What do 12yo boys have for birthday cakes?

[Hoaz]

At home I do a lot of baking, but usually fruit cake, flapjack, cookies, things that don't need decorating!

For children's birthdays I made a lot of effort when they were small, but once they got to school age they wanted a "proper" cake from a shop and I do have to admit that apart from saving me a job, they do seem to be much easier to cut up and wrap without sticking to the wrapping or turning to crumbs.

Anyway, that's what it's been for the last few years, but DS1 is 12 this year and having a Black Ops party at a lazer shooting place. All the cakes in the supermarkets seem to be either for young children, or adults.

Doe anyone have an idea for a very simple "Army" cake. if I get/make a plain white one and decorate it with green plastic soldiers and tanks it's going to look rubbish, isn't it?

[piebald]

This isnt very well thought out but what about if you had a chocolate cake iced in green and peel back the icing in the middle and mess it up like there has been a big explosion in it

[piebald]

You could get trees and stuff from a railway set

[EduCated]

Chocolate buttercream 'mud' with the toy soldiers/tanks etc?

[NorbertDentressangle]

How about a camouflage cake? Or a tank (I love the chocolate finger tank tracks!)

[upinthehills]

what about something like this. If you google "army cake" in google images you get lots of ideas.

[upinthehills]

X-post!

[Hoaz]

Thank you, some lovely ideas, but how do you wrap a butter cream cake to send pieces home?

[EduCated]

You don't. They eat it there and then

Or 3 batches of cake mix: one plain, one chocolate and one with green food colouring. Randomly blodge it into the cake tin so that when cut it looks like camouflage.

[Hoaz]

Ooh, now that's my kind of artisistic Edu! Might have to have a go during half term, to see how it turns

[EduCated]

I've done it with normal and chocolate cake mix before, which works pretty well! You could ice it normally so that it's a surprise when it's cut!