The Hip Hostess

This is definitely not a cake for a high-brow soiree, but it’s perfect for a casual BBQ/ grill theme party.  Serve this as dessert at your Fourth of July cookout and you are sure to get a few laughs.

To make this fun grill cake: Bake a traditional round layer cake and frost it with your favorite chocolate frosting.  Use chocolate or black licorice for the grill outline and lines (black will stand out better against the chocolate frosting but chocolate is generally softer and easier to cut through when slicing the cake).    Use softened tootsie rolls to form the hamburger pattie, and black shoestring licorice pressed into the pattie as the grill lines (you can press your pattie into an actual grill pan for guidance on how to space the grill marks).  Use softened pink starbursts mixed with a few tootsie rolls to form the hotdog.   Cut wooden skewers to scale and thread on chunkes of “beef” (three softened red startbursts formed into chunks) and “peppers” (yellow and orange starbursts flatened and shaped like pieces of bell pepper).