Someone has asked me to make a cake for her 3 yr old girl's birthday party. I told her Ive never made a decorated cake before but she was insistant and didnt care...
Anyway. I know how to bake a cake and frost one. But when it comes to decorating it with icing and flowers and such, forget it.
Can anyone give me any ideas how to make a cake for this little girl using only frosting and things like candy, m&m's sprinkles, maybe a toy or something...etc...
The lady is paying me to make it so I want it to be something that will not disappoint her. I was thinking pink or white frosting...colored sprinkles around the sides...some pink and white candies like m&m's or gumdrops along the top sides....but what do I do for the surface of the cake? What can I use to write happy birthday? Please help! And thank you so much! Pictures would be much appriciated as well!

Maybe you could spell her name with M&M's? You can cut fondant shapes out with a cookie cutter and just lay them on the buttercream. You could also use small toys, My Little Pony or whatever she likes. Good luck!

If you have a Michael's Craft or Hobby Lobby store near you they sell icing in tubes that you can used to make decorations and writing. So do some Wal-Mart's.

They also sell boxes of fondant that is rolled out like pie dough and you use anything (cookie cutters are great) to cut out shapes. Or you could roll small pieces of it into a ball/teardrop shape to use as balloons.
If you can't/don't want to get fondant you can add extra powdered sugar to frosting until it is thick like dough & shape-able.
The idea of using M&Ms to write the name is a good one. If the cake is a round like 4" tall (put together 2 or 3 layers w/frosting between them) you can do it on the side of the cake and still put something on the top.
Oh, and Starburst candies or even chewing gum can be used to make simple flowers. Just microwave them a few seconds to soften, flatten, then roll up lightly to look like a rose bud.
Hope this help you create a great special cake for this little sweetie. You *must promise* to take a picture of the cake and post it on this site for us to see

thank you ladies. I LOVE the starburst idea and I will do that for sure.
The thing is, I am living overseas and there is no such thing as a michals or walmart or target. Actually baking is not a big thing over here. The only baking things you can find are some basic pans, betty crocker frosting, and sprinkles. So one must get very creative. No edible glitter, fondant, nothing. And I dont want to make fondant. This is a one time deal for me! I adore the starburst idea.
I was thinking to make a butterfly cake like i have seen online and cover it with candies. The thing is there will be 30 people at this party so I might need to make two of these cakes and somehow bring them together nicely. Any ideas? I will write happy birthday on one of them trying to use mini m&ms. Is there a candy that would work better for that?

just a thought but barbie cakes are really easy to make and little girls love them, my grandaughter was estatic over hers i made.

Just a tip that when you work with the Starburst candies and warm them up, make sure to have some cornstarch to dust your hands with so that you don't get the candies stuck to your hands.

I don't know what exactly you're looking for, but I found this picture..Cute for a 3yr old. For the name, cut up some licorice or use the starburst idea(roll and make letter shapes)

Items used:
rectangular cake board
1 - 12" cake
knife
buttercream icing
Skittles candy
M&M's candy
Twizzlers multi-colored licorice
Food coloring paste, pink & black
1/4 lb. pre-made fondant -instead of fondant tint chocolate frosting black
Cake decorating tips #2,16
black pipe cleaner

Here's the page link:
http://www.cake-decorating-corner.com/decorating-a-cake-with-candy.html

this is an easy idea http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1318316
theres lots of variations on this site, you could use anything vaguely stick like for the side. on top you could still write a message or whatever, or just fill it with coloured sweets.
xx

The thing is there will be 30 people at this party so I might need to make two of these cakes and somehow bring them together nicely. Any ideas? [quote]

You could just make one cake for display and have a spare "kitchen cake", ie a plain cake, same type and frosting as the fancy one and some of the same sweets placed on it. When you take the butterfly cake to the kitchen to cut up you have plenty of spare cake to cut up with it and no-one knows the difference. Good luck; you'll be fine!

Here is a site that will give you several video that will show you how to make very easy kids cakes step by step like the ones below.

butterfly cake
pincess cake
castle cake
purse cake
dinosaur cake
ice cream cone cake
flip flop cakes
baby rattle cupcakes

Anyone of these cakes can be doubled with frosting in between to help give you more servings. HTH
http://www.howdini.com/howdini-video-7073588.html

Thank you SO MUCH everyone. Youve given me some great tips. I think I will do what you suggested of leaving the extra cake in the kitchen. Thanks for the tip about the cornstarch, and Mary LOL that is the exact butterfly cake Im going to attempt to make.
Wish me luck everyone. Will post a photo. Not making it till wed though.