Cake Carvings

• It will take a little time, but you can manually insert gummy candies into your cake after it's baked. Allow the cake to cool completely, then cover it tightly and place it in your freezer overnight. Freezing it will allow you to insert the gummies without the cake crumbling. The next day, use a squash or zucchini corer to carve holes in your cake. Insert the gummies into the holes, then carefully spread a thick layer of frosting over the entire cake.

Between the Layers

• Create a layer cake with gummy-filled layers of colorful frosting. This cake is best with four layers, but you can do it with just two or three. Prepare the cake layers according to your recipe, allow them to cool completely, then wrap them and freeze overnight. Decide if you want your frosting colors to match the gummies, or if you want to really punch it up with contrasting colors, like blue gummies in yellow frosting or green gummies in pink frosting. The next day, whip up a different colored frosting for each layer. Fold in the gummy candies, being careful not to add so many that your frosting is too lumpy. Build your cake layer upon layer, sandwiching the gummy-filled frosting in between, then frost the entire cake and decorate with gummies as desired.

Ice Cream Cakes

• Adding gummies to your ice cream cakes is an easy way to dress up a cake in fine gummy style. Prepare your favorite ice cream cake recipe as usual. When it's time to add the ice cream, simply stir in the gummies of your choice. This is another opportunity for you to play with color by choosing ice cream colors that either match or contrast with the gummies.

Just a Trifle

• Cake's gooier cousin, the trifle, is an excellent way to incorporate gummies into a dessert. Between the layers of cake and pudding, substitute the traditional fresh fruit layer for fruit-shaped gummies. Add punches of bright, gummy-matching color to every layer by adding food coloring to your cake layers, and use different pudding flavors in colorful hues. Top the whole trifle with a thick layer of whipped cream and decorate with more fruit gummies.