Over the Hill Birthday Cakes
The materials needed for the cake is 3 store bought cake mixes, any flavor or your own from scratch batter which makes the equivalent of three 9×13 cakes. Prepare batter according to directions and divide between two 9x 13 prepared pans. This gives a higher, more substantial cake. You will need to add 15 to 25 additional baking minutes to insure that they are completely baked. It is important to test for done-ness.
When properly cooled turn cakes out onto sheets of wax or parchment paper. Cover with paper towels and set aside for at least three hours. I usually bake my cake the day before I frost and decorate it. When ready to frost I recommend frosting both of the layers with a thin coat to seal the cake and ‘capture’ those crumbs that sometimes ruin the look of a frosting job. Place cakes on a very sturdy serving tray. I have taken TV trays without the legs, covered them with foil or paper to place on the display table. When this base coat of frosting is set trim the wax or parchment paper away so that it can no longer be seen.
Over The Hill Graveyard Material: Green tinted frosting, prepared foam core ‘headstones’ and green tinted coconut. Lay the two 9×13 oblong cakes side by side and frost completely with green frosting. The frosting job does not have to be smooth and perfect because it will be the landscape of the graveyard. You don’t have to be a decorator to make this comical cake. Toss green coconut ‘grass’ around the base of the cake where the pros usually pipe the fancy borders.
Arrange tombstones all over the ‘graveyard’. If desired black or brown jelly beans can be added here and there for rocks. I found bone shaped candy at Halloween time which is perfect to scatter here and there. You can tint coconut by pouring one or two cups into a recloseable food storage bag, add 2 or 3 drops of green food coloring then seal and shake to coat. Pour out onto a paper plate or toweling to dry. A helpful hint to keep your hands from turning green. Put your hand into a plastic bag and use it to pick up coconut to place on cake.
Tombstones: Take a piece of clean foam core, I actually use the white foam trays that pastries or fruit comes wrapped on. (Never a meat tray!) With a pencil draw headstone shapes, squares, rectangles etc. in different sizes no more than an inch or two wide, an inch and a half to three inches tall. The beauty of this is that they do not have to be perfect. This is a ‘decrepit old birthday persons cake’ . Color each headstone lightly with gray crayon or felt markers. Use a dark pen to write epitaphs on the headstones using different size print for variety. I made this cake for my sister-in-laws 40th and it brought a lot of laughter into the event. I wrote things like: RIP Childhood, Here Lies Youth, Roaring Twenties, Ado Lescents, Gone but Not 4gotten. You can use your creative imagination for more funny things pertaining to your birthday celebrant. Cut out with a craft knife. These will easily press into the frosting.
The cakes will serve 15 people. Double the amount for a larger group. I use 6 to 8 cups of frosting for one of these cakes. Canned frosting can work but I like made from scratch best.
On the 50 Yard Line Material: 9 x 13 cakes placed side by side and frosted green. Football figurines which can be found in the toy section. If you want it personalized to your celebrants team colors you can touch them up with acrylic paint. Always run scalding water over any figurine you are placing into frosting on a cake, dry thoroughly first. If I’m still concerned about contamination of any kind I wrap the bottom of the figurine with plastic wrap and hide it with frosting.
Draw the yard lines with thin white frosting piping. Mark the ’40’ yard line with any coloring frosting. Make pennants with toothpicks and card stock. Write “‘Name’ is now on the 40 yard line.” I made this cake for my husbands 40th birthday. I also found a TV guide cover with his favorite player on it. I cut out the players face, inserted the face from a photo of my husband sandwiched between the cover and card stock. It looked as if my husband was the cover photo. It was hysterical propped near the cake.
There are many things you can do with a simple rectangle cake. You can make an ‘open book’ , Once Upon A Time written on one side, You Were Young on the other and put any decor one the ‘pages’ or stack the two cakes for a large volume and pipe the title for a closed book. You can make a bed with a figure lying on it, “Too Old To Party.” A Time Line can be done, starting ‘birthday boy or girl’ is born , fire is dicovered, wheel is invented, man went to the moon, whatever you want. These can be piped or written on small cards mounted on toothpicks to look like bill board signs on the Road of Life. The opportunities are endless for a good teasing edible piece. Beware of anything flammable If you intend to use candles. I rarely use them on these kinds of cakes.
