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    Home » Recipes » Desserts

    A Day at the Beach Cake

    Published: Jul 11, 2019 · Modified: Jun 2, 2020 by Eileen Murphy Kelly

    Jump to Recipe
    A festive cake decorated with a beach then with graham cracker sand, teddy graham people on candy blankets

    A Day at the Beach Cake is such a festive cake. It's a great way to enjoy a delicious dessert and celebrate summer. Our cake celebrates everything we love about the beach, sun, and sand!

    “This post and recipe is part of #SummerDessertWeek! I was given samples by some of the sponsor companies but as always opinions are 100% mine.” 

    Festive beach cake topped with teddy grahams, tiki umbrellas

    Make a beach cake with the kids! This is such a fun cake. When it comes to decorating the cake, endless possibilities.

    The cake is perfect for any summer party, birthday parties, and beach parties.

     

    Summer Desserts Week is in full swing.  Monday, I shared my No-Bake Strawberry Cheesecake. 

    To keep the summer vibe going, today’s beach cake recipe is a perfect addition to the week!

    We spend most of our summer at the beach. Nothing is better than sitting in the sun watching the kids jump the ocean waves. Celebrate summer fun with this tasty cake! For a great activity with the kids, get the kids involved in decorating your cake.

    Beach Cake

    Being Summer Dessert Week and some amazing treats from Wilton, I knew a beach cake would be made for this week.  Adam's Extract is used in making the Vanilla Frosting that is tinted blue to make the sea. Sweets & Treats Boutique sprinkles add great sparkle to the cake.

    How do I store the cake?

    Until ready to serve the cake, keep the cake in a cake storage box.

    How far in advance can I make the cake?

    I prefer to make the cake early in the day.

    Can store made icing be used for the frosting?

    I prefer to use homemade frosting. By all means, a store made icing can be used.

    The ocean covered with blue tinted vanilla frosting with swedish fish and teddy graham to decorate a beach cake.

    Some of my other favorite baked treats you may enjoy:

    Autumn Sprinkle Cake Pops: great cake pops decorated for Autumn.

    Lemon Yogurt Cake - one of my favorite cakes ever!

    Coconut Oil Brownies - a very popular recipe.

    Baked Apple Cider Donuts - if you haven't made these tasty treats, get going!

    Beach Cake Ingredients

    • Use either a vanilla or yellow cake mix for this recipe. You can give the cake batter a tint of blue with food coloring.
    • Top the  cake with homemade vanilla cream icing that has been tinted blue.
    • Get creative with your icing and decorating. Make some waves by swirling the icing with a knife or spoon.
    • Use crushed graham crackers for the sand!
    • Sweets and Treats sprinkles add sparkle to the ocean. Various candies, swedish fish, teddy grahams that will be the decorations for a beach cake.
    • Teddy Grahams make great "people" relaxing on the beach.
    • Swedish fish can swim in the ocean.
    • Sugar fruit roll are beach towels.
    • Life Savers are beach floats
    • Drink Umbrellas are beach umbrellas

    Beach cake with ground graham crackers as sand. Teddy grahams on the beach relaxing

    How to decorate a great Beach Cake

    1.  Prepare cake mix and add blue food coloring to batter if tinting cake.  Photos of cake batter for a beach cake
    2. Bake cake according to directions and let it cool.

    How to Make Vanilla Frosting 

    1. Beat the powdered sugar and butter.
    2. Add in the vanilla and milk. Pictorial of the process of making vanilla frosting
    3. Mix the frosting until smooth.
    4. Remove about 2-3 Tablespoons of the icing. Keep it white to add into the sea.
    5. Tint the icing blue. Pictorial of the steps to make vanilla frosting that is tinted blue to be the icing for a beach cake
    6. Cover cake with the icing.
    7. Make scrolls for waves.
    8. Add some of the white into the blue for white caps. A beach cake in the process of being made with blue icing being the ocean
    9. Crush graham cracker to make sand.
    10. Place the crushed graham crackers on ⅓ of the cake to make a beach.
    11. Decorate the cake with your Teddy Grahams, candy beach towels, etc.

