The Creative Cake Maker: How to Decorate a Ladybug Birthday Cake

This fun ladybug birthday cake is a quick, easy cake-decorating project that doesn't take much more than a box of cake mix, some colored icing and marshmallows.

Ingredients:

• 1 standard box of cake mix (whatever flavor you prefer), baked and cooled. You will only need one round layer for this cake so I usually make 12 cupcakes with the extra cake mix. If you need assistance in baking and cooling your cake, please refer to these video tutorials on "How To Bake A Cake".
  • How To Bake A Cake (Part 1): Preparing Your Baking Pans
  • How To Bake A Cake (Part 2): Mixing & Baking Your Cake
  • How To Bake A Cake (Part 3): Testing, Removing and Cooling Your Cake
• Red gel coloring or food coloring - I recommend using Wilton no-taste red icing gel coloring. The gel coloring is more concentrated so you get a deeper hue without using all your coloring. The red color also tends to be bitter so the no-taste red helps to combat that.
• 1 container of chocolate icing (or black colored icing)
• 1 container of vanilla/white icing, colored red using the red coloring
• 1 large marshmallow
• 1 red Twizzler - optional for antennae
• 2 miniature marshmallows - optional for antennae

Tools:

• 2 sandwich sized zipper sealed bags
• Scissors
• Knife (if making antennae)
• Sharp pointed knife or a chopstick (if making antennae)
• Large plate, cake stand, or cake board for displaying your finished cake

If you have not already done so, bake your round layer cake according to package directions and cool it completely. If it is not cooled, your icing will start to melt and slide off the cake.

Place your cake right side up on the plate you will display it on. If you prefer, you can place your cake on a cake board and move it to it's permanent home once it is completed. However, most of us don't have cake boards handy. The cake pictured here is resting on a paper plate.