At Coastal STEM Academy, we have embarked on another exciting homeschool year, with Exploring Countries and Cultures as our main theme. Last year, we focused on Adventures in U.S. History, and prior to that, Learning God’s Story. We’ve been using My Father’s World comprehensive core curriculums for three years now! In this blog post, I’ll share our experience of making a World Cake to celebrate learning all seven continents. I’ll also provide some links for other interactive ideas, including a tutorial video on creating a 3D version of the world cake in the shape of a globe. Join us as we celebrate the wonders of learning and creativity!

Our first step was to prep our materials. Don’t mind the corgi in the background. She loves to lie around waiting for scraps. Although I could have saved some time by using a box mix, I decided to opt for a cake recipe I tried and loved at a baby shower. One Bowl Vanilla Cake Recipe.

We mixed up the cake batter and put it in the oven to bake while we completed a couple of school lessons. The sweet vanilla smell permeated the house while we tried to focus on lessons. When the timer went off, we checked the cake for doneness and set it on a wire baker’s rack to cool completely. By then, we were hungry! So, we took a break for lunch, then whipped up a double batch of frosting. One batch we colored blue to represent water, and the other green to represent land.

We refrigerated the frostings while we worked on a few more afternoon lessons. Really, I was buying time while waiting for my husband to come to the rescue. I’m the baker; he’s the artist! We prepped the “canvas” with blue frosting, covering the earth in “water.” My husband joined in outlining all of the continents for my son to go back and fill in.

Finally, the masterpiece was complete! We had dinner guests on that night, so dessert was taken care of. We also had enough to share with our next-door neighbor. The cake itself was superbly moist and slightly dense, more like a decadent pound cake.

Now, if you’re feeling braver than me, try out this 3D version! Be sure to let me know in the comments section if you give it a try. Better yet, post some pictures of your creations.