How To Make Number Cakes With Just Two Shapes

For Danny’s 50th birthday party, I made number-shaped cakes in three flavors - vanilla, chocolate and spice. They also had three different frostings - buttercream, cream cheese and Nutella. You can click HERE for the Nutella frosting recipe. You’ll be glad you tried it!

For some reason, making shaped cakes has always seemed like something difficult and fancy that I could never do. I love decorating cakes and would do that part every day if I could, but to cut and shape and turn cake into something beautiful always felt a little out of my wheelhouse.

All you need to create fun, yummy numbers are two 8-inch circle cake pans and two regular-sized loaf pans. From there, choose your flavors and get to baking!

To make the five and zero pictured here, I started with two circles and two loaves. Using a small circle bowl as a guide, I cut the center out of each one. For the five, I cut a notch out of the left side of the circle, then cut off 1/3 of the first loaf cake, leaving the other 2/3 intact. Those two pieces became the top of the number. I shaved a little bit off the top of the cakes to make them even and then frosted and sprinkled it.

The zero is even easier. After cutting out the center, I cut the circle in half across the middle. Then I cut the loaf cake in half and put it between the two circle halves. A little knife work on the top made it even, and the frosting matched the five.

Each number can be made this way. With combinations of circles and rectangles, you can make any number you need. Have fun creating your own numeric cakes!