Once again I found this idea/image and instructions in what must be one of my favourite children’s birthday cake books. Although this cake is made from the traditional baked cake,  or for [...]]]>

Tonight I want to show you another birthday cake idea that I also mentioned in the beach party post, namely that of a tugboat.

Once again I found this idea/image and instructions in what must be one of my favourite children’s birthday cake books. Although this cake is made from the traditional baked cake,  or for that matter, two cakes, you can easily turn it into an ice cream cake by following the instructions in the ice cream ship cake post.

Before I tell you how to make this cute tugboat, I first have to tell you that I had a comment from a reader who outright told me that the ice cream ship cake post was not at all  interesting. Coming from somebody who has a childbirth and pregnancy site, it made me chuckle. Pregnancy and childbirth inevitably lead to kids and kids  lead to parties, right? And we all know that there must be a birthday cake at a kid’s party…

While we are on the subject of comments, why don’t you leave a comment and tell me if you like the cake idea posts? If not, what other kid’s birthday party topics would you like me to cover… more party theme ideas, ideas on what to put into a favour bag, decoration ideas, party activities/games and entertainment, invitations and thank you notes, party crafts  or anything else you want to know about birthday parties.

You, the reader of this site, are in a way my guideline for the ideas I post here and if you have a specific question or query about planning a birthday party, let me know (either by leaving a comment or using the contact form in the navigation bar) and I will do my best to find an answer for you, even if it means I have to do some research if I don’t know the answer!

With that out of the way, let me tell you how to make the tugboat.

You will need two cakes (either baked from your own favourite recipe or with 2 packet cake mixes).  Bake in  28cm x 18cm (11in x 7in) lamington pans. You will also need 1 and a half quantity butter cream icing. See recipe for butter cream icing here

Store left over icing in the fridge or you can even freeze it successfully until you need it for some cupcakes. On the day you want to use it, take it out of the freezer and leave to thaw at room temperature.

Other things you will need for the tugboat cake:

Sweets/candy for decoration

licorice allsorts
tubular licorice
1 licorice bullet
white Lifesavers
toy flag
coloured popcorn
pipe cleaners

Following the diagrams, cut the one cake as shown, to form the base layer of the tug boat.

Cut the other cake, as shown, to form the middle and top layers. Assemble the cake in layers, as shown.

Tip: Use the left over cake pieces to make chocolate truffles for the adults at the party.

Divide the butter cream in half, tint one half with yellow food colouring; halve the other portion and tint one quantity with green food colouring. Tint the other half with orange or apricot food colouring. (or colours of choice)

Cover the base of the tug boat smoothly with the yellow butter icing, cover middle layer with green and the top layer with the orange.

Cut licorice allsorts lengthwise into four, arrange around edge of boat as shown.

Press lifesavers on to middle layer to represent portholes.

Cut tubular licorice into small rounds, arrange around top layer of boat (see image).

Twist thin licorice in coil shape to represent a rope and place in the corner of the bottom layer.

Wrap thin licorice twice around a finger to represent tyres, twist pieces of pipe cleaner around tops of tyres and push the ends of the pipe cleaners into the edge of the boat as shown.

Make a flag with a piece of paper and a toothpick and position it as shown or where ever you feel the flag should be.

Make small holes in the popcorn, thread on to a pipe cleaner, insert the pipe cleaner in the licorice “funnel” to represent smoke.

Make a wheel from a thin strip of licorice, form it into a circle, make spokes with toothpicks pressed firmly into the licorice. If necessary, trim the toothpicks, depending on the size of the circle.

Position the wheel in the top layer as shown.

Idea: You can pipe the name of the birthday child on the side of the base layer and even print a small face photo to use for the flag.

As with the ice cream ship cake, arrange some chopped blue jello around the tugboat cake to resemble the ocean. Hmm, I’m thinking of small marshmallow fish amongst the jello cubes for a real ocean look too.

As always, have fun when you plan your child’s birthday party!

I originally published photos of his birthday cakes when he was still a boy, on [...]]]>

Today, 22 July 2010,  is my son’s 32nd birthday and  my thoughts turned back to the times when he was still a boy and had to eat the “creations” his mother turned up with at school or for his birthday parties.

I originally published photos of his birthday cakes when he was still a boy, on the 1st of July 2009 as “Theme Parties from Yesteryear”,  but I thought I should just republish the whole post again instead of only giving a link back to the original post.  I hope you will be able to find  inspiration from these few photos for your boy’s next birthday party.

Here is the original post….

To host a party for your kids can be a lot of work but to see the wonder on their faces when you bring out the cake and other goodies is worth all the time spend on preparing the food and putting together a theme for the party. The personal joy one experiences cannot be compared to anything else as well. So enjoy organising theme parties for your kids and make memories that will last a life time.

racing track cake for boys

racing track party food

I used a racing track theme for his 3rd birthday party at the day care centre that he attended at that stage. Click on the photos to open in a new window and get some ideas on how to use store bought cookies, sweets and vienna sausages to make racing cars and “spectators”.

Kids Alien Space Ship Birthday Theme Party

On his 6th birthday I tried a space ship theme but the cake eventually turned into an alien monster kind of space ship but the kids were very impressed with it.  Store bought wafers and ice cream cones turned into smaller space ships and boudoir finger biscuits became small planes.

Alien Spaceship Cake

alien spaceship party food

Train cake

I tried to make a train cake for his 4th birthday but now that I look at the photo again, it is actually a far cry from a train, still it was a lot of fun to make the cake.

Train cake for a boy

The radio cake for his 8th birthday looked more realistic and suited his passion for certain songs on the radio at that stage.

radio cake for a kid's party

If you have read my post on where to find ideas for theme parties, I hope these few photos will help you realise that it is really not difficult to come up with a kids-theme-party idea.

Remember to have fun planning your kid’s next theme party!