How to Make Purse Birthday Cakes for a Girl's Birthday Party

Purse birthday cakes are not as difficult to make as you might think. It's a creative way to make individual cakes for all of the party goers, but you can easily adapt this to a single large purse cake (see Tips).

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1 round, square or octagonal snack cake
• Knife
• Serving plate
• Zip top bag
• Cake icing (any color)
• 1 candy licorice or candy straw (Twizzlers or Sour Punch Straws)
• Candy for cake decorations
• Large marshmallow (optional)
• Green fruit leather (optional)
• Scissors

1. 
    
   Snack cake cuts when viewed from top of cake

   Trim 1/4 inch from one side and 1/2 inch from the opposite side, if using a round snack cake. This will provide a flat surface for the cake to stand on its end on the plate. This does not have to be done if using an octagonal or square snack cake. See image.

2. Place the icing into the zip top bag and snip one of the bottom corners off. This will create a cheap, disposable icing bag. Applying even pressure to the sides of the bag, squeeze a small line of icing onto the serving plate. Stand the snack cake on the end from which you cut 1/4 inch, on top of this line. The icing will act as glue to hold the cake up on the plate.

3. Place a drop of icing onto either end of the licorice and attach it like a handle across the top portion of the snack cake. You might have to trim the licorice depending on the size of your cake.

4. Add drops of icing from the piping bag to attach candy decorations to the outside of the snack cake to resemble jewels on a purse. You can also draw a line with the icing across the top of the cake to make a zipper, if desired.

5. 
    
   Basic leaf design

   Add optional leaves made of green fruit leather. Dip scissors into hot water and cut small leaf shapes from the fruit leather. The sizes of these will depend upon the size of your snack cake. To cut a leaf shape, cut out a small oval, then trim the two ends to points. See image.

6. 
    
   Basic marshmallow flower design with a red candy center

   Add optional flowers to the cake by dipping scissors into hot water and cutting a single large marshmallow across into 4 flat circles. Flatten these out to oval shapes and attach them with icing around the fruit leather "leaves" in a circle as flower petals. Each marshmallow will make one flower. Use more icing in the center of where the marshmallow petals come together to attach a candy in a contrasting color to be the flower center. See image.

Tips & Warnings

• For pre-made snack cakes, try Little Debbie Creme Filled Cupcake or Zebra Cake, Hostess Ding Dongs or Drake's Ring Dings. To make a single large cake instead, substitute 2 8 inch pre-baked round cakes (uniced) for the round snack cake. Sandwich the cake layers together by spreading icing between them. Then cut of the bottom inch and the top 2 inches from the large cake "sandwich," and proceed to decorate as directed.

References

• Purse Birthday Cake