How to Make a Candy Cake

Thanks to my friend Laurie who sent me this amazing idea for a candy cake!

A cake made out of your favorite candy bars – who wouldn’t love one!

I think it is the perfect gift for just about any chocolate/candy loving person in your life.  I know a few college age boys who would love one!!

Here’s what Laurie has to say about her idea:

Here is an idea that I’ve used for years for our parties and gift-giving… Candy Cakes! It’s been so much fun making them for family and friends. The “cakes” usually end up being the hit of the party. My daughters like making them for their friends and I love seeing their variations.

These Candy Cakes usually cost less than $10 to make and can be customized for any event. They can be made up well in advance since they don’t get stale like real cakes. They can be assembled anywhere (even in a hotel room if you’re traveling). I usually use round tins with solid colored sides (I discard the lids) but as you can see in my photo, other shapes work well too.

For the cake shown below Laurie found a 25-bar variety pack of candy bars at Target for $6.99 (did not use them all) plus a few smaller bars for the top tier. The tins were 50 cents at her local thrift shop (she runs them through the dishwasher first and I bet you could find some at the dollar store too).

 Thanks to Laurie for the great step by step tutorial!

Step One:  Gather supplies.  candy bars, tins without lids, cardboard circle, foil, double sided tape, paper shred.

 

Step Two:  Cover cardboard circle with foil.  Attach several strips of tape to top edge of largest tin.

 

Step Three:  Place tin upside down (i.e. taped side down) in center of cardboard circle.

 

Step Four: Attach a smaller tin on top if desired using tape.

 

Step Five:  Using strips of double sided tape, attach candy bars around bottom tin.

 

Step Six:  Use several strips on each candy bar to make sure they adhere well.

 

Step Seven: Keep adding candy bars around tin.  Try not to eat any!

 

Step Eight: Finished with bottom tin.

 

Step Nine: Repeat on top tin with smaller candy bars.

 

Step Ten:  Add paper shred if desired.

 

Step Eleven:  Add a paper strip on top…

 

or a bow….

 

or a fun toy or even a tiny blue pail filled with even more candy.

 

Perfect for any occasion!

 

Wrap in cellophane for the finishing touch and easy transport.

 

Who are you going to make your first candy cake for??

Birthday Gift Idea – Through the Decades

Note:

Please excuse my lack of posting here at Homebased Parties.  A combination of technical problems due to a mean old blog hacker and a case of tennis elbow have slowed me up a bit!  I’m getting back into the swing of things here though and have lots of fun party ideas to share with you.  If you have a fun party idea to share I’d love to hear about – send me pictures!  You could be a Party Guest here on the blog!!

As you may remember I celebrated a pretty big birthday earlier this month!!  In fact I turned 5 decades old.

My friend Sherra who lives in Atlanta wasn’t able to be at the party but she sent me the most amazing gift.  I wanted to share it with you because it is the perfect gift idea for someone celebrating one of those milestone birthdays – the ones that end in zero!

She helped me take a trip down memory lane, through the 5 decades of my life.

Of course, who doesn’t love to receive packages in the mail?!  Especially when they are filled with lots of other packages!

 

In fact there was a present and a picture  for each decade of my life!
 
I was so cute back in the 60’s!

 

Sherra found this amazing vintage – yes I guess I am old enough for something from my childhood to be called vintage – party book.  It was perfect and I absolutely love it.  It reminds me of a Betty Crocker Children’s cookbook I had as a child!

 

And then the 70’s, not such a great look with my long straggly hair.

 

But I actually squealed when I opened the 70’s gift – it was a coaster made from an old 45 of Donny Osmond singing “Go Away Little Girl” and an entire CD of Donny!  I love it!!  Yes, I was one of those teenage girls with posters of Donny all over my bedroom!

 

And then the 80’s  complete with my nice permed hair and my first baby.

 

What a better gift for the 80’s than a collection of great 80’s hits!  Remember Wake Me Up Before You Go – Go by Wham and Change of Heart by Cyndi Lauper?!

 

And then there was my business look of the 1990’s

 

I love the Southern Living magazine so was excited to get their collection of  their best recipes from the 1990’s!

  
Think I’m looking a little better in the 2,000’s!

 

One of my dreams was to travel to Italy with some girlfriends to celebrate our 50th birthdays together and take cooking classes.  Unfortunately that dream isn’t going to come true this year (I’m going to England instead!!) but Sherra sent me another cookbook with lots of yummy Italian recipes so I can teach myself!

 

And then there was the Here & Now.

 

This present was some of my favorite things!  Pretty notebooks and some great motivational art!
 

Wasn’t that an amazing gift!  Sherra did all of her shopping on Etsy.