Say goodbye to piping bags and fussy frosting. These creative ideas for embellishing birthday treats with surprising supplies are a piece of cake.

Make a picture-perfect cake (or cupcakes). Color-copy images onto card stock and affix back-to-back with double-sided tape around coffee stirrers.

Echo the metallic decorations on the table and around the room with these silvery flower and star-shaped bases for the birthday-cake candles.

Decorate cakes and cupcakes with bright pom-pom toppers made from a decorative craft punch.

Have extra cake batter left over? Make mini cupcakes topped with candles and add them to the birthday cake for an extra-special treat.

Decorate a birthday cake with candles made from sheets of beeswax and cookie cutters.

A cake adorned with silk-flower candleholders can be centerpiece-worthy: Place flowers, minus their centers, on rounds of waxed paper and push tacks into candles from underneath.

Forgo icing by being artful with powdered sugar. With a utility knife, cut a monogram out of a doily (do so in segments for best results). Put on a cooled cake; sift sugar on top. Practice on paper, and remove the doily slowly.

It's as easy as ABC to plan a party using the initial of the birthday child. Kids can help make the monogrammed cookies that adorn these cupcakes.

Mimic the look of piped frosting with store-bought meringues that double as candleholders. Carefully pierce each meringue with a metal skewer and slide in a candle for a sweet birthday treat.

Add paper umbrellas to a birthday cake for an effortless, sunny finish.

Light things up by placing candles in marzipan fruit that sits atop a birthday cake.

Perfect for a wintery birthday cake, insert long, thin candles in powdered-sugar doughnut holes and place on top of the cake.

For an elegant presentation, top off the birthday cake by placing a candle inside a raspberry.

Licorice candies prop up candles for a surprise birthday treat.

Let pretzel-winged butterflies take flight on your next birthday cake or cupcakes. Their bodies -- piped dots of blue buttercream -- end in candy-coated-chocolate heads and licorice antennae.

Celebrate spring with blooming lollipops atop your birthday treats. Mound vanilla icing high, and cover in sprinkles. Snip leaves from taffy tape.

Signal the special occasion with a clip-art medallion flag, perfect for cupcakes, cakes, and other birthday treats.