.

Traditional Vinyl Record Cake

To make a cake that looks like the traditional old-fashioned vinyl record, bake two 8- or 9-inch rounds and let them cool. Stack the two layers and frost the cake with jet black icing. You can make your own black frosting by adding black food coloring to chocolate frosting. Drag a cake decorating comb in a circle around the top of the frosted cake to create the grooves of a vinyl record. Make the record label on your computer; print it out, cut it in a circle and laminate it before placing it on the cake. You can also use a store-bought or homemade cookie for the circle. Frost it with your desired color, write a message in icing, then place it on the center of the cake.

To make a golden record, use yellow or gold icing instead of black. Add a black label in the center. Write the album title, year and its golden status on the label or on the cake box.

Turntable Cake

A turntable cake makes a fitting centerpiece for a deejay's birthday. Bake two 8-inch square cakes of any flavor and place them side by side. Frost them with white icing or another light color. Frost a circle of black icing about half an inch high in the center of each square. Use a decorating comb to create the vinyl record grooves. Create the record labels out of paper, a cookie or colored frosting. Add small silver candy balls to resemble silver dots on the side of a turntable, which indicate how fast or slow a record is playing. Use colored icing to design a power button and the handle that holds the needle.

Album Cover Cake

You can decorate a cake quickly and easily by placing an edible transfer of a favorite album cover on it. Take your idea for an album cover frosting image to a place that prints edible photos for cakes using edible printer ink and printer frosting sheets (see Resources). Prepare an image of a favorite album cover on your computer, and follow instructions from the printing company in terms of the photo's size or resolution. You can use Adobe Photoshop or another graphics editing software to add anything to the image, such as a birthday message. Bake a square cake of any flavor and place the frosting image on top of the cake after it cools.

Materials and Tips

You can use cake decorating pens to write on the record labels or add any other designs. These pens come in different thicknesses and colors. A cake decorating comb can be purchased at cake decorating supply stores; they come in different shapes and sizes but look like a regular comb used for hair. The label provides your chance to write "Happy Birthday" or any message you want on the cake. If it's your husband's 30th birthday, for example, you could write "Top 30 Hits" and his name. If it's a music-related celebration, you could put different artists' names being recognized at the party. An idea for a music lover's cake is to draw the American Idol logo on the label and write the person's name and/or a message.