How To Make Four Different Number Cakes

When my son was getting ready to turn four, I knew I wanted to know how to make a number cake for him.

Not only that, I had seen this cool cake that had a cake inside a cake.

Have you seen these?

The one I saw was a green Christmas tree inside a white cake.

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So, of course, my head started spinning with ideas.

I wanted to make a number four cake with a number four inside!

O.k., so first. How in the world do you make a number cake?

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Options

You have several options.

Free-hand your number cake, if you’re good at that sort of thing.

Find a template online that ‘s the right size to print out and then cut your cake to match it.

Buy or borrow a cake pan in the specific shape .

Or, you can do what I did 🙂

After, what felt like loads of research, I found an awesome cake pan that I could shape into a four. Actually you can make it into any number, letter and/or several shapes that you could imagine.

The Wilton Countless Celebrations Cake Pan set solves all these problems 🙂

Side note: Make sure you shop around. The only place I could find it in a store near me had it for about twice as much!!! Thankfully they price matched what I had found it for online. If you don’t want to worry about shopping around, get it here for the cheapest I found it anywhere!

So, I knew I was definitely going to do a regular number cake but I love the idea of doing the cake inside a cake idea too.

I was not keen though on getting and/or finding number cookie cutters on top of having gotten the cake pan, but that was not going to stop me 🙂

“A party without cake is just a meeting”

― Julia Child

But, before I get into that let me just share the four different types of number cakes I’m sharing.

• A regular number cake.
• A regular cake in the shape of a number with a number or shape inside the cake.
• A chocolate chip cookie cake.
• A cupcake cake.

How to Make a Number Cake

The way the Wilton cake pan set works is with inserts.

It’s a 9 x 14 cake pan with a grid as the bottom. It comes with several different shaped inserts that help with making the different shapes.

Oh, and yes, it comes with an instructions so you don’t have to worry about exactly how to position them.

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One thing to note: The inserts don’t snap in they only lay in the grid.

The first batter I used with the inserts was very thin.

It ended up seeping through and filling in one of the inserts.

It didn’t ruin the cake or anything, and it still did allow the shape to be made. So besides the instructions telling you not to fill up the inserts and the cake maybe being a bit shorter/flatter it’s fine.

Regular Number Cake

It’s as simple as following the instruction for the inserts.

Whether it a single number or if you need to make a double digit number, the paperwork that comes with it won’t steer you wrong.

Cake Inside a Number Cake

So this one will probably sound a little confusing at first but bear with me and it’ll make sense in the end.

This is the cake within a cake.

Like I mentioned, my son was turning four. Which meant a four inside the cake.

This meant baking the first cake, letting it cool, then carefully cutting out the four shape.

I was not patient enough to put the cut shape into the freezer, but it’s a good idea to do it. It’ll make it easier to do the next step.

Next, you’ll make your final batter and then put a layer in the bottom.

If you are doing a two, three, five, six, eight or nine you’ll definitely want to make sure they’re frozen then add enough batter to the bottom so it’ll be able to hold the number in place.

Remember: you’ll want to put the number in upside down so that when you flip the cake it’ll be right side up.

Then fill in the sides and make sure the top is at least covered a bit.

And just in case you’re wonder, no the inner already baked cake does not get dried out when it’s baked again.

Here’s what mine ended up looking like.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Number Cake

I couldn’t help myself.

I love chocolate chip cookies!

Not specialty ones, not fancy ones. Just delicious, simple ones.

I used the recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chips bag.

Once the batter is made place enough in your shape about a half inch thick.

I’ll be honest.

I didn’t measure 🙂

I just pressed a bunch into the pan and hoped it would come out o.k.!

And it did, so don’t worry about it too much.

I even had enough left over dough to roll about a dozen cookie dough balls so I can have a freshly baked cookie at some other point down the road. Win 🙂

Cupcake Number Cake

Like I said, I couldn’t stop myself lol 🙂

Well, actually let’s back up a bit.

Yes, it’s true, I wanted to try out making all these different styles of number cakes but there was another reason.

The number inside the number cake, in a best case scenario, would serve about 14 people.

I knew we had at least 30 adults and kids coming which meant one cake would not be enough.

I figured the cupcake cake might be more appealing to the kids plus it would be a 24 cupcake cake which meant we would/should then have enough.

(Needless to say we had plenty of leftovers but better to have some leftovers then run out.)

Carrying your Number Cakes

We decided to have his birthday at a jump place near us. That meant we needed a safe way to carry all these cakes there.

And, in case you’re like me, and you don’t have cake boxes at home they are readily available in stores near you.

Or, grab them here.

Don’t forget, you’ll need cake boards too.

I forgot so luckily I found a box that happened to have been a spaceship, car and lunch truck 🙂 that was the perfect size.

I wrapped them in aluminum foil and it worked perfectly!

In Conclusion

There you have it!

Four different ways to make your next number cake!

Whether it’s a cake within a cake, a chocolate chip cookie cake or a cupcake cake you’ll impress everyone at your next party 🙂

Have you tried any of these? Which one would you try first? Please share with us in the comments below!