Cardboard Cake

This is the cardboard variation of the Cake - 

it is much, much faster to make!

If you cut a little "X" in the top of each slice, candles can be 

inserted.The candles themselves are so much fun for the 

kids to put together. We did two types: twisted chenille stems 

(aka pipe cleaners) and a popsicle stick, with sticky craft foam 

for the flame. Other candle ideas: short pencil, straws, short 

dowels, old marker, uncooked spaghetti/fettucine, and 

even a candle cut out of cardboard.

The kids got to frost their cake pieces with markers and top 

them with foam sticky 'fondant' shapes. If I'd had the courage 

to let them loose with their glitter glue tubes, 

those would have been rather nice, too.

Now for the patterns. Here is a printable one-piece one for 

cardstock. For these, make 8 pieces to make up a whole cake. 

The cake slices we made today were extra-thick corrugated 

cardboard (we had that lying around), which was far too 

thick to fold, so I cut the sides as individual pieces 

and glued them together.

For a smaller cake with 12 pieces, try this pattern 

from Better Homes and Gardens.

And if you aren't in the mood for the whole print-trace-cut 

thing, you could buy them as cake- slice favor boxes from 

cake decorating stores and online. Or gatecrash a wedding 

and collect the leftovers (not that I recommend it).

Enjoy!