One of our close friends recived a big promotion at work. We are inivting them for a celebratory dinner this friday and I want to make a nice cake (thats not too time consuming).. any ideas?

A simple cake with the person's favorite flavor and simple buttercream with way to go or congratulations with the promotion or something like that might be nice. I find that simple yet, beautiful can make a great impact.

you could also do a ladder on the cake and have it look like someone is climbing the ladder and a saying like congrats on moving up the ladder.

What type of work does your friend do or promoted too? Maybe you can do a cake related to the type of work he does (If it's not to complicated). For example, if hes a dentist you can make a cake in the shape of a tooth and just add congrats on your promo.

You can also make something simple like an edible image cake. If you like to make practical jokes you can put two pictures together one when the person was young and one when the person was old and add some type of funny saying.

How about an 'up' arrow, or use the Wilton long loaf and do the ladder mpitrelli suggested. You could do an oval cake that looks like a racetrack, with mice racing and put his mouse in the lead (winning the rat race). Or a block of cheese looking cake if he's been promoted to be 'the big cheese'. There are some really great pics of cheese cakes in the gallery. Looking forward to seeing what you do!