Why pay a bunch of money on a store bought cake when you can have a ton of fun with a Simple Saturday Birthday Money Cake? I'm telling you, kids love this thing. They'll gobble up a desert-dry cake like a bayou full of gators! I know this from first hand experience.
Okay...you checked yesterday's list, right? Do you have the cake mix (if you're a cheater, like me), a can of frosting, a handful of coins, foil, and a button?
Go ahead and bake the cake in the same way that you would any regular one. Any cake pan will do. Square, round, rectangle - your choice.
After the cake has cooled, wrap the coins and the button in pieces of foil. Be sure to cover them good. Poke the coins and the button in random places in the cake. Lastly, conceal those treasures with a thick layer of frosting...yum!
Slice the cake. Serve it. Ask the kids to wait until everyone's got their cake and then let them motor their way through.
The kid that gets the button may seem disappointed, but no...they are actually the winner! Have a special prize set aside for them. Nothing elaborate...maybe a toy car or small doll. Something thoughtful for the clever button-finder.
My mother made this birthday cake for me when I was a child and I continued the tradition with my own children. I've once heard that the Money Cake originated in the Depression Era. Interesting, isn't it?
Actually, what I think is cool is that simplicity, thoughtfulness, and tradition never grow old.