My mother and grandmother made this kid birthday cake for my son, Caleb’s, birthday. It is made of yellow cake mixes. We decorated all the fish and bears the day before. We made seaweed from fruit roll ups. The Teddy Grahams were made into snorklers and mermaids. The mermaids were made using fruit roll ups and blue sugar.
We used graham cracker crumbs for sand. The boat was made with a Twinkie cake. The mast was made of a fruit roll up and licorice was used as a rope. Life savers were painted with red icing to look like “life savers”. Blue Jell-O was used to resemble water. The logs were pretzel sticks. It took several hours to complete this kid birthday cake, but it was a fun activity for the three generations to do together.
More Beach Kid Birthday Cakes
Cake by Kelly P., Champaign, IL
I got this unique birthday cake idea from this website since my theme was “Splash Party” and we had a bunch of different pools and water activities in the backyard. But I altered it a little bit from the ones I read.
I found it much easier to make a Jello jiggler of the Berry Blue Jello and just cut it into whatever shape I wanted. I also didn’t have to cut the cake at all to do it this way. I simply placed the 1/3-inch thick Jello jiggler onto the cake after applying a slightly thinner layer of frosting on the top where it would sit.
The remainder of the top of the unique birthday cake was slightly thicker in frosting and to soften the appearance of the harder edges, I used a frosting bag and cheap plastic tip to make wave edges.
For the scuba bears on this unique birthday cake I used clear writing gel but I wouldn’t recommend that again – it is too pale and transparent on the Teddy Grahams. I also bought the gummy Life Savers and stretched them to put the Teddy Grahams into like life preservers. They sat on the “pool” beautifully with just a little frosting for “glue”.
Buy lots of blue food coloring for this unique birthday cake!! The ready-made frosting in plastic containers – even the Whipped version, which is what I used mainly- can be dyed well. I did use the non-whipped version for the plants and for the edging; it seemed to be able to keep its shape better.
Cake by Shelley S., Hodgdon, Maine
This unique birthday cake was made for my daughter’s 18th birthday. She was getting ready to take a trip to Florida and loves the beach. I decided it was too much work to give the teddy graham bears suits, so it became a nude beach instead.
I used a 9×13 cake but you could use any size. The ocean is made with blue raspberry Jello Jiggler that was made in a cookie sheet type pan, un-molded and added to the cake.
I frosted the entire cake with a layer of white icing (I made it thinner where the Jello was going to go) and then I put the Jiggler on one half of the cake, I also put a smaller piece of Jiggler on top of the first Jiggler layer on one side to make a “wave”.
I then frosted the sides of the ocean blue with frosting colored with Wilton paste food coloring. After I frosted the unique birthday cake I put the “beach” on the other end of the cake with graham cracker crumbs.
For the surf I used some blue Jello (made the regular way). I had used the mixer to mash and to that I added some thawed cool whip. I piped the Jello/Cool whip mixture onto the edge of the wave and the beach to form the surf action.
I used different colored airheads to make the beach towels, the inner tubes are gummy lifesavers, and the shark fin is an airhead triangle slipped into the Jello.
A tip: make sure you cut a slit into the Jello Jiggler where you want to insert something because if you try to just push it in it pops right back out.
The surfboard is a piece of gum cut to shape. The beach balls are colored malted milk balls and the NUDE BEACH sign is made with an airhead wrapped around two birthday candles that I wrote on with Betty Crocker Easy Writer food pens. My daughter and her friends loved this unique birthday cake.
I used two 9″ round cake pans. The top layer had to be cut into about an inch and a half and scooped out. I added blue Jell-O that was almost set. You then have to allow it to set. I made blue icing.
The sailboat is made by icing a Twinkie and using a wooden skewer for the mast and fruit roll-up for the sail. There are two teddy graham sailors on board. There is a white lifesaver on the boat that I added red icing to. The boat is tied to the dock (pile) with red string liquorice.
The pile is made from stick chocolates. The seagull I cut out from two white marshmallows and added the beak, eyes and wings with yellow, black and blue icing respectively.
I iced the bikinis, swim trunks, snorkels and masks on the teddy grahams. I added mermaid tails to some of the teddy grahams made from fruit roll-ups that I cut out. I dotted the eyes on the goldfish crackers with black icing and made air bubbles around the fish with white icing. The seaweed is green fruit roll-up.
The mermaid is sitting on a pile of chocolate-covered raisins for rocks.
The treasure chest on the side of the kid birthday cake was made from miniature chocolates and I piped the lock and other hardware onto it with yellow and red icing and added candy as treasure.
Finally, around the base of the kid birthday cake I added crushed graham crackers as sand, Raisinettes as rocks, and white lifesavers.
Cake by Tammy L., Saratoga Springs, NY
To make this kid birthday cake I used two 9×13 layer cakes and stacked them on top of each other. It was frosted with a store bought chocolate frosting. I crushed up nilla wafers to make the sand and used spray blue cake color to “airbrush” the waves and spray white for the whitecaps on the waves.
The little boy and camping accessories were found in the Barbie isle. I drilled small holes in the fire for the candles. My son always camped with his Rotweiller, so I found a small Rotweiller at a local craft store and even found a mini mug with my son’s name on it. I used a toothpick and a mini marshmallow for the “marshmallow” roast. In the background I had the rest of the Barbie camping accessories (tent, table, food, etc.)
It was a cute kid birthday cake and he still plays with the camping kit.
