When Sally Barlow plans a birthday party for her kids, you can bet it is a vibrant affair.

"We go all out for birthday parties," said Barlow, a graphic designer with a flair for bringing creative pizazz to all she does.

Each party has a theme, and the birthday child dresses in costume, anything from a pirate to a ladybug. "And I custom-make all the invitations, of course," she said.

But the birthday cake itself, well, takes the cake.

As a birthday approaches, Barlow surveys her kids to see what their interests are, fishing for a party theme.

"I usually let them decide right before their birthday," she said. "They seem to change their mind every other week, but I let them decide."

Once the children choose what theme they want, Barlow, the creative whiz, gets going.

"I usually find my ideas on the Internet," Barlow said. "I find cakes that I like, and take different ideas from different pictures.

"I usually sketch out the idea and have a vision for the end product," she said.

Once she has the idea for what she wants the cake to look like, she enlists the assistance of her sister-in-law, Lannette Schmitz, a chef and experienced cake decorator.

"Lannette makes the frosting and I do the decorating. Or, I 'direct' the decorating," Barlow said with a laugh. "I have the initial idea and Lannette has a lot more experience. She knows how to make the frosting, how thick to make it, how to color it. Lannette has a lot more of the expertise of how to do things, and I have more of the creative vision. We are definitely a good team in that way."

Schmitz learned cake-baking from her mother, and also through trial and error. Barlow had only used a cookbook once in making a cake, and that was a sailboat cake. The rest of her creations have taken shape after finding pictures. She uses a box mix for the cake itself, constructing the base of the cake out of shapes cut from baked cake.

A three-dimensional cake of two kittens was Barlow's first creative cake she made herself. The kitten shapes were formed from baking a cake mix in two small loaf pans. The frosting was made with cream cheese; red licorice strings formed a ball of yarn and candies were placed on the kittens' faces for eyes.

"I was so proud of myself!" Barlow said.

Amanda Baker of Sturgis said she always enjoyed baking cakes, but learned a lot about the finer points of cake decorating from taking a Wilton class at Hobby Lobby this spring.

"In the basic course, we learned how to do basic stuff, like how to frost a cake correctly, how to do roses, some borders," Baker said.

She likes to make cakes using shaped pans of certain characters that are popular among kids, such as a castle, which she decorated for her niece, or a race car, which she made for her son. These pans come with instructions for how to decorate them, but, Baker said, "I thought, this is cool, but maybe I should learn a little more."

The Wilton decorating class was a four-week class of two-hour sessions weekly. Students baked cakes, made frosting and practiced various techniques. "The course was half price when I took it," Baker said, "so it only cost me $17.50. I think that it was well worth the money."

Baker said the class helped her with everything about cake decorating, showing how to do it the correct way.

"The biggest thing is finding the right consistency of frosting" for successful decorating, Baker said. "With Lightning McQueen, my frosting was way too thick. And I was using disposable bags, and I broke two bags before I got the cake done."

Some tips she learned from the class were about how to find that proper consistency of frosting.

"You make one batch of frosting, but you set aside so much for your different consistencies," Baker said. "You start with a stiffer consistency, then thin it down." You will need a stiffer consistency for roses, a medium consistency for stars and a thinner consistency for leaves, Baker said.

"If it gets too warm, you have to take a break, put it in the fridge or freezer," Baker said. "You can also run your hands under cool water."

Schmitz makes frosting for decorating using the industry standard recipe, Buttercream Frosting, published in Wilton cake decorating books. She recommends using Crisco brand shortening rather than substituting an off brand, and for better flavor and consistency both, she recommnds using real butter rather than margarine, which is listed as an option in the recipe.

"I always use butter," Schmitz said.

"You need different consistencies" of frosting, Schmitz said, "and if it is too think, it doesn't spread nicely. To get it to do what you want it to do, you don't want to mix too much air into it so that you have bubbles when you are trying to spread it."

Cake making can be somewhat forgiving, Schmitz said, pointing out that quite a few errors can be smoothed over.

"You can always patch it with frosting," she said, but also gives this advice for cake decorators: Make sure you don't try something new when you are making a cake on a deadline.

"Once I tried a white chocolate buttercream instead of my trusty recipe," Schmitz said, laughing about the results. "I had to scrape it off and re-do it!"

Making a creative birthday cake is not something to decide at the last minute, Barlow said, especially since her cakes are usually made of all edible ingredients.

"Thomas the Train was really time-consuming," Barlow said. "I bet that took us six hours to make. The pirate ship was really easy compared to the train. I baked the cake the night before, and decorating took not more than two or three hours."

"It's a planning thing," Barlow said. "You definitely have to plan, especially when everything is edible."

Barlow has been making cakes for about two years, after having observed her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, as well as some self-teaching. Along the way, she has learned a few lessons.

"When I made the pirate ship, I didn't let the cake cool enough, and it kept crumbling apart," she said. "The shape ended up OK in the end, but it should have been twice that size. That's how much it crumbled!"

Is it hard for Barlow to slice and serve a cake after she's spent so much time planning, prepping and frosting?

"Not for me, it's not. I take the picture and after that, I'm good to go. They can do whatever they want with it."

She admits she may not even sample the cake she has made, saying, "I'm not actually a huge cake fan. Growing up, I never had cakes. I just wanted a cheesecake. That was always me, I wanted the cheesecake."

Contact Marinell Scott Thornburg at marinell.thornburg@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8280.

Buttercream Frosting

This frosting from Wilton is considered the standard for cake decorating. Wilton says it is perfect for spreading and decorating. Consistency is key to successful decorating, so make plenty of frosting for extra practice.

Makes about 3 cups

Tip: Always make more frosting than you think you will need. If you tint the frosting various colors, you will want to make sure you have plenty of frosting in each color, as color matching more frosting later is practically impossible.

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening, such as Crisco

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract (dark vanilla will add color to the frosting)

4 cups confectioner's sugar (approximately 1 pound), sifted

2 tablespoons milk

y For medium consistency frosting:

In a large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla.

Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed.

Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often with spatula.

When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry.

Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use.

Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored two weeks.

Rewhip before using.

y For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add two tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk.

y For Pure White Icing (stiff consistency), omit butter; substitute an additional 1/2 cup shortening for butter and 1/2 teaspoon No-Color Butter Flavor. Add up to 4 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk to thin for icing cakes.

Note: Changes in Wilton's traditional recipes have been made due to trans fat-free shortening replacing hydrogenated shortening.

Source: Wilton Yearbook