Fun-at-the-Beach Cake

Two 8- or 9-in. cooled, baked cake layers, frozen at least 2 hours for easier cutting
Beach sand: 10 vanilla wafer cookies, crushed to fine sandlike crumbs
Blue, green, yellow and red food color
Crystal sugar (optional)

Decorations for side of cake:
Sea sand (multicolored nonpareils)
Seaweed (sugared green sour stick candy, cut with scissors)
Seashell-shaped candies
Fish-shaped crackers
1 box (4-serving size) berry blue gelatin
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, recipe below

Decorations for top of cake:
Lifeguard's chair (4 thin pretzel sticks and 1/4 graham cracker cut to 1 1/2 x 1 in. for chair back, 1 x 1 in. for seat; red sour belt candy for red cross)
Volleyball net (green apple Air Heads bar, net marked with back of a knife, ends pressed around pretzel sticks)
Volleyball (white gum ball)
Beach balls (striped round peppermint candies
Life preservers (gummi rings)
Pail and shovel (spice drops cut to shape; licorice-lace handles)
Red raft with pillow (strawberry Air Heads bar shaped with fingers)
Beach towels and surfboard (striped stick chewing gum, cut in half for towels; trimmed to shape for surfboard)
Teddy Grahams cookies

Ocean: Starting 1 1/4 in. from edge of 1 frozen cake layer, cut out a kidney-shaped piece of cake about 2 1/2 in. across in the middle, cut all the way through cake. Reserve cutout piece of cake. Place uncut cake layer on a serving plate; spread top with 1/2 cup frosting. Set cake with cutout ocean on top. Spoon 1/2 cup frosting into a bowl, cover and set aside.

Mound for beach: Cut an oval about 3 in. long, 2 in. wide from reserved cutout cake. Trim mound to about 1/2 in. high.

Beach Cake Continued