Cake postcard tutorial

Jul 20, 2012 1:51 PM by Sandra Denneler

Posted in Living / Crafts

Make a mailable slice of cake

I have so many friends and family members that always say "I wish you could mail me a birthday cake!" ... well, now I can send them a slice.

Imagine how happy and excited you'd be, if you went to your mailbox one day and pulled out a slice of cake. Now you can surprise friends and family (and probably even your mail carrier), with this three-dimensional, mailable postcard, cleverly disguised as cake. With only five ingredients in this crafty recipe — a large sponge, spray paint, caulk, spray adhesive and heavy paper — it's a piece of cake. Literally. Postage is around $3 per slice, but the reaction from the recipient will be priceless.

photo gallery

Click here to see more cake postcard images.

Supplies

Materials needed to make two cake postcards:

1 large sponge (yellow paints the best)
Serrated knife
X-Acto or utility knife
Spray paint (brown, yellow, pink or white)
1 tube acrylic latex caulk (brown, cream or white)
Spray adhesive (3M Super 77 works great!)
Cardboard, kraft paper or scrapbook paper

Instructions

Cut sponge into wedge shape

Postcard Cake Step 1: cut the sponge

With a serrated knife, using a sawing motion, cut a sponge into two, cake wedge shapes. Large sponges can be found at hardware stores and in the automotive departments of most big discount stores.

Cut a center groove into sponge

Postcard Cake Step 2: cut center of sponge

Using an X-Acto or utility knife, cut a section of foam from the center of the sponge. It doesn't have to be perfect. Just cut a wedge big enough so that you can add a line of caulking there later.

Paint the sponge

Postcard Cake Step 3: paint the sponge

Paint the sponge wedges in desired color. (Brown looks the most realistic, but pink and yellow are fun too. White was probably my least favorite.)

Trace the slice of cake

When the sponge wedges are dry, trace around them on a piece of cardboard, kraft paper or colorful scrapbook paper. This will be the postcard side of the cake. Heavier paper works better and will give you a sturdier wedge of cake for mailing. Cut the postcard shapes from the paper.

Attach the postcard

Postcard Cake Step 5: attach the postcard

Spray glue the postcards to the solid, flat sides of the sponge wedges.

Prep the "icing"

Postcard Cake Step 6: add caulk to piping bag

Using a caulking gun and your desired caulk, fill a plastic disposable piping bag with half of the caulk. This should be enough to do one cake wedge. I was able to pipe two cake postcards with one tube of caulk, but I recommend putting only half of the caulk in the bag at a time. Also, I tried decorating my cake wedges using the caulking gun, but it was nearly impossible to control. It's much easier with a piping bag.

Pipe the center of the cake

Postcard Cake Step 7: pipe the caulking

Pipe a line of caulk down the center of the cake postcard wedge, where you removed the sponge with your knife.

Pipe the icing on the top

Pipe dollops and swirls of caulking on the top and sides of the sponge wedge just like you're decorating a cake. Pipe along the edge of the cake postcard to form a seal between it and the sponge.

Add the swirls

If needed, use a small paint brush or toothpick to swirl and adjust the thickness of the caulk on the cake top and side.

Allow your cake postcards to dry for three to five days. I placed mine on sheet of parchment paper and lifted them up periodically so that the caulk wouldn't dry and adhere to the paper.

Postcard Cake Step 9: let dry

Write your message on the postcard side, leaving enough room for an address and postage. Sizes, shapes and weight of each cake postcard will vary, but most of mine required three, $1 stamps.

Postcard Cake Step 9: back of cake postcard

Note from the editor

This totally works! I had Sandra mail me a slice of cake so I could see it with my own eyes. It made it to me in perfect condition. I could hardly believe it. See for yourself below:

Proof that you can in fact mail a slice of cake.

mailed cake postcard

Video how-to: Cake postcard

Not into diy?

Fear not! You can still have your cake and eat it, too. Check out this Etsy shop where you can purchase your very own mailable slice of cake.

