This is a super simple and fun party cake to make for your fall harvestparty, Halloween party, or even for your Thanksgiving feast. This Scarecrow Cake is particularly family friendly because the kids can help decorate it with fun items you may already have in your pantry.

Ingredients

• 1 box cake mix (anyflavor) and accompanying ingredients need to make cake
• 2 cups white decorator icing
• ivory food coloring
• blue food coloring
• chow mein noodles
• 2 oreos or other sandwich cookies
• 2 chocolate melts or chocolate candies
• 1 Fruit Rollup or other type of fruit leather

• small tube black decorator icing
• 1 9-inch round cake pan
• 1 8-inch square cake pan
• cooking spray or wax paper
• flour for dusting pans or wax paper
• 1 piece of cardboard or cake board
• cake foil or aluminum foil

Instructions

1.
Mix up the cake mix according to the recipe or mix instructions.
2.
Coat the inside of your baking pans with a cooking spray and flour, or cut a piece of wax paper to the bottom of the pan; this will help to release the cakes when they are finished baking.
3.
Pour half the cake mix into the round cake pan, and the other half into the square pan. Bake the cakes according to the directions on your mix or recipe.

4.
Once the cakes have baked, set them aside to cool for a few minutes. When they are slightly cooled, turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to finish cooling to room temperature.
5.
Add ivory (or a light brown) food coloring to the decorator icing to 1 ½ cups of the icing.
6.
Color another ½ cup of icing with the blue food coloring.
7.
Once the cakes have cooled, use a serrated knife or cake leveler to level the tops of both cakes.
8.
Cover the cardboard with your cake foil.
9.
Put a little dollop of icing on the spot where you are going to place the cake, then set the round cake on top. This will be your scarecrow's head. The icing will help hold the cake in place.

10.
Ice the round cake with a layer of the ivory icing to seal the crumbs in, then set the cake aside for 10 to 15 minutes to give the icing time to dry.
11.
Add another layer of ivory icing to the round cake.
12.
Have an adult cut the square cake into the shape of a hat. First cut two triangles out of the sides of the cake, leaving the bottom uncut for the hat brim (see photo). You can cut out more of the cake until the hat is the shape you'd like. Just keep cutting away small amounts of cake with a serrated knife. You can make the hat into a derby hat, a top hat, or the shape of your child's favorite hat.

13.
Put the hat in place above the scarecrows head and ice it with a layer of blue icing.

14.
Once the first layer of icing has dried, add a second layer of blue icing to the hat.
15.
Put Chow Mein noodles around the bottom of the hat, and sticking out from the sides of the scarecrows head for straw hair.

16.
Take the top layer off of two sandwich cookies, and put them in place for the eyes.
17.
Cut a triangle about an inch tall from a Fruit Rollup and add that to the face for the nose.

18.
Use a small tube of black decorator icing to pipe on a stitched mouth.
19.
Serve your scarecrow cake with other fall favorites like caramel apples, or cider.

Tips

• Need more cake to feed a larger crowd? Make this cake into a double layer cake by adding another round and square cake (and another cake mix).