Sand Castle Cake

A well-decorated cake is often the centerpiece of a party. With these instructions, you can make the cake for this beach party look like the prettiest sand castle on the beach.

The easiest way to start is with a castle-shaped cake pan. Check out this Enchanted Castle Cake Pan and Nordic Ware's Castle Bundt Cake pan. Simply bake your cake, frost and cover with brown sugar or cookie crumbs for the sand.

To make the cake on your own, follow these instructions for building a castle just like one on the beach.

• Bake a two-layer cake of desired size such as 10-inch square or 9" x13" rectangle and one round layer, 8" or 9".
• Place the round cake layer in the top center of the other cake.
• Frost both cakes once cooled. This doesn't have to be perfect because you will be covering with sand.
• Sprinkle brown sugar or crushed cookies over the entire cake to give the look of sand.
• Frost five ice cream cones and roll each in brown sugar or cookie crumbs.
• Place one ice cream cone on each corner of the square cake and one on top of the round cake layer. These are the turrets of the sand castle.
• Add paper flags to the top of each cone and embellish with beach toys scattered around the cake, if desired.