A Ladybug Birthday Cake

Well, it is 2pm, the day before Sweet Girl’s birthday. The cake is finally done and we are all (shamefully) still in our pj’s. I enjoy taking my time with making and decorating birthday cakes, but just so you know, this hasn’t been the only thing I’ve done all day. I have fed the kids, cleaned up spilled milk (no crying), cleaned up broken glass (crying) and made a complete mess of my kitchen too. Oh well! I love the cake and am so excited to celebrate my Sweet Girl’s birthday.

What you’ll need for this Ladybug Cake:

2 – 8″ round cake pans (I love Wilton cake pans. Even after you level them, they are nice and tall. If you go with a larger size, be sure to use a heating core or flower nail)
Your smallest silver bowl – You can bake right in it! My favorite element of birthday cake baking!
Muffin tin
2 Boxes of Cake Mix ( I seldom make cakes from scratch. My fun is decorating, so a box mix is faster and easier. I use Betty Crocker Super Moist. It gave me the right amount of batter for everything.)
Ingredients for Cake
Icing ingredients (see link below)
Icing Coloring or pre-made decorator icing
Tips, Bags and Couplers for icing
Google eyes and a black pipe cleaner

Instructions:
1. Cut parchment paper rounds, it makes getting the cake out of the pan so much easier!

2. Grease, add parchment round and flour pans. Don’t use a cupcake liner.

3. Prepare cake batter according to instructions.

4. Pour 3.5 cups for each 8″ round pan, silver bowl to just over half way and batter for at least one cupcake.

5. Bake – cupcakes @ 350 for about 17 minutes, 8″ round pans and bowl for 30-35 minutes or until done.

6. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan.

7. Level all three cakes. (This is one of my favorite Wilton tools!)

8. Prepare the icing. I love the Kid’s Buttercream recipe found in Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse. The book is full of great ideas and recipes. Go here for direct link to the recipe on their site. It is easy and delicious!

9. Ice the cake in light green.

10. Pipe on leaves in darker green at the bottom of the cake using Wilton tip #67.

11. Ice the ladybug red. (My confession: I hate making red and black icing! It takes forever and usually tastes bad. So for this cake, I bought a tube of Wilton Red and Wilton Black Decorating Icing.)

A cake round is helpful between varying levels. I didn’t want to waste a whole one, so I cut a chinette plate, covered it in press ‘n seal and voila!

12. With a toothpick, draw the ladybug’s line and spots. Then decorate with black icing. Add a ring of black around the bottom of the ladybug for a finished look.

13. Make the ladybug’s head by slicing the top off a cupcake and follow with a flat cut to sit on and angled cut to go against the body. Secure with toothpicks.