Race Track Birthday Cake

This year Ethan requested a NASCAR birthday cake. I searched for ideas on the internet and came across this idea for a race track. So, it worked with the NASCAR request without me actually having to draw out the NASCAR logo! I started with two round cakes and cut one so it would fit next to the other. I showed it to Ethan and he kindly pointed out that he was six, not eight. Got it.


Like a good little cake decorator, I put on my crumb coating so I wouldn't have crumbs in the frosting. A boring but helpful detail.


Nest I used a toothpick to draw the outline of a six. For some reason this was incredibly difficult for me. I did OK drawing the bottom of the six but couldn't get the top quite right. I had to have Jason come and draw it for me, which he of course did in next to no time.


Next step: make black frosting. I only had a few black fingers! I used the black for the race track. Isn't the race track a clever shape? At this point I brought the cake to Ethan and told him I accidentally made a "9" instead of a "6". He's patient--he didn't even roll his eyes at me when he told me to turn the cake around!


On to the grass around the track! I loved adding this step because it made the cake "pop" out so much more. Plus, the tip actually looked (kind of) like grass. Well, it looked like how I imagine grass would look if it were actually made out of frosting. Note to self: next time, do not show children the cake at this stage because 2-year-olds can use little fingers to swipe frosting off faster than a cake can be moved.


I added a yellow outline for a little more definition of the race track. Um, pretty much just because I could.


The grass was looking a little empty, so I added some birthday wishes for my boy. I thought about adding the NASCAR logo here, but I chickened out. I, uh, didn't have all the right colors for the frosting. I thought that was a good reason to not do it!


Ethan told me I had to add cars to the track, so I did my best. Here's where I wish I was more of an artist! He loved them when he saw them, so that makes them a success!


Every track needs a few lines to show the starting point, so I added that and a few dotted lines to make it look more like a road.

It's all ready for the birthday boy!

This is not really a step in making the cake, I just thought it was a cute picture!

Traditional "blowing out the candles" picture.

A sign of a successful cake: people ate it! Remember how I said I had black fingers? Well, we also added black lips and teeth. Maybe next time I won't decorate with so much black. Thankfully we all own toothbrushes! :) Overall, a successful cake!