A Sweet Birthday Boy and a simple "How-to" for a Pumpkin Cake......

Today is my sweet Pierson Reese's FIRST birthday! What a joy he has been to our lives. He always wants to be hugged on - and thinks his brother is a Super-Hero! He has been a dream baby since Day One! You can read more about his Birthday Post here on our Family Blog.

Want another way to save money for your family? Try making their birthday cakes! Just like any mom would do- I love making birthday's special for my little ones. I try to put their personality into each one and I try to make unique things for their party decorations. I decided this year to make his cake and it was alot of fun. So since thanksgiving is this week, I thought someone might want to know how to make a "Pumpkin" Cake! (his theme was sweet Lil Pumpkin!)

Bringing a dessert for a Thanksgiving Feast? Try this!

I got the instructions here but I can give it to you in a nutshell.

Ingredients for cake:
2 cake boxes
Eggs
Oil
Water
(Just fix it like a regular ole' cake!)

Cook 2 cakes in this bunt pan and let them cool. (Pretty easy, huh?) Now, lets start making the icing! My High School Home Ec Teacher (aka as the best cake decorator in town!) gave me  her recipe. So here it is!!

Birthday/Wedding Cake Icing:
2 1b bag of Powder Sugar
1 1/2 Crisco (don't go generic)
1 tsp. Lemon Flavoring (she prefers Wilton's)
1 tsp. Almond Flavoring
1/2 cup boiling water (add until you get the best consistency)
*If it becomes to "creamy" when mixing- add a little more powdered sugar!

Here comes the stressful fun part! You will need to color your icing with food coloring. I just bought a box of Wilton's food coloring from walmart in the party section. Then, You will need a icing bag for decorating and a good star tip. (like above) Place the cake upside down on a cake plate and ice the top with your orange icing. Then Place the other cake right side up on top of the icing! The recipe called for a Ice cream cone to use as the stem, however, I didn't have one! So I used a Styrofoam cup! You simply place the cup in the "bunt pan whole." Don't worry if it looks crazy- you will cover it with icing.

Then, You simply star the whole cake. (yes, it took like forever.) I also added some green leaves, some "spriggly" vines and a scare crow sign with "Happy First Birthday Pierson"! There was no way I was gonna attempt to write his name with Icing!

You can get a starter tip set from Michaels! Use  your 40 percent off coupon!

If your child wants a certain character cake, they are so very easy. You just star them in and outline! We have a party store in town that lets you "rent" the pan for 3 dollars! (beats 25-30 dollars for a birthday cake!)

I made this Cake for Evan's 2nd Birthday.

I forgot to mention the enormous amount of clean up you will have in your kitchen.  But it's so worth it, right? Have a great Thanksgiving! Will be doing some fun Christmas crafts this week- check back for a neat idea on Children's Keepsake ornaments!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pierson Reese. Linking up to some of these great parties.