Trying to decide on a cake for two civil engineer’s birthdays is pretty hard work– and to top it off, I am far from a great baker or decorator. My theme for one cake was clearing the land, and the other was pouring the asphalt. I utilized the kids’ toy aisle at my local big box store to jazz up the cakes along with some store-bought frosting and chocolate rocks!
To save myself time on a weeknight, I purchased a cake from a grocery store. I looked for a cake with ‘earthen layers’ so I could tie it into my theme. It was a bit more pricey, but saved me tons of time. I also purchased some butter cream frosting from the bakery. I scraped off the topping from the store-bought cake and put my frosting on the top. For the other cake, I actually baked! Well, sort of– I mixed some brownie mix and put it in the oven. The frosting was from a store-bought jar. Some clever placement of rocks hid any mistakes! Below is the Electrical Engineer’s cake that mimics a circuit board. I again purchased a store bought cake and redecorated the top. I used mentos, mini M & M’s, chocolate bar, and Mike and Ikes to create the little circuits.
After researching online, I found that I must be the only person that does not specialize in fondant and cake decorating— the cakes I found online were amazing! So harnessing my inner designer, I decided to find something within my skill set. I settled on mini cupcakes. I perused the candies/cookies aisle looking for inspiration when I came across vanilla sticks and 100 calorie sandies. I purchased premixed butter cream frosting from the bakery and decorated away! I made little ruler lines on the vanilla sticks and then put elevation tags on the sandies. The mini cupcakes were perfect when I brought them to work!
doodles, dabbles, & dreams 
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