A really big birthday party calls for a really big cake.

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh on the North Side is celebrating 40 years on Monday. The upcoming milestone inspired the museum to reach out to Prantl’s Bakery in Greensburg to create a 6-tier white, chocolate and red velvet cake.

Last Thursday, production manager Joyann Pfeifer was leading a team of bakers to create the masterpiece. The ingredients call for 100 pounds of flour, 60 pounds of sugar, 50 pounds of eggs, 160 pounds of powdered sugar and 80 pounds of shortening.

In addition to the cake, there will be 250 cupcakes, some placed around the bottom of the cake — all topped with homemade butter cream icing. Almonds will be available on the side for those who want a hint of Prantl’s famous almond torte flavor.

Kristina Serafini | Tribune-Review Icing is made for a large, tiered birthday cake for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh’s 40th anniversary at Prantl’s Bakery in Greensburg.  

The cake will stand about 5 feet tall and yield 300-500 slices.

“We thought this would be a fun thing to do,” said Jeff Pastor, Prantl’s president, who created a hand-drawn image of the cake as a reference.

He said it will resemble one made 40 years ago which means it will have “chunky borders and draping down the cake.” Today’s cake styles have more of a sleek look, he said

The cake will feature the museum’s logo on all sides and be decorated in hot pink, golden yellow, burnt orange and medium blue. Candles of a number “4” and a number “0” will be perched on top. Star details will be part of the design.

The cake is an important part of the birthday celebration, which begins at 11 a.m., said Max Pipman, senior director of communications for the museum. Activities include party hat decorating and “blowing out the candles” on the huge cake. On Monday, the museum is setting back admission prices to 1983—$1.50. Pipman expects a few hundred people to attend.

The party is expected to last through June with a free day birthday party blowout on June 24. There will also be birthday-inspired events throughout the rest of the year.

“It is really exciting to have a 40th birthday community celebration,” Pipman said. “We want everyone to share in the day and the cake. We are taking the best cake and combining that with our celebration for a memorable time for everyone in a place that is for the little ones to share joy, creativity, curiosity, and kindness.”

The Children’s Museum was recently ranked No. 2 in USA Today’s 10-Best children’s museums in the U.S. It was founded in 1983 by the Junior League of Pittsburgh in the Old Post Office building. The museum began in a 3,000 square foot basement, with exhibits such as an old-style market, riverboat, climbing structure and Stuffie, the eight-foot tall figure that helped museum educators teach health and nutrition to visiting children with a zip-open torso and removable organs.

Acquiring the Margo Lovelace puppet collection, and collaborating on exhibits with the Fred Rogers Company, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, author and illustrator Mo Willems and Pixar, are milestones in its history.

The museum routinely sees more than 300,000 visitors a year.

“We are so thankful for 40 years of support in creating innovative and inclusive museum experiences for kids and families,” said Jane Werner, the museum’s executive director in a statement. “We cherish the memories we have created together, and are looking forward to what comes next.”

Kristina Serafini | Tribune-Review Layers for a large, tiered birthday cake for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh’s 40th anniversary cool on pans inside Prantl’s Bakery in Greensburg.  

The cake will have time to “settle,” Pastor said before being loaded into a van for a trip to the museum.

The plan is to bring it early Monday morning where there will be some finishing touches added, Pastor said. A cake this large takes planning and time but it’s all worth it Pastor and Pfeifer said.

“This is all about the joy of seeing everyone enjoy cake,” Pfeifer said. “And it’s for the children’s museum’s birthday which makes it even better. That’s the icing on the cake.”

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