• Your Nativity scene on your cake can be as simple or as detailed as you like.Pattie J Calfy/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  At Christmas, cookies, cakes and pies all play a role in decorating holiday tables. However, Nativity cakes are not always part of the festivities. If you want to put the Nativity back into the holiday, a centerpiece cake design for your dessert table can be an effective way to get your guests' attention. Take the aspects of the Nativity story that you know and use your imagination to create an edible piece of art.
  
  

Traditional Nativity Scene Cake

• Make your favorite cake recipe in a round, square or rectangular cake pan and allow it to cool completely on a cake rack. Use marzipan -- an almond paste-based dough that works like modeling clay -- or fondant colored with gel food colors to craft an edible traditional nativity scene depicting a stable with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus in a manger. If you do not mind particularly whether the entire cake is edible, feel free to substitute plastic or ceramic tabletop decorations as cake toppers. Be aware that some decorations may not be made of food-safe materials, since their manufacturers may not originally have intended them to come in direct contact with food.
  
  

Wise Men's Journey Cake

• The Wise Men traveled a long way to get a glimpse of their Lord and Savior. Recreate the journey by using sanding sugar in bronze, copper and sand colors to create the sandy land they traversed on their journey. Check baking specialty stores, or national chains such as Michael's or Hobby Lobby that carry large sections of cake decorating supplies. Craft the Wise Men and the gifts they were carrying out of fondant or marzipan. Companion animals such as donkeys and camels may also play a role. To depict the star that guided the Wise Men to their destination, use a piece of thin doweling to mount a marzipan or fondant star. If you know where you want your cake to be displayed, use liquid food color to dye the dowel so that it blends in with the background. When people first see it, the star will appear to hover in midair, guiding the Wise Men.
  
  

Animal Vigil Cake

• Animal lovers like to think about all the animals that played smaller, but no less important, roles in the birth of Jesus Christ. Consider making a cake that centers on the animals that must surely have been in attendance in and around the stable during Jesus' miraculous birth. This can be particularly effective if you, or whoever you make the cake for, are not comfortable with direct depictions of Jesus. Craft cattle, horses, lambs, donkeys and camels out of marzipan or fondant and array them outside a stable. Keep the door of the stable mostly shut. If you can, stick a small battery-powered electric nightlight inside the stable, so that the light shines through the doorway but viewers of the cake cannot see what is inside. This will help to create a visual depiction of the lowly animals witnessing the miracle of Jesus' birth.