Happy Birthday Neal

 On Thanksgiving Neal celebrated his birthday.  I had seen this cake design on Youtube and wanted to make it for him.  the original cake had M & M's on top instead of the beach and water.  It also was tied with a pretty ribbon (which isn't all that manly so was replaced).  I made a standard chocolate boxed cake mix in two 9" cake pans.  Let them cool completely in the fridge over night.  This makes icing the cake a whole lot easier.  Then level both cakes so that they stack nicely.  Put your favourite frosting in between the two cakes.  Then ice the top of the cake.  This makes it easier to decorate.  I used vanilla icing in between the two cakes.  I used vanilla icing on the top and then, in a separate bowl mixed in some of the blue icing into the white icing to create the water and some waves.  For the sand I used crushed graham cracker crumbs.  Then you can add Teddy Grams and umbrellas.  Lastly I iced the sides of the cake with chocolate icing and pressed the KitKat bars into the icing.  The last step is to tie the bow around the cake.  It's not mandatory, but it looks nice and gives the chocolate bars some added support.  And there you have it, the KitKat cake.

  Neal had a great birthday even though, because of the pandemic he was not able to have his whole family and friends over.  We did have his parents and my parents over for lunch.  I made a large sheet pan pizza, party sandwiches and a Greek salad.  We also had cake, fruit and some cookies.  

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!!