Paw Patrol Birthday Cake for a 5th Birthday – Themed Cake with a Number Baked Inside

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Paw Patrol birthday cake for a 5th birthday: easy step-by-step instructions for a themed cake with a number baked inside.

My little ones’ birthday is just around the corner – and this year there’s going to be a very special Paw Patrol birthday cake!
My kids are big fans of the brave pups, so it was clear right away: for their birthday, the birthday child wants a Paw Patrol cake that’s guaranteed to make eyes light up.

In this post, I’ll show you step by step how a simple vanilla cake turns into a real Paw Patrol themed cake. The highlight: the new age is baked directly into the cake as a colorful number – a real WOW effect when you cut it open.
In the end, the cake is decorated with Paw Patrol figures – completely without elaborate fondant.

Instructions for the Paw Patrol Birthday Cake with a Number Inside

For a Paw Patrol birthday cake you’ll need:

• Batter for your favorite sponge cake (double quantity – I used the recipe for our favorite vanilla bundt cake))
• Baking tray lined with baking paper
• Loaf pan
• Number cookie cutter set*
• Liquid food coloring from GoodBake* (I used yellow, purple & pink)
• Yellow cake glaze*
• Purple cake glaze*
• Paw Patrol figures*
• Gold “Happy Birthday” birthday candles*
• “Bubble Gum Choco Crunch”
• Chocolate candies

Discount code for your purchase at GoodBake: With the discount code “LIA12” you save 12% on your purchase from Goodbake.

(*The links marked with an asterisk (*) are affiliate links. I can recommend suitable products that do not cost you more and I receive a small commission that helps me finance my blog. Thank you!)

How the Number Is Baked into the Cake

From your favorite sponge cake, you’ll need at least 1.5 times the amount of batter. I actually used double the amount of our favorite sponge cake – the vanilla bundt cake– and then used the leftover cake to make cake pops and cakesicles.

For a birthday cake with a number inside, I recommend dividing the process into three steps:

1. Bake the number
2. Bake the cake
3. Decorate the cake

This way, you can spread the Paw Patrol birthday cake over several days.

How to Bake the “Number Inside the Cake”

First, prepare the batter for the baked-in number. For this, I mixed a vanilla cake batter and divided it evenly into three bowls. Each portion was tinted with a different food coloring.

Then, spread the colorful batter in patches – just like our moist marble cake – onto a baking tray lined with baking paper and lightly drag a fork through it to create patterns. This creates a beautiful marble effect.

Bake the sheet cake at 160°C (top/bottom heat) for about 15–20 minutes (here too, test doneness with a skewer). Once cooled, use a number cutter to cut out the desired number – in our case, of course, the 5. In addition to numbers and letters, symbols such as hearts, dinos, etc. also work well. (I’ve even baked cake pops into our colorful confetti cake before.)).

Now cut out the entire sheet cake using your chosen cookie cutter. You can snack on the leftover cake or turn it into delicious cake pops.

Mini-Tip: the cut-out numbers can be frozen perfectly and used later. Make sure the cake is completely cooled and wrapped airtight in cling film so no freezer burn occurs. If you want to stack the numbers, separate them with baking paper. Let the numbers thaw at room temperature afterward.

How to Bake a “Birthday Cake with a Number”

• For the actual birthday cake, pour ⅓ of the batter into a greased loaf pan.
• Now place the cut-out numbers upright and close together into the pan. (Important note: if you’re using a bundt pan, you need to place the numbers upside down so they’re not upside down when slicing later.)
• Then cover everything with the remaining batter so the numbers are completely hidden inside the cake.
• Bake the cake at 180°C (top/bottom heat) for about 55–60 minutes. Here too, do a skewer test to make sure the cake is fully baked for the children’s birthday party.
• After 10 minutes, carefully turn the birthday cake out of the pan onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely.

When you cut into it later, the colorful number appears – perfect for a children’s birthday.

Turning a Firm Cake into a Paw Patrol Birthday Cake

Once cooled, the simple sponge cake becomes a real Paw Patrol themed cake. I deliberately skipped fondant and instead used Paw Patrol toy figures.

That has at least four advantages for me:

1. There’s no leftover fondant decoration, which we wouldn’t eat anyway.
2. The little ones get small toy figures to play with afterward.
3. I’m not a fondant artist, so the toy figures definitely look nicer than my homemade ones…
4. …and it’s faster 😉

How a Simple Cake Becomes a Paw Patrol Cake

• Spread yellow cake glaze over the cake
• Attach paw prints made from color-matching chocolate lentils to the still-wet glaze
• Let purple glaze drip down the edge of the cake
• Place Paw Patrol figures on the cake
• Decorate with Choco Crunch as small play “balls”

And just like that, the Paw Patrol birthday cake for a 5th birthday is finished!

The Paw Patrol birthday cake with a number inside is a real highlight at any children’s birthday party and, with a bit of planning, can be made in a relaxed way.

I’m already looking forward to my little one’s face when they discover their favorite pups on their very own Paw Patrol cake.

Happy Birthday, my sweetheart!

I wish you lots of fun baking it yourself and enjoying it!

Yours, Lia

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