Like
this
craft?

Check out our
DIY pumpkin pie postcard tutorial
here!

Comments

Comments on "Cake postcard tutorial"

NO WAY. all other DIY blogs can shut down right now because there will never be anything greater than this. amazing.

LOVE the slice of cake idea and really enjoyed the Molly video.

My cakes mailed for about $3.00 each. I used three, $1.00 stamps. Just to be sure, it's always a good idea to have them weighed at the post office.

this is soooo cute. i cant wait to make several and have on hand. this is great for those who cant eat cake too. TFS.

This is so great! Now I cant wait for my far away friends birthdays. DO you know if it uses the same amount of stamps as a normal postcard?

Caulk usually comes in white, tan and brown. You can also buy paintable caulk, and use acrylic paint to make it whatever color you'd like.

There are million of craft ideas out in the world. If this is not your love, just click to another site. I hate wrestling and therefore don't go to wrestling sites. Just leave .... Don't be mean. I really like this idea, because I have family all over and we like Birthday cake!

I recently made and shipped out a cute little sponge cake, however somewhere along the line they put it in bubble wrap. I've mail everything from just a flip flop with a couple stamps on it and had no problem. The cake made it to the destination no problem but I feel like it kinda took away from it :-(

Does the caulk come in those different colors or do you have to color it? How do you color it if that is the case?

Renters should review their rental deal carefully before signing this kind of document. The rental agreement is usually a legally binding document which really should be given proper consideration before coming into the agreement. This is important because understanding these terms will be essential if the should break the lease becomes a real possibility. prada ?? http://www.pradagirljp/

What a fun idea! I have never seen these before. This would be a great project to do with my granddaughter to send to a loved one.

This is also great for an april fools prank! But I made these today and they're so cute, sending them on family birthdays

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What an incredible waste. This will end up in the trash, and just another useless item that didn't need to add to the amount of junk and trash we generate as humans. Sigh.

made 3 of these this week,I used caulking that was in a tube,so much easier,and for my paper for my message,I used the larger paint samples cards you get at the hardware store,perfect size!

OMGOSH!!! I have been reading all these post and am finding myself dumb founded... A craft is just that a craft... We used to make cake slices at school with construction paper.... Gave them as birthday cards to our parents... We used to make reindeer out of cloths pins.. Oh and we sold these at our little craft sales at school.... Oh and we made vases out of coke bottles and asking tape and brown shoe polish... Guess what people..... yes we sold those also.... My family is a bunch of women who make crafts homemade from towels from the $store and yes we sell them.. the ones with lace... edging.. crochet... buttoned tops... to Hundred dollar afghans... ITS CRAFTS GET A LIFE... And on that note yes I do make these and sell them... I don't put a name to it I just put hand made.. SUE ME!!!! Trust me I have gave more away to friens and family and Will NEVER make much making them... It's a damn sponge for lands sake...

Okay, I wasn't going to comment on the whole "infringing on the rights" situation, but I've changed my mind. If it's possible to infringe upon an idea, then no one should be allowed to manufacture jeans, soda, dog food, and for sure, without a doubt, no one can make movies, play music or crochet a blanket, because someone had the idea first... Share your toys, people. Why create so much hate? Side note- sweet idea.

Sponge size doesn't have to be exact. I've made many of various sizes & widths. Most large, car-washing sponges are big enough to make two cake postcards. Yes, the post office will mail this. I put three, $1.00 stamps on mine and they mail perfectly every time. Just mailed another one today, in fact. Please, please, please make sure that the caulk has completely dried. If it's still wet, it will be sticky and cause problems. Most caulk is sold in tubes that require a caulking gun. But there are some white, ivory and biscuit colors that come in tubes you can squeeze with your hands. They're usually more expensive and have less caulk, though.

WILL THE POST OFFICE DELIVER THIS?

this is awesome. I have family across the country, and am totally going to do this!! I want to try to add a scry somehow, I think that would just put it over the top awesome!

Revolving

Cake postcard tutorial

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