• Use seashells to reflect the beach theme.white frosting cake beach shells image by Paul Retherford from Fotolia.com
  
  A tropical beach theme is great for summer parties, baby showers, or weddings. The cake can serve as the main centerpiece for such occasions and, with a some creativity and unique ideas, you can decorate a beautiful cake in a tropical beach theme. Remember to personalize the cake to include names. You can also use souvenirs from tropical vacations to add a nostalgic touch.
  
  

Cake Toppers

• A simple cake can be decked up using unique and creative cake toppers that announce the party theme loud and clear. Frost the cake using icing tinted with tropical colors like pastel blue or sunny yellow. Place a large starfish, seashell or conch on top of the cake. Sprinkle brown sugar on the sides of the cake to represent sand. You can also use plastic palm trees or fish to create a beach theme for the cake. Pipe colorful flowers around the trees to add a festive touch.
  
  

Say it with Flowers

• Tropical cakes are colorful and exotic. Using large colorful flowers can add to the theme and make your cake stand out. Place large silk or cloth flowers around the cake and pipe leaves with green frosting around them. You can also use real flowers but make sure to clean them well before placing on the cake. If you are good with cake decoration or want to try something new, use gum paste or fondant to roll and shape your own edible flowers. Make the edible flowers at least three weeks in advance so that they dry out thoroughly. You can also make edible leaves to go along with the flowers or use frosting to pipe leaves in clusters all around.
  
  

Custom-shaped Cakes

• With the variety of cake pans and molds available, it is easy to bake and decorate cakes that are shaped to go with the theme of your party. Use a shell or star-shaped pan to make a seashell- or starfish-shaped cake. You can make a rectangle or square cake and place the shaped cake on top to give a three-dimensional effect. Be sure to use appropriate colors to decorate the cake so that guests know what you are trying to represent. Dilute food coloring with some water and paint an outline on the seashell or starfish to add an accented touch. You can also emphasize the shape of the cake by adding painted accents following the shape of the pan to make the cake look natural.