No Fluff

• Fluffy frosting is okay, but that's the absolute limit for anything pertaining to fluff on a teenage boy's birthday cake. Leave off the flowers and the frills, too. Start with a relatively plain frosted cake in the flavor of his choosing. There's no need for piping or swirls or anything of the sort. Just plain, evenly spread frosting will do.
  
  

Music

• What is your teenage boy's favorite band? Buy one of the band's CDs, and use it to decorate the cake. You may think it sounds like a waste of money to purchase a CD at $12 to $15 and then stick it in cake icing, but stop and think for a minute. An ornately decorated cake in a bakery is at least $25. And it has fluff.
  
  Open the CD jewel case and remove the CD. Stand the case like an open book on the top of the cake, with the CD in front of it. A couple of musical notes, drawn with icing, in addition to "Happy Birthday, Sean!" work perfectly. And if you're lucky, the CD might still be usable once the frosting is licked off.
  
  

Interests

• What are the most important life skills your teenage boy is working on at the moment? Is he learning to drive? Has he made a new sports team? Utilize these ideas and incorporate them into his birthday cake decorating scheme.
  
  A small toy car and some keys on a fun key ring are the perfect way to start decorating a cake for the new driver in your family. Have spare keys made at your local hardware store, and bind them on a key ring. Add a gas card that stands up on the cake and write the current price for regular and high test in a fun font.
  
  A vintage baseball signed by a member of his favorite baseball team might be a bit of an effort to find, but it can be done using Web sites like eBay. Spring for a plastic case, too, and set it atop a birthday cake trimmed with the team's name and colors.
  
  A tiny ball and glove made for a toddler will get the point across when placed on top of a birthday cake. Add your teenage son's team number and colors, and your cake is sure to be a hit.