Tall Three-Layer Happy Birthday Cake With Five Candles

A gentle color plan to get started — mix in your own anytime.

• cream
• soft pink
• lavender purple
• golden yellow
• hot pink
• grass green
• tangerine orange
• light blue
• sky blue

A suggested order, zone by zone — skip around as you like.

1. 1Start with the cake tiers: fill the three cream sections of the cake with cream, leaving the outlines clean.
2. 2Color the pink frosting bands, scalloped edges and rims of all three tiers with soft pink, then add hot pink to the small dots.
3. 3Fill the flowers on each tier with lavender purple petals and golden yellow centers.
4. 4Color the five candles: use sky blue, light blue, lavender purple, grass green and tangerine orange, adding diagonal stripes as you go.
5. 5Finish the flames on top of the candles with golden yellow, and add the pink candle holders and dots last.
6. 6Optional: add a little shading along the bottom edges of the tiers with a slightly darker shade of cream to make the cake look rounder.