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PunkyBoo
02-08-2011, 04:29 PM
Punkin's birthday is in a couple of weeks and we're having a Mad Science show at his party. I'm planning to get a cake at Costco. I have worked with them before on having them customize the deocarations a bit for me and it worked out great - for Boo's 1st Birthday, I had them modify their "golf" cake so it just had the green hill and borders and the writing, then I put toothpicks in the bottoms of some Little People animals he likes and stuck them in the cake. It looked so cute! And a bunch of 7 year olds won't know nor care that the cake was $18 instead of $100. But I would like it to look nice and go with the theme (science). the only suggestions I ws finding online is to bake a volcano cake and I'm not that crafty with baking and frosting. Any suggestions of cake toppers or things I can turn into decorations for the cake? I have searched and searched and have only seen Sid the Science Kid stuff, which Punkin does NOT like. I'm not at all crafty in terms of cake decorating with frosting, so I'm just looking for something I can stick on top of the cake, which is a sheet cake. Ideas? Please?

SnuggleBuggles
02-08-2011, 04:38 PM
I love making my kids' b-day cakes even though I'm not that good at it (baking= good, decorating= not so much :)). But, I can pull off the Family Fun ones. This is their beaker cake that looks pretty easy if you are at all inclined to attempt baking your own:
http://familyfun.go.com/parties/cake-recipes/theme-cakes-general/fantastic-flask-cake-699360/

Beth

crl
02-08-2011, 04:41 PM
How about a rocket ship?

http://www.etsy.com/listing/60640477/fondant-cake-topper-rocket-space-ship

Catherine

BabbyO
02-08-2011, 04:42 PM
Well, there are so many "sciency" themes you could go with, do you have any one in particular in mind?

I'm thinking maybe doing a dark cake/frosting with stars and you could add gumballs or other round candy to look like the planets. (gummy strips for the rings).

Do something with rock and sprinkle rock-looking candies on it (then make rock candy using sugar solution, food coloring, cup and string as an activity).

hmmm....talk about how worms aerate the soil and do a dirt cake with gummy worms...

Something dinosaur related and add dino figures to the cake...

Give me some more topics and I'll see if I can come up with some ideas...

zoestargrove
02-08-2011, 04:50 PM
a sheet cake with a mad scientist - crazy hair, white lab coat holding beakers?

scroll down a little on this site. http://www.homemademamas.net/2010/05/mad-scientist-cake.html They have a really cute cake that would be easy to make. I love the licorice wires connecting to the brain.

RunnerDuck
02-08-2011, 04:51 PM
We were going to do a mad science theme party but at zero hour changed it to mini golf. Too many people didn't RSVP and rather than waste my time calling them... I changed the venue to be evil.

Anyway we were gonna do a normal cake and a jello brain.

SnuggleBuggles
02-08-2011, 05:00 PM
Anyway we were gonna do a normal cake and a jello brain.

Cool idea!!

Beth

artvandalay
02-08-2011, 05:01 PM
I don't have any ideas, except for perhaps you could dress up as a mad scientist...and this sounds like a really fun party!

artvandalay
02-08-2011, 05:04 PM
We were going to do a mad science theme party but at zero hour changed it to mini golf. Too many people didn't RSVP and rather than waste my time calling them... I changed the venue to be evil.



oooh sneaky.... I love it! How did it turn out? I mean, did any of the non-rsvp'ers ever show up?

PunkyBoo
02-08-2011, 05:19 PM
I knew you all would have some cute ideas! I'll have to ask Punkin what he has in mind. I keep envisioning beakers with potions, since that's what the show will entail, and the kids will be making their own super balls. I love that first suggestion of the beaker cake that SnuggleBuggles posted. Punkin and I did a Family Fun christmas tree cake and the frosting part was pretty much a disaster! But it looked ok and tasted yummy. To save time, do you think that would work with store-bought angel food cakes?

