40th Birthday Cake Design and Other Great 40th Birthday Ideas

Turning 40 is a milestone in anyone's life so finding a unique 40th birthday cake design for the birthday gal or guy is just as important as the party itself. Read on to find...

I really like this simple chocolate gataux, jazzed up with a 40th birthday candle

and some scrummy cherries.

Depending on how many people are going to be attending the party, you can easily create a specially designed cake for everyone to enjoy admiring and eating. Whether it is a funny birthday, a sentimental birthday or a mixture of both, that 40th birthday cake design should somehow relate to the personality and life experiences of the honored guest.

You can find cake pan shapes for just about any theme you want to use for a 40th birthday cake design. Ideas for cake shapes to help celebrate 40 years of living are:

• football or baseball shape for the sports fan
• guitar shape for the musician
• fish shape

  for the fisherman

• flower shape

  for the gardener

• moon shape for the astronomer
• cat, bird or dog shape. A Garfield Cake

  would be a purrfect (sorry couldn't resist!) for a 40 year old cat lover

Creating with Icing

40th birthday cake ideas can be simply square or round and be decorated with different colors of icing instead. It is not hard to create shapes, squiggles and patterns with icing because you can purchase special icing bags to use with interchangeable tips called "couplers".

Couplers are shaped to produce specific designs when the icing is squeezed out of the bag and through the coupler. Those pretty roses, leaves and other decorations you see on top of birthday cakes have all been made using an icing bag and coupler. In addition, you can make your own icing using this traditional recipe:

• one cup of powdered sugar
• two teaspoons of milk
• two teaspoons of light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• food coloring

The advantage of making your own icing is that you can use any kind of food coloring you want and create original and colorful designs on the cake.

Ideas for 40th Birthday Cakes

Everyone has heard of those "over the hill" themed birthdays but what about an "over the hill" birthday cake? This is sure to get some laughs as it looks funny but tastes great. Begin with baking a larger, rectangular cake. Then take two smaller square cakes and place them on top of the larger one in a way that resembles a hill with steps. Purchase a male or female figurine and position it so that it appears as if it has lost its footing and is about to tumble down the cake.

If someone seems to be depressed about their upcoming 40th birthday, you can try a little reverse psychology and make a "graveyard" cake using black, purple and blue icing and cemetery icons like tombstones or gnarled trees. For added humor, put 29 candles instead of 40 candles on the cake and see if the birthday honoree notices the error.

You can also find many other 40th birthday cake design ideas by searching the internet or asking family and friends what they think would be a good theme for the party. If you don’t feel particularly creative, check with your local bakery. Without a doubt they will have a book of appropriate cake design ideas.

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