If it isn’t apparent already, I’m not a cake decorator. We make fun cakes in my house, and they aren’t always pretty. A lot of times, my kids help make them. My son is obsessed with bugs and has been forever. We made this easy DIY bug birthday cake for his 5th birthday a couple years ago, and I thought it actually turned out pretty cute. I came across the photos this week, and decided to share.

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To make this easy DIY bug birthday cake, you’ll need:

chocolate cake

chocolate frosting

crushed Oreo cookies with cream removed

red, orange, green, and yellow m&ms

gummy worms

green sour punch bites

laffy taffy

marshmallow bits

food pen

He was very specific on what bugs he wanted on his cake, and I tried my best to make it happen. I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and topped it with crushed Oreo cookies for dirt (filling removed first). The tiny white marshmallows are bug eggs, and the little blobs are rolly polys (pill bugs). We made those mixing different colors of laffy taffy together.

I cut the tops of green sour straw bites and stuck them in the top to make it look like grass.

Then we had fun with a food pen and m&ms to make ladybugs, bees, and this little caterpillar. Just make sure to draw on the side that doesn’t have the m on it. And of course, added some gummy worms all around.

It looked like a mess, but he LOVED it! I loved that it was very easy to make and that all parts were edible and tasty.

My son is now 8 and is still obsessed with bugs. Not sure if it’s something he will grow out of at this point, so I might have a future entomologist on my hands.