Recently, Emily and I made a bunch of pretend play sweets from dollar store sponges for her little sister’s holiday gifts. They were great fun, super frugal, AND very easy to make!! Emily cannot wait to gift these to Clara as part of her Christmas gift, and I love how pretend play food can lead to hours of imaginative fun!
The sponges we used for the cake were sold in packs of 2 at the dollar store. I used scissors to cut the sponge into a cake-slice shape. I’ve heard that an electric knife would work very well for this, but sadly I don’t own one, so scissors it was (and they worked well too)!
Once you have two cake shapes cut from two different sponges, use some hot glue to adhere the two layers of your cake together.
Next, I invited my “cake decorating expert” to get to work decorating all these lovely cakes with fabric paint. She LOVED this!!!
Emily kept talking about how she cannot wait to give these to Clara, and all the fun pretend parties they can host for their friends, dolls, and stuffed animals!!
Of course, I couldn’t resist decorating a few cake slices of my own!
We made a few other pretend play sweets using sponges from the dollar store, including these vanilla wafer cookies….
…and this cupcake! The sponges are cut in half to form long strips, then rolled up together and held in place with a rubber band. You can even find these cute ramekins (sold in packs of 3) at the dollar store too!
Now THIS is my kind of baking!
Have fun!!
Bence çok iyi fikir… Bir buşalık süngeri ancak bu kadar güzel değerlendirilebilir. Baksanıza hazır alınmış oyuncak gibi. 
November 9th, 2011 on 4:38 pm
Dear Valerie,
This sponge cake is.. REALLY SPONGY!
Love,
Mark
November 9th, 2011 on 5:53 pm
You didn’t expect me to actually CLEAN with the sponges, did you??
November 9th, 2011 on 5:05 pm
Dear Valerie,
Please invite me over for a Spongy cake party!
Love them,
Angelique
November 9th, 2011 on 5:50 pm
Yes!!!
November 9th, 2011 on 5:08 pm
Kinda too realistic looking to have around my bunch…hee! hee!
November 9th, 2011 on 5:51 pm
I know, right?? I’m totally craving cakes and sweets now… lol!
November 9th, 2011 on 5:41 pm
Nice! What kind of paint did you use that will dry up and be decorative all the time instead of smudge?
November 9th, 2011 on 5:50 pm
It’s just puffy fabric paint — they are great fun to make!
November 9th, 2011 on 5:45 pm
Tell Emily that my girls will be over to play soon
Adorable!
Jody
November 9th, 2011 on 5:52 pm
Fantastic!! Bring some tea — great fun!
November 9th, 2011 on 7:09 pm
This. Is. Brilliant! It will go perfectly with Logan’s little store he likes to play right now.
Blessings,
Val
November 9th, 2011 on 10:15 pm
Yay!! They would be perfect for store, or a pretend bakery! Have fun!! xoxo
November 9th, 2011 on 9:02 pm
I LOVE this idea! How fun!!! Your so creative!
November 9th, 2011 on 10:14 pm
Thanks, sweetie! I bet your girly-girls would love them & they are LOTS of fun to make!!
November 9th, 2011 on 10:13 pm
Really creative, Valerie! Love them all
Pretend play with play food is big at our house too, I think we have to do this now
Thanks for the great ideas, as always!
November 9th, 2011 on 10:22 pm
I’m so happy to hear that, Julia! Have fun crafting with the kiddos!!
November 9th, 2011 on 10:27 pm
This is absolutely brilliant. I am sure Clara will love these gifts.
November 10th, 2011 on 9:53 pm
Emily and I really hope so! Thanks, Natalie!!
November 9th, 2011 on 11:15 pm
These are brilliant! I am going to the dollar store tomorrow to buy some sponges!
November 10th, 2011 on 9:53 pm
Perfect!!
Have fun!!!
November 10th, 2011 on 12:18 am
Hmmmmm…… This will work well with my plans for Christmas…….
November 10th, 2011 on 9:54 pm
Tired of all the baking?? I understand.
November 10th, 2011 on 3:49 am
Valerie,
I do crafts daily with my 3 yo and never thought of this one! I will definitely have to do this one! I’m sure she will love it! Then she’ll even have more playfood for her play kitchen! Perfect!
Thanks for the great idea!
November 10th, 2011 on 9:56 pm
That makes me SO happy, Daphne!!! have fun crafting with your little one!
November 10th, 2011 on 7:47 am
I LOVE these! They look so fun and pretty. What a great idea!!
November 10th, 2011 on 9:56 pm
Thank you, Jackie!!!
November 10th, 2011 on 10:57 am
What a great idea Valerie! I’ve been working on ideas for a pretend play bakery for my girls… I think we need some sponge cakes for it!
November 10th, 2011 on 9:57 pm
YES!! Mandatory sponge cakes!!
Have fun, Terri!
November 10th, 2011 on 11:55 am
These are AWESOME! So creative and easy to do! Thanks for sharing!
November 10th, 2011 on 9:57 pm
You’re welcome, E!! Enjoy!
November 10th, 2011 on 1:16 pm
Wholy Cow! These are amazing! I’m hoping that my in-laws get my son a pretend kitchen for Christmas and this would be great to add. You’re so creative!
November 10th, 2011 on 9:58 pm
Awesome!!! Have fun, Amanda!
November 10th, 2011 on 3:16 pm
Can’t wait to make these! My 4 year old son is obsessed with play kitchens and I need a replacement cake for our church school to celebrate birthdays. This’ll be perfect.
November 10th, 2011 on 9:59 pm
Yay!! What great timing!! Have fun!
November 10th, 2011 on 7:49 pm
Fabulous. We used salt dough to make rolls, a little bread loaf or ‘sugar cookies’. After baking it, apply some clear varnish and they will last forever. We still have some my hubby made as a child : )
November 10th, 2011 on 10:00 pm
What a lovely idea! I love that your hubby made some when he was a kid, and they’re still around — WOW!!!
November 11th, 2011 on 4:13 am
I discovered your blog a few weeks ago and love your creative ideas! These sponge cakes are just so lovely! I will have to try them sometime! Thanks for sharing all these creative activities
November 13th, 2011 on 10:14 pm
You’re welcome, Anneliese! They are so much fun to make — Enjoy!!
November 11th, 2011 on 8:31 pm
This is a really fabulous project!!
November 13th, 2011 on 10:15 pm
Thank you, Heather!! It means a lot coming from the Queen of dollar store crafting!!!
November 12th, 2011 on 4:45 pm
I was thinking about making my son felt food to go in his kitchen for Christmas this year, and this would be perfect! Those are seriously cute! I love them. Thank you for posting. Her excitement is so sweet!
November 13th, 2011 on 10:16 pm
What great timing!! This would be a GREAT addition to his play kitchen! Have fun, Joyce!
November 13th, 2011 on 12:21 am
I LOVE these!!
November 13th, 2011 on 10:17 pm
Awww… thanks, Christina!
November 13th, 2011 on 11:22 pm
Wow! Those are wonderful. I had to tweet and pin!
January 4th, 2012 on 10:46 pm
Just stopping by to let you know that I’ve featured your craft on Family Fun Crafts! You can see it here:
http://funfamilycrafts.com/sponge-sweet-treats/
If you have other kid friendly crafts, I’d love it if you would submit them.
If you would like to display a
featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above.
February 29th, 2012 on 12:06 pm
You are so wonderful! Thank you for your sharing! I will apply this in my English classroom.