Hello all! I'm back to make another cake!
OVer the summer I made an AMAZING firehouse cake for my father and his friends at a BBQ. And for my father's birthday I made a 3D fire helmet cake! Everyone loved it! Well I'm here searching for ideas for my mothers 50th birthday! Well I' quite short on time.. Her birthdays tomorrow and I wanted to make it today while I'm off of school and she's at work. It has to be simple, but still sure to WOW everyone! She's really into NASCAR, but I'm definately not skilled enough to create a car shaped cake. I'm working out of my home kitchen (Not huge at all) and have some-what limited supplies. I had the idea of decorating the top of a round cake (or a big rectangle and carving it oval) and designing it as a race track. I can attempt to shape a few cars out of fondant, but don't want to die the fondant black because last time I did that, my hands were pink for a week! Well any and all ideas are accepted!
Thank you in advance!!
~Bailey

Alright, so I have just put the chocolate cake in the oven (my own recipe) and now just have to work on the design!(: I'm still open to cake design ideas(:
Thanks!!
~Bailey

Maybe because you are so short of time you should concentrate on making a really beautiful cake - simple but totally elegant.
Since you mom is into NASCAR maybe she is not the frilly/girly/feminine type? There are sooooooo many ideas in the gallery on this site or by searching using google and the 'image' button.
Do you have access to a printer? You could print out some pix of cars and put that on a fondant plaque (which you would NOT serve). Here's an example of that idea:
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1317828

Does she have a sense of humor? Try something like this:
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1317831
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1333233 - can be done on any size/shape cake

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1294506
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1289784
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1172206
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1332705 - could be done in any color w/any fruit

Hope one of these suggetions sparks a design idea for you.

When I made my husband's 50th cake I did colorflow numbers, 20, 30,40 and 50. I made a sheet cake and put a cake made from the doll dress upside down on it and to the left I did all kinds of flowers and grass. To the right of the hill I made it sort of barren, with brown grass and some dead looking flowers. I put the numbers in at the left of the hill with 50 at the top. Then in black I wrote on the front facing side, "Thins sure look different on this side of the hill.
I hope you can use this idea.
evelyn