Hi everyone,

Really stumped and hope you can help me out. My dad turns 80 and I will be traveling to Florida for his birthday and will make his cake there. I am absolutely clueless......I know this sounds terrible but he's really not a sweets person so I will make flavors the rest of us like but I wanted the outside to be special. He likes playing cards and he used to hunt but nothing else as far as hobbies go. Not easy guys but and input could be helpful in creating something special for my favorite man. Thanks

Did I understand it right? You will bake in your parents kitchen, out of reach of your own?

In this case - look for stunning yet simple cake. One of it could be cake like this - http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/6922629/2/istockphoto_6922629-wild-joker-in-a-deck-of-cards.jpg

Make rectangular cake, torte it - get four layers with buttercream filling in between. Rotate each layer very slightly - this time you don't want perfect rectangle but you still want solid cake not impossible to frost. For the revers, make an impression on the top of the cake. The top card would be simple decoration - fondant covered cake board.

And good luck to you what ever design you choose.

could you do like camo. playing cards with deer, bears or whatever he hunted on the face of the cards, and put the outside of the cake in camo colors maybe??? Thay way you have the hunting theme and playing cards them all tied into one, like set the cards up right on top of the cake, spread out like he would have been holding them. Just a thought.