Hi guys! My sister is turning 16 & my dad wants me to make her cake, no problem. The problem is he has an idea of what he wants, and I can't wrap my brain around it. He wants a sheet cake and laying on top of it a 1 and a 6, also cut from cake. I get what he wants, I just don't know how to make it look good and not " homemadish". Im need suggestions, Im open to anything. The 1 6 thing seems so old fashioned. I want it to be hipper! Thanks guys for listening.

hi, If you do gumpaste figurines, you can have her leaning against the the 16 with a big grin on her face. You can cut out a great outfit for her with a tiny tiara, if you don't do the gumpaste, you can do a fondant cutout and draw her with a great outfit. If he still wants this idea????, you can do a template out of foamboard or heavy cardboard and precisely follow the template for the numbers. Also by adding either cutouts or gp figurines throughout the cake, you can make it hip and modern. Let us see the final cake, I'm sure you'll do a great job. I have seen some great sheet cakes here and on internet.

what if you make the 1 and 6 with zebra stripes or whatever seems to be popular now. or actually just make any kind of pattern look that you think she'd like (i.e. stripes, circles, stars, etc). and make the sheet cake a really stand out color with a contrasting border like a bright neon green for the cake and bright neon pink for the border. you can make that look very clean and nice and not homemade looking at all.

You could just cut the numbers out of fondant and place them on top of the sheet cake. I agree with callmetiff, zebra stripes, dots, hot pink, lime green are still popular with that age group. You can incorporate your father's idea just give it an updated twist. Like margiep suggested make a gumpaste figurine to use. Or if all else fails, look up some cakes you like here or do a google search, print them out and show them to your dad.

What awesome creative ideas! I have nothing to contribute, just wanted to high five you on such fun ideas on turning what could be a ho hum cake into something really special. Creativity wins out every time.

Sorry if the list is too long, but I can't go through them right now! I have these in my database.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecakemamas/4781729601/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cakespace/2990270305/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52009201@N03/5045407117/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1blackmartha/6131276441/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51831710@N03/5670250181/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kallicakes/5971178108/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cakescrazycom/5993884108/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23650454@N07/4731153936/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cakespace/2586293318/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alixs_cakes/5892738881/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetmilliescakes/5325369008/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/itsacakething/4049091498/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/miesweets/3627613200/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cakescrazycom/5993883578/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cakescrazycom/5993885802/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniescakes/5624335951/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cakescrazycom/5993887088/

I see what he means - he wants a 2d style cake. You can cut the number out of cake put on a trim to find cake board, cover in fondant - zebra style if you want then you stack on top of the sheet cake use dowel rods for support. You can make the sheet a bold color to make the numbered cake stick out.

If you do a google search you find the instructions to cutting the number cake.

To display the cake put some plates on the table and the sheet cake will be at an angle and the numbers will stick out on the cake against the background of sheet cake.

Hope that make sense to you.

Thanks for all the great input! My hang up is he wants the #s to also be cake. One sheet cake with a 1 & 6 cut from another cake laying on top. It just seems like it will look weird. My sisters not a girly girl, but she's not tom boyish either, so that makes ir tricky too. I just talked to my dad & he mentioned she's gonna have a blacklight, so I can work with that. Im thinking the cake covered in black fondant, the 1 & 6 a neon green, & then (using some of your ideas) have stars, dots, etc., as accents in yellow & orange. If you have anything to add, I am very open to suggestions! Thanks again for the quick answers!

It seems some of us posted at the same time. I just want to say wow and thank you for posting all those links. It seems that a number cake is not the end of the world! Thanks again to everyone who took the time to help me out! The party is next Saturday and by then I'll be prepared. I have been reading around CC and have decided to brush the accents with tonic water, to make it glow under the black light. Have any of you tried this?

Just wanted to comment that imaginethatnj's pics are AMAZING

imaginethatnj's I never thought number cakes could be so pretty, unusual, your cakes are really special. Using decorations on them that so clearly represent the person who the cake is for is just great.

Aren't they great? People with amazing creative talent out there. I have a ton more, but I couldn't take pages of this, lol. I did want to add these three other links, which I think are just great.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jayneycakes/5984197202/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alixs_cakes/5186143603/

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/ohyum/4887943628/