OK a friend from church is turning 30. Her hubby and mom are throwing a suprise party for her and her hubby asked me to do the cake. He didn't have any ideas of what he wants for a cake...he did mention a grim reaper but I don't know how well she would take that!

ANy ideas would be great. I have been looking at the galleries but the search function really sucks right now...with a 1 year old I don't get a lot of time to go through each photo!

Thanks
ashlee

Hm....well..what kind of things does she like? flowers, music, cooking? maybe you could do something that reflects her likes. Rose basket, carve a grand piano, something like that.....or you could just go really girly and sweet and do tons of flowers in various colors....sorry if this isnt much help...I'm having "cakeblock"

best of luck!

I am not super close with her so I don't know many of her interests. She likes to do beadwork. She spends most of her time doing things for our church, the salvation army, another charity and coaching sports teams for her 4 year old. They also run their own sign business.

It has to be a fairly simple design because we are on vacation the entire week before the party.

thanks again I SUCK WITH IDEAS

If you select the galleries tab from the home page, then select the search tab in the grey line/box - the search function works fine.

I might stick to something a little less morbid since she is a curch going woman and you don't know her that well.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Try one of the" gift box" cakes. They are always popular.

Lots of ideas here at CC

Try one of the" gift box" cakes. They are always popular.

Lots of ideas here at CC

I don't know if you'll like this idea, but I did a cake for my dad that was fun and interesting. You find a bunch of facts about the year she was born and just write them on the cake. Add some pretty flowers around the edge and you're all set. People are amazed at how different things are now than 30 years ago, and some pretty funny things are usually invented each year. I think panty hose was invented the year my dad was born. Not only does it create a lot of things for people to talk about but it usually creates a few laughs too. And then you're not being so morbid as the grim reaper but you're poking at the fact that she's been around a while. Only thing that sucks about it is your hand KILLS in the end I think I have a picture of the one i made my dad in my photos. If I find it, I'll post again with it attached.

Good luck!

maybe some faux jewelry made out of fondant or gumpaste. oooh even better maybe make the main cake like a jewelry box with the fondant jewelry on top or hanging out of a drawer. would be pretty easy to do a simple jewelry box. i'd stack 3 square cakes on each other and cover with fondant and grain it to make it look like wood. then you can use your fondant tools to make the impression of drawers in the front. add a couple of balls on the drawers for handles and maybe dress it up with some scroll work on the sides and front of the drawers. then throw together a fondant necklace with matching bracelet, ring or broach.

or if you want to get really simple i'd do a sheet cake and make it like a sign that reads something about her turning 30. i really don't think the reaper thing would be appropriate tho.

Do the gift box idea, like campinsp said, and add some "beadwork" to it for details

Ok. Here is the pic of my dad's cake. It is very simple but there are many 'upgrades' you could do to it to make it fun and more for a woman. Just an idea, and if you decide you would like to do something like this...you can always PM me and I can look some stuff up for you. I seem to be the master researcher on the internet of everyone I know.

Maybe a simple basket of flowers. You could make RI flowers ahead since you'll be out of town. Then when you're ready to do the cake you can do a basketweave on the side and "fill" the top with the flowers.

I did one like this for my sister's friend's 40th and it was a hit. It's the royal blue basket with the red handle in my photos if you are interested in seeing what I did.

melyissa that is an AWESOME idea!!! that cake is really cute and it shows that there was thought in it! Great job...I will definetly be using THAT one!! (if you dont mind, of course )

???

I'm thinking...

Hey.. The gift box cake would b a great idea.. Have a label reading something like this:

Your always giving to others. We all thought it's a perfect time to give back something sweet..
Here is a gift made with lots of love, kisses, hugs and of course sugar! Happy Birthday!

Hey.. The gift box cake would b a great idea.. Have a label reading something like this:

Your always giving to others. We all thought it's a perfect time to give back something sweet..
Here is a gift made with lots of love, kisses, hugs and of course sugar! Happy Birthday!

I did a cake for a person turning 50--and they were trying to decide what to do for her. I had only known her for a short time, but I always remembered how she would talk about a praticular doll cake her Mom used to make her when she was little. She loved her birthday because she knew her mom would make that cake. I made her a Barbie cake--and got a red-headed Barbie for her since she is a red-head. There wasn't a dry eye in the house when she walked in and saw it. She said that that was the best 50th birthday cake she could have imagined. Is there something from her younger years that she loves a lot that you could duplicate?

If they just want something funny--you could duplicate one of the Maxine cakes. There are several on this site.

A twist on Melyissa's cake would be to make a book cake (an open book) and then write on it. You could make the cake fondant covered and write with edible markers for a different look.