Cake by Janell M., Portland, ME
I got this kid birthday cake idea out of a magazine and thought it was great, so when my friend was having a party for her son’s 1st birthday I volunteered to make the cake, just so I could try it. The hardest part was finding all the candy, but once I did it seem to fall into place.
I made two 9 x 13 cakes and layered one onto the other then cut a kidney shaped whole into the top layer and iced the cake with white frosting and a little blue in and around the hole. Then I filled the hole with blue Jell-O and let the kid birthday cake sit overnight.
I used goldfish crackers on the side and put dots of decorating gel as bubbles. I used cake sprinkles as the ocean floor and air head candy that I cut and fanned to look like seaweed. The sand was crushed graham crackers and I used the decorating gel again to paint bathing suits on Teddy grahams.
I used gum for the beach towels and surf boards and round peppermint candies as beach balls. The volleyball net is airhead candy again that’s wrapped around stick pretzels. I used gumdrops and licorice for the pails and shovels. The lifesavers are gummy candies and the lifeguard chair is made of graham crackers and pretzel sticks. It was so fun to make this kid birthday cake and it got all sorts of ohhs and ahhs.
I bought a frozen cake. I colored 1/2 the icing blue and left 1/2 white. I frosted 3/4 of the unique birthday cake with the blue. I made a curve with the blue icing (made it look like the shore). I frosted the other with the white icing.
I then crushed vanilla wafers and sprinkled them over the white icing. Placed people around the fire made with gum rocks and the candles in the middle. I made surfboards and beach towels with fruit stripe gum. The floats were made with gummy lifesavers. The fish, octopus, and other sea life were gummies also.
Cake by Jennifer C., Manchester, CT
Kid Birthday Cake Recipe:
- Chocolate Cake mix
- 2 Cans White Frosting
- Blue food coloring
- 1 box Instant Jell-O in Blue Raspberry
- Runts candy
- brown sugar
- teddy grahams
- Swedish fish
I prepared a 9×13 cake as directed. While the cake cooled I put together the Jell-O and put in the fridge to semi set. I cut a rectangle shape in half, not cutting all the way down, then spooned the rest out until I had a good shape.
I mixed one can frosting with blue food coloring to get my water color, and half of the other can with some extra chocolate frosting make the sand color. I then frosted the “beach” kid birthday cake half with the tan color frosting and then the “ocean” side with the cut out blue doing the sides and the entire inside of the cut out, I made it wave up over the beach. I then got the Jell-O out, mixed it up since it was still not set and poured it into the cut out. I then refrigerated the whole kid birthday cake so it could set.
While I was waiting I decorated Teddy Grahams giving them little bikinis, hair flowers and swim trunks. When the cake was ready I slipped Swedish fish into the “ocean”. I sprinkled brown sugar on the beach to make it sandy. I then made beach blankets for the bears to lay on. I made a little fruit platter to place the runts on and let a couple bears swim in the ocean and one got to surf (I made a board out of a triscuit).I also put a little drink umbrella on the “beach”.
Cake by Megan M., Kansas City, MO
My cousin used this kid birthday cake recipe for her daughter’s 4th birthday party. The party had a “Hawaiian Luau” theme, so she had to come up with an original birthday cake recipe. She decided to make a beach!
For this kid birthday cake recipe, she used a large sheet cake pan and iced the entire cake with white icing. She then made “waves” by spreading on thick blue icing. The beach is crushed graham crackers. The palm trees are pretzels, and the leaves are Fruit by the Foot, cut into leaf shapes. She made crabs on the beach with red icing, and used gummy dolphins in the “ocean”.
Cake by Karina & Sarah Ma & Forsyth, Edmonton, Canada
My friend Sarah and I make cakes for our co-workers all the time. Sarah’s birthday cake had to be a very special and unique birthday cake. Sarah has worked on cruise ships and loves all things tropical. I found the teddy bear pool party and beach party cakes online.
I baked a white cake in a 9×13 Pyrex dish and let it cool. I cut out a hole and installed the Jello blue pool – leaving it to chill overnight. The day of my friends and I had a fantastic time decorating with the $50 worth of candy I bought.
For my eldest daughter’s 8th birthday, we hosted a party at one of the local city pools. Being huge fans of the ocean, we decided a beach kid birthday cake was in order! I had always wanted to try using piping gel, and this provided the perfect opportunity.
I used a large sheet cake pan and two box cake mixes for this birthday cake recipe. Obviously, it could easily be made using a smaller pan and less cake batter. Once baked and cooled, I iced the entire cake with a thin layer of white icing. The “sand” was created using granulated brown sugar. The “ocean” was created using piping gel tinted with blue icing paste and “roughed up” with the tip of my icing spatula to make it look like waves.
I striped two sides of my icing bag with the same blue icing paste so that when I piped the swirl border, it had an ocean-foam effect. Applying the icing in a swirling motion would achieve the same effect. A beach umbrella and towel from a Barbie play set, along with ocean-themed candles with the wicks cut off provided the rest of the decoration.
Of all the cakes I have made, I believe this one was my favorite kid birthday cake recipe.
Cake by Dawn G., Buffalo Grove, IL
I got this kid birthday cake idea from a cake magazine and also the internet.
I decorated the teddy grams as swimmers, snorkelers, and mermaids. I made a two layer cake and cut the top layer apx. 3/4 of an inch deep and poured in blue jello, that was setting (about the consistency of runny pudding). I put crushed graham crackers around the cake for sand.
The kid birthday cake was a bit time consuming, but was worth it when I saw all of the kids faces.
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