I love a homemade cake, with homemade frosting as much as the next girl, but you know what? Sometimes there just isn’t time. And unless you want to spend upwards of $50 and have an extra 48 hours to spare, then it’s a grocery store cake makeover to the rescue! And that is A-OK!
But if that last minute cake you find needs a little upgrade, you’re in luck! Today we’re showing you six different ways to decorate a store bought cake! These cake hacks are super easy and involve almost no technical skill! Plus, you can get everything you need to do the cake makeovers from your pantry or while you’re at the store grabbing the cake! It’s party time.
Turn Your Store Bought Cake Into a Masterpiece
We’ll walk you through decorating cake hacks for these fun cakes and even tell you where you can steal all of the decoration swag.
- Circus Animal Cookie Cake
- Candy Crush Cake
- “UGH” Cake
- Smiley Face Cake
- Melted Ice Cream Cone Cake
- Sprinkle Cake
Circus Animal Cookie Cake Hack
To Make: Start with a primarily white or pink frosted cake. Remove any flowers or decorations on the top and sides using an offset spatula or knife. Smooth frosting where you removed the flowers. Starting on the top of the cake, place frosted animal cookies onto the frosting in a circular pattern. Then work in rows to cover the sides of the cake as well.
Candy Crush Cake Hack
To Make: Start with any grocery store cake! Find a selection of candies, lollipops and candy sticks and literally cover the entire top of the cake! I started by placing the lollipops and candy sticks in the cake, then I filled in with smaller candies. MORE IS MORE!
“UGH” Cake Hack
To Make: Start with any classic round or sheet cake, preferably with those colorful flowers! Place some store bought frosting (dyed to a color you like!) into a ziplock bag and cut a very small slit in one corner. Pipe a funny word, like “Ugh” (remember our ugh cake card!?). Turns a tacky cake into a trendy tacky cake. Haha!
If you’re concerned about writing on the cake, I love Lyndsay’s tutorial to help you out here!
Smiley Face Cake Hack
To Make: Start with a yellow frosted cake. (Ours was lemon!) Remove any additional decoration with an offset spatula or knife and smooth over frosting. Use black decorating gel (or black-dyed frosting in a piping bag) to draw a smiley face on top!
Melted Ice Cream Cone Cake Hack
To Make: Start with a white or pastel color frosted cake. Remove the decorations on the top half of the cake, but you can leave any decoration around the bottom, if you’d like! Place eight ounces of chocolate (chopped) in a bowl. Bring one cup of heavy cream to a boil over the stove and remove immediately. Pour over the chocolate and stir until melted and blended. Let cool slightly and then poor carefully over the top of the cake, being careful that it does not run over the edges. Then, “guide” the drips down the sides using a small spoon or spatula. Sprinkle with jimmies and place a cherry and ice cream cone on top. Let ganache cool completely.
Sprinkle Cake Hack
To Make: Start with any color frosted cake. Remove all additional trim/decoration and smooth frosting completely with a spatula or knife. Place the cake on top of a cookie sheet and use your hand to “scoop” large handfuls of sprinkles onto the sides of the cake. The cookie sheet will catch the extra sprinkles, so you can collect and reuse them. Once the sides are covered, pour sprinkles over the top of the cake to cover the entire top.
And there it is! you’re set for the next six years of birthdays! Haha!
Photos by Jeff Mindell | Cake Makeovers by Theresa Rountree | Creative Direction by Kelly Mindell
Sources: Yellow & Coral Cake Stands | Tall White Cake Stand | Short White Cake Stand | Extra Tall Candles
Which one is your favorite!? Have you ever given a store bought cake a little makeover?
Michelle says
I love how you upgraded these cakes, they look so much more personal! I especially like that Candy Crush cake (because it looks like you’ve put a lot of work into it)!
https://www.makeandmess.com
Mac says
Wow. These cakes are so beautiful!
Helen says
Candy Crush Cake is definitely my favorite! But they are all so beautiful! This is just such an awesome food DIY!
-Helen @ www.kaleidoscopespinning.com
Rob says
I had never thought about changing a premade cake. Talk about saving time and still achieving a great looking cake. Thanks for sharing!
Tiffany M says
These are great ideas! I would have never thought to use store bought cakes or to do the melted ice cream cone one. It looks awesome. Definitely going to grab a store bought cake soon when I’m in a rush! Just a tip I’ve been using with sprinkles- if you take a piece (strip, square, etc) of wax paper, lightly spray it with cooking spray and then pour sprinkles (round balls) on that. Gently pick up the piece of paper and place against cake and lightly rub- it transfers all those sprinkles right onto the cake without the huge mess. Just thought I’d share 🙂
beijos,
Tiffany
Kelly says
GREAT tip, Tiffany! Thank you!!
Lindsey Cook says
such a great idea, and not too difficult! love the rainbow sprinkle one!
Lindsey
The Fashion Barbie
Amy says
I decorate for a grocery store (decent pay and full time benefits are hard to find at small bakeries) and while I do make the typical tacky cakes for my case, you can get just about anything made by special order (in advance, not the day of!!)! 😛 We love it when customers come in and want us to do something different!
Kelly says
That’s amazing Amy! I have to say, my local store actually has some pretty amazing designs so I believe it! Thanks for the tip for those of us who plan a little further in advance!! 🙂
Chell says
I really dont know how this is saving u much time ur still taking time to go but a premade cake and taking stuff of off it then adding alot of work into when u could do all that making ur own cake
Kelly B says
I just had a birthday this past weekend. As a surprise, my husband ordered a birthday cake for me from a local bakery. The person taking the order didn’t write down any of his detailed instruction and when he arrived to pick up the cake it was simply iced in white frosting with nothing on it. The average person might’ve been frustrated, but he saw it as a blank canvas to personalize on his own! He and our girl had a great time decorating it themselves – I LOVED it. I may be ordering white cakes from now on just so I can do my own crazy decorating like yours!
Lyndsay // Coco Cake Land says
These are GOLD!! I love that animal cookie cake – too cute! (hehe, I love how grocery store cakes are totally “trending” … !!! xo
Brittany says
As a cake decorator at a grocery store… if you don’t like the cakes you can just call and ask for a cake iced in plain white icing or whatever color you want. It’s the exact same price as the ones in the case (or maybe cheaper), you can get the flavor you want, you won’t have thrown half of our hard work into the trash, and it saves removal time for you. Unless it’s a Saturday, you can just call the day before for most stores. You can still customize it, but you don’t have to deal with unwanted colors, flavors, etc.
PHENYOVIC says
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS. YOU’VE GIVEN ME SUCH A GREAT IDEA REGARDING A BIRTHDAY CAKE.
Nicole says
Please use the term ‘sprinkles’ in lieu of ‘jimmies’