• Personalize your child's birthday cake with small details.birthday cake image by tomcat2170 from Fotolia.com
  
  Celebrating a birthday requires a little planning, preparation and research. Once the birthday child chooses a theme, then the next step is deciding on the appropriate cake for the party. Whether you have a sports fanatic, superhero lover or water enthusiast who depends on you to deliver a memorable cake, various ideas and options are available.
  
  

Towering Sand Castle Cake

• Boys and girls love the towering sand castle cake, and bakers love how easy it is to make and decorate. This cake is made entirely of Rice Krispies squares. To determine how much is required, take into consideration the number of party guests.
  
  A rectangular cake pan is ideal for making these treats. After baking, cut a large circle out of the center to use as the foundation for your castle. Make the castle as many layers as you'd like height. At least three thick layers work well. Have six each of triangle-shaped sugar ice cream cones as well as plain cones on hand for the decorating. The plain ones serve as bases and the sugar ones fit on top of the plain to act as turrets. Circle them around the edges of all the tiers. Place graham cracker stick pieces around the rim, and use whole graham cracker squares for the doors. Scatter candy seashells and rocks around the bottom of the cake for an added effect.
  
  You can opt to make a more traditional cake by using yellow cake mix instead of Rice Krispies squares. Going this route requires you to place graham crackers into a processor and turn the sticks into crumbs. Frost the entire cake with cream icing and cover with the crumbs. Decorate with cones, seashells and candy rocks.
  
  

Football

• Celebrating the birthday of a sports fanatic offers the perfect opportunity to incorporate this theme into his big day. Party supply, retail and baking goods stores have cake pans in stock in the shapes of sports equipment. A rectangular cake pan also works for this option, but just be prepared to have an image on hand and cut the shape out accordingly.
  
  For a football, you will need brown and white frosting and a star-shaped decorating tip. Determine how big to make the ball according to the number of party attendees. To begin, line the center of the cake with a thick white line and draw short lines off both sides of the main line. Approximately 1 dozen small lines are required to serve as the ball's threading. Next, add thicker lines at both ends of the football shape. These act as the ball's end markings. Finally, cover the rest of the cake with brown frosting.
  
  Another fun football cake also requires a rectangular-shaped pan. Use green icing to cover the base, pipe in white lines to resemble the field, add football down numbers at each line and two field goal posts at the ends. Draw tiny footballs along the field, placing dashes in between the balls as if they are in motion.
  
  

Superman

• If your birthday boy or girl loves superheroes, then hosting a party in that theme requires bright colors, a little planning, some decorations and a superhero cake. This recipe requires a round cake pan, and it should be sized according to how many guests you are expecting at the celebration.
  
  Choose chocolate, vanilla or a swirl cake, let it cool, and then place it onto a surface for decorating. Cover the edges and sides of the cake with dark blue icing. Have an icing bag and a round #5 decorating tip on hand for the detailed work. Draw the Superman emblem on the cake surface with red icing. Next, decide whether you wish to place an "S" in the middle or the first letter of the birthday person's name. For example, instead of "S" you may put an "N" for Nicholas. After this step, attach a star #18 decorating tip and fill in the open areas around the letter with yellow stars.
  
  This cake also works well if baked in a rectangular or large square pan. Simply cover the larger areas with the same color as the superhero's costume.