Throw a camping themed birthday party with the cutest camp fire cake ever – No cake decorating experience necessary!
We love birthdays in our house. Every year I pick a new birthday theme for my kids and this year it just seemed like a natural choice to throw a camping birthday party for my son! Instead of spending tons of money on a camping themed cake from a bakery, I decided to make one myself. While I love baking, I haven’t quite mastered the art of cake decorating so I enlisted my local grocery store for help making this awesome camp fire cake.
With a store bought, simply frosted, birthday cake, a few camping cake toppers from amazon and some fire colored candles, I made the cutest camp fire cake ever! All in all, I think I spent around $35 on this easy birthday cake idea. Considering how expensive bakery birthday cakes are I felt like this was a MAJOR win! Keep reading to get all the details on this fun, easy, and adorable camping birthday cake.
More Birthday Ideas
DIY Construction Cake | Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats | Birthday Party Snack Ideas
Camping Birthday Cake Supplies
Store bought cake (I used 1/4 sheet cake from my local grocery store bakery)
Small plastic figurines (think trees, woodland animals, tent, canoe, hammock etc. Try searching camping cake toppers on amazon)
Pretzel sticks
Yellow, orange, and red candles
How To Make A Camp Fire Cake
1. Order A Simple Grocery Store Cake
Here’s a fun cake hack – You can order a simple, clean frosted cake from your local grocery store and decorate it your self! This money saving tip is perfect if you’re in a time crunch or need specific decorations not offered by your local store. When ordering the cake ask for a clean frosted cake with piping around the edges. As you can see from the picture below, my baker got a little fancy with the swirled frosting. Not exactly what I wanted but I went with it and I think it turned out pretty cute!
2. Get The Cake Toppers
I started this whole camping birthday cake process by searching “camping birthday cake toppers” on amazon. You can find just about any size, shape, and color cake toppers. I bought a $10 cake topper set that came with a tent, birthday sign, some roasting marshmallows, and various sized plastic trees. Add in a few woodland creatures from your kid’s toy box and you’re ready to decorate! Check out all the options on Amazon.
3. Create The Camping Scene
Start by added a row of varying sized trees toward the back edge of the cake. Once you have the trees in place you can add the tent and forest creatures on each side.
Next, Build the Camp Fire! Break a few pretzel sticks in half and arrange them in the middle of the cake to look like a camp fire leaving room for your candles in the middle. Place 4-8 candles inside the pretzel camp fire. I used red, yellow, and orange candles so that it looked like fire even when they weren’t lit!
Finally, add in any extra pieces that came with your cake topper kit. I added a sign with “Happy Birthday” behind the camp fire, and a little squirrel eating pieces of broken pretzels next to the tent. Such an adorable camp fire cake!
This was truly one of my favorite DIY birthday cakes ever! The camping theme, the bonfire, and the look of glee on my son’s face when I lit the candles. This camp fire cake is absolutely perfect for your kid’s next birthday party. Heck, this camping cake would also be great for Boy/Girl Scouts, camp cook outs, and dads that love the great outdoors! DIY camping cake for the win!
