• Invite the kids into the kitchen to help create holiday cakes.fun in the kitchen image by Renata Osinska from Fotolia.com
  
  Use simple boxed cake mixes to create holiday characters and creatures the kids will love. Enlist their help to decorate these cakes which can perform double duty as the centerpiece and the dessert for your holiday party. They will enjoy creating them as much as they will enjoy eating them.
  
  

Halloween Ghost Cake

• Bake a cake in a 13-by-9-inch sheet pan, as directed on the box. Draw the shape of a ghost on a piece of wax paper and cut it out to create a template. Place the wax paper template over the cooled cake and use a large knife to cut out the shape of the ghost. Frost the ghost shaped cake with white frosting. Use black gel icing to draw an outline of the shape you want for the ghost's mouth. Separate a chocolate cream sandwich cookie. Remove the cream center with a knife. Crumble the remaining wafers and fill in the mouth with the crumbs. Place two additional cookies to represent the eyes.
  
  

Halloween Black Cat Cake

• Bake a chocolate cake mix in two round cake pans according to the instructions. Reserve one round cake for the cat's body. Cut the other round cake into pieces for the tail, head and ears. Start by cutting a crescent moon shape from one edge of the cake, leaving a smaller round cake remaining. From the remaining round piece, cut straight across about 2 inches from the bottom. Divide this piece in half to form two ears. Place the straight-edged side of the small cake above the whole round cake, so that you have assembled a head on top of the body. Position the ears and tail. Frost with dark chocolate frosting or frosting that has been blackened with food coloring. Add a candy corn nose, gumdrop eyes and a red string licorice mouth.
  
  

Thanksgiving Turkey Cake

• Bake a cake in two round cakes pans as instructed. Assemble and frost with chocolate frosting, just as you would a regular round layer cake. Frost an entire cupcake or muffin with the same color of frosting. Place it on top of one side of the cake. Add color-coated chocolate candies to the cupcake to represent the eyes of the turkey. Place a candy corn beak and cut some red fruit leather to hang as the gizzard. Assemble feathers made from gumdrops on wooden skewers and stake into the backside of the turkey cake.
  
  

Christmas Santa Cake

• Bake a white cake mix in a large, heart-shaped cake pan. Turn the heart shaped cake upside down, so the pointed end will be the hat top and the two rounded ends will be the beard. Create red and pink frosting with food coloring added to white frosting. Use gel icing to outline the hat, face and beard sections. Use a piping bag to fill in the hat section with red frosting, the face with pink frosting and the beard with white frosting. Use gumdrops to create Santa's eyes and nose and top the point of the hat with a marshmallow.
  
  

Christmas Gingerbread Man Cake

• Bake a 13-by-9-inch sheet cake. Cut the cake into the shape of a gingerbread man. Frost the gingerbread man with chocolate frosting. Decorate with gel icing and candies such as gumdrops, white chocolate chips, peppermint rounds, licorice rope and color-coated chocolates.