    A beach cake with graham cracker sand, teddy grahams as decorations with beach umbrellas.

     

    This post contains affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com.

    Wilton 3 in 1 Cake Caddy

    Wilton 9x13 Baking Pan

    Checkout my Amazon store, Everyday Eileen we update it regularly with great finds! 

    Pin to make later:

    A festive cake decorated with a beach then with graham cracker sand, teddy graham people on candy blankets

     

    When you make this recipe, take a pic and tag me on Instagram @everyday_eileen or #everydayeileen – It’s always great seeing your creations.

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    Love this recipe, please give them a 5-star rating! It is very much appreciated!

    Thank you for the continued support! I am forever grateful!

    Eileen  xo

    📖 Recipe

    Festive beach cake decorated with blue frosting and graham cracker sand with teddy graham bears on the beach under beach umbrellas

    A Day at the Beach Cake

    A fun party cake with a beach theme made with a store made cake mix. Use a homemade vanilla frosting tinted blue for the ocean. Let your imagination run with creative beach decor. Use crushed graham crackers as sand.
    5 from 1 vote
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    Course: Baking, Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: beach cake, party cake, summer cake, Summer Dessert Week
    Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 23 minutes minutes
    Decorating the Cake: 20 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 48 minutes minutes
    Servings: 14 servings
    Calories: 418kcal
    Author: Eileen Kelly

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

    Equipment Needed:

    Ingredients

    • 15.0 ounce Vanilla cake mix plus ingredients required to make cake Note 1
    • 3-4 drops blue food coloring, optional use if you want to color cake blue

    Vanilla Frosting

    • 5 ½ cups confectioners sugar
    • ⅔ cup salted butter, cut into cubes and softened
    • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
    • 3 Tablespoons milk
    • 5-6 drops blue food coloring

    Beach Cake Decorations

    • 9 graham crackers, ground into crumbs beach sand
    • 5-6 graham cracker teddy bears people on the beach
    • 1 Tablespoon Sweets & Treats Boutique blue and green sprinkles
    • 2-3 life saver beach floats
    • 2-4 fruit rolls beach towels
    • 4-5 Swedish fish ocean fish
    • 2 tiki drink umbrella beach umbrellas

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    Instructions

    Bake the cake

    • Follow directions on cake mix. If you want the cake to be blue, add food coloring to batter before baking the cake.
    • Let cake cool completely before decorating.

    How to make Vanilla Frosting

    • In a large bowl add confectioners sugar and butter.
    • Use a hand mixer on low setting to beat sugar/butter. Mixture will begin to blend.
    • Add in the vanilla extract and milk.
    • Continue to mix until frosting is smooth.
    • Set aside about 2 Tablespoons of the white frosting to be used to add white caps to the ocean frosting.
    • To the large bowl of frosting, add blue food coloring and mix well.

    How to Decorate a Beach Cake

    • Frost the cake with the blue frosting.
    • Add some of the white to the ocean side of cake to add white caps to the "wave"
    • Add the ground graham cracker to one side of the cake. About ⅓ of the cake should be the beach.
    • Add Swedish fish into the ocean.
    • Use life savers and some of the white frosting to adhere the teddy bears onto the life savers. Place them in by the edge of the sand. The bears will appear to be on beach floats.
    • Set the tiki umbrellas up.
    • Put the fruit rolls under the umbrellas as the "beach blankets"
    • Lay the teddy graham bears on the fruit rolls
    • Spread the sprinkles on the the ocean of the cake.

    NOTES

    Note 1: You will need the ingredients required to make the vanilla cake
    Note 2: Use your creativity when decorating the cake or copy my setup. Have fun and enjoy.
    Note 3: Calculations for nutrition include the vanilla icing. The calculations are not including the decorations.
    • Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.
     

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1slice | Calories: 418kcal | Carbohydrates: 80g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 350mg | Potassium: 43mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 62g | Vitamin A: 285IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 0.6mg
    Tried this recipe?Mention @Everyday_Eileen or tag #everydayeileen!

     

     

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    Thank you for sharing!

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