BabbyO
02-08-2011, 05:50 PM
If you want to do a beaker/flask cake, but the upright thing scares you (it would scare me) you could bake a sheet/flat cake and cut out a beaker/flask shape. I'm sure you could blow up some pictures of a beaker or erlenmeyer flask to use as a template. You could still decorate with frosting and cotton candy at the top, it would just be less 3D.

RunnerDuck
02-08-2011, 07:17 PM
oooh sneaky.... I love it! How did it turn out? I mean, did any of the non-rsvp'ers ever show up?

I actually have no idea. Maybe not? Supposedly no reply means not coming in these parts but sheesh. Lack of RSVPs drives me nuts.

Mini golf turned out to be incredibly cheap and fun and low stress so it was awesome.

crl
02-08-2011, 07:21 PM
I actually have no idea. Maybe not? Supposedly no reply means not coming in these parts but sheesh. Lack of RSVPs drives me nuts.

Mini golf turned out to be incredibly cheap and fun and low stress so it was awesome.

OT, but that does sound like a lot of fun!

Catherine

jenstring95
02-08-2011, 10:45 PM
If you want to do a beaker/flask cake, but the upright thing scares you (it would scare me) you could bake a sheet/flat cake and cut out a beaker/flask shape. I'm sure you could blow up some pictures of a beaker or erlenmeyer flask to use as a template. You could still decorate with frosting and cotton candy at the top, it would just be less 3D.

This would also make it far easier to cut. I love to make my kids' cakes but admit that I shy away from 3D cakes for the most part!

Your party sounds like it will be a lot of fun!! I :heartbeat: science!

kijip
02-08-2011, 11:17 PM
You can watch and/or listen to Here Comes Science at the party. It is great science themed kids music and the DVD has awesome animated music videos.

For the cake, you could go a lot of directions. I made a solar system cake for Ts 5th bday. To make it simple perhaps put make a candy galaxy or put a rocket ship on the cake. You could also do one with plants and small animals, an evolution themed cake, gears and machine themed cake, an eyeball cake, a skeleton cake. For a mad science party a chemistry theme seems the most appropriate! You could put small plastic science kit stuff on the cake or try your hand at cutting out some fondant (pre made) test tubes, beakers etc and simply laying that on the sheet cake from the bakery. Or you could do an alchemy request on etsy and see if one of the fondant sellers would make what you want and mail it to you.

boilermakermom
02-08-2011, 11:48 PM
I like the idea of decorating a sheet cake...easy!! I never have a ton of time to bake and decorate plus get everything else done for the party.

Check out thinkgeek.com for ideas. what about mini flasks full of colored water, or pop placed on top of the cake? Maybe a flask with dry ice for the smokey effect? Also, for table decorations, you can order a plastic or wooden molecule kit on amazon.

turtle12
02-09-2011, 09:41 AM
i like the idea of the mini-flasks you can put on the cake - you can make different colored goop out of jello and fill those up! and maybe some reallly fluffy cotton candy around it, to get that dry ice effect....

and maybe craft some thermometers (put inside flasks) out of licorice ...

PunkyBoo
02-09-2011, 04:18 PM
You all are awesome!! I love all the cool ideas! I'm proud to be raising a science nerd like DH and myself :love-retry:

I asked Punkin yesterday what kind of science he wants on the cake, I mentioned the flask cake, etc. He wants "nature science" - specifically trees with birds, and a big scary lion hunting under the trees. He wants it made out of frosting, not plastic figurines. Hmm... off to see if I can find a custom fondant scene that won't break the bank... otherwise I'll just use plastic figurines I guess.

BabyMine
02-09-2011, 04:51 PM
Here are some safari cakes to give you some ideas.

http://www.google.com/images?q=safari+cake&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=8_1STZSLOYGbtwftiLGuCQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CB8QsAQwAA&biw=1259&bih=625

BabyMine
02-09-2011, 04:55 PM
Here is a fondant lion on etsy.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/66515569/fondant-cake-topper-lion-3d