I have been asked to over the hill cake for a pastor's 40th birthday. I have looked in the galleries, but can't seem to get a mental picture that I like. I don't feel comfortable putting tombstones on it, but the wife who ordered the cake says anything "old" will be fine. It's for 50 people and can't have any chocolate. PLease help! I am having a major mental block.
Thanks again!!!!

i can,t believe of all the pics on this site...you didn,t get any inspiration.. over the hill are fun cakes.. there are plenty without tombstones.. the recepients love getting the funny ones. and it makes it fun at the party.. unless... some people are so vane.. they can,t take it.. but most cakes are made in fun.. so ...look at them again.. maybe the second looks will help..hth .. i get most of my inspirations from this site.. and change around a little..

I have seen some decorated with a stop sign and a hill in the middle of a road that says...."no turning back now" that you're 40, 50, 60, etc.....
or something like "once you're over the hill, there's no looking back"......
hope that helps!!!!

Ok, I had to go google this one. I clicked on the "images" link at the top of the page. Here is one that I think is very cute:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.barefootkitchenwitch.com/the_barefoot_kitchen_witc/images/2008/05/13/overthehill50.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.barefootkitchenwitch.com/the_barefoot_kitchen_witc/2008/05/cakes---over-th.html&usg=___pTxij5JCCcSxyT9G3rKNS1DYNI=&h=593&w=600&sz=127&hl=en&start=10&um=1&tbnid=_jC0DK20dsmQQM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dover%2Bthe%2Bhill%2Bcake%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS312US312%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1
Plus, the first one on the page was a roller coaster cake.
You could also possibly do a twist on the typical over the hill cake. Show the hill, the climb, it harder going as you go up, then on the other side, over the hill so to speak, put a nice plateau with a beautiful green grassy area for a "you made it" type thing. Or a retirement goal. Show it as a happy goal and not the typical negative destination.

I had to keep looking. I think I'd do one like the front of the one in the link from my previous post, then the back of this cake:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3225/2296553072_f1f08b80d4.jpg%3Fv%3D0&imgrefurl=http://flickr.com/photos/94099891%40N00/2296553072&usg=__4I3_pNfLfA6dQ2UHEZWnPnji0FA=&h=375&w=500&sz=117&hl=en&start=64&um=1&tbnid=h7A45n_BPQf8gM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dover%2Bthe%2Bhill%2Bcake%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GGLL_enUS312US312%26sa%3DN%26start%3D63%26um%3D1

I like their description better than how I tried to say it: "This is the birthday cake I did for a co-worker celebrating her 50th birthday. They wanted an over-the-hill cake, but I really didn't want a black and gray doom and gloom cake. It struck me that she was more of a person who would realize that the best is yet to come! "

I wish I had a photo available of this, but it was 9 years ago. My dad was very depressed over turning 60 so I did a single layer 5 tiered "mountain" cake. On one half it was dark and rocky and treacherous looking and on each move upward it said in black candles 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, then on the other half at the top of the hill was the candles that said 60 and they were colorful an festive the other half was lush and green and full of flowers and a waterfall. The inscription was "The view is beautiful from here! Happy Birthday Dad!" He loved it and it made him realize that the struggles and most of the hardships of his life were behind him, not in front of him. He really loved it.

Gotta chime in on this one, vanity has nothing to do with what one feels when they reach a milestone birthday. Yeah, people will laugh at the gloom and doom over the hill affair for others sake, but really, inside its not quite so funny. Turning 50 hit me like a ton of bricks, 60 was not so bad, but still I would much rather have something unique to me, rather than the over the hill stuff that everyone else at the party finds hilarious. However, that is just me.... maybe your Pastor would find this amusing.

Maybe your Pastor would appreciate life begins at 40 theme. Maybe something to correlate each decade of his life...something from the 70's, 80's, 90's and the 21st century. Good luck finding your inspiration.

thanks for all your input. I don't really care for the doom thing either (especially for a pastor), but that is what the wife is after. She thinks its going to be funny. I'm sure something will strike me.

you could make an old, used looking pair of slippers that have a dusty looking fart poof behind them (Old fart).

I know that when my mom turned 30 (over 35 years ago...lol) she was so distraught that her friend threw her a party and the cake said Happy 70th birthday! Her friends told her that they would celebrate her 70th birthday now and her 30th on her 70th birthday... That cheered her right up! Made her realize that 30 wasn't so bad afterall.

there are a few cakes on here with the theme I'm about to mention. On top of the cake is a gumpate/fondant figure of the birthday person being dragged into a hole with a gravestone. the hands are clawing at the grass/dirt.


Here's one I just cooked up though. on top of the cake, a figure of birthday person either holding a shot gun at a figure of death or kicking death's butt.

I've had a lot of fun making a couple of "one foot in the grave" cakes. The first one was for a coworker that I really didn't know very well. The night before her birthday I was asked to pinch hit with a cake for her 50th birthday.. no pressure there.. So I went through my daughters junk found an old barbie snapped the leg off stuck it in a sheet cake shaped like a tombstone with crushed chocolate cookies around it. (that was all that was left in the bag....) Wrote one foot in the grave and her name and crossed my fingers she wouldn't be offended.. She loved it. Someone else wanted one and what the heck what am I going to do with a one legged barbie, so I did the other one like a boot hill with little tombstone out of Snack well like cookies. Used the white fencing from my Christmas decorations that I have had for ten years and never used, snapped off some of the slats at random spots and stuck it around the cake. More chocolate cookies for dirt, few rock colored jelly belly jelly beans, pretzel stick trees, etc.. Barbies are way too expensive to go around amputating legs off of so I would suggest a dollar store GI Joe or some other inexpensive looking leg.. And run with it.. haha run with it.... Ps used the torso for a granddaughters barbie cake. Next time I will explain before we cut into the cake why barbie doesn't have any legs, live and learn. Sorry about the long post. Good luck!!!