Have you ever had the desire to make a birthday cake instead of buying one? Well, here is how you can make an easy birthday cake for a friend or someone special. What you will need is a bit of time, and a few items from your local grocery store. You will need boxed cake mix which you can find at your grocery store (the favorite of the birthday person), butter, eggs, oil, a toothpick, and birthday candles (number will depend on the persons age). When you get home from the store you will need to get an area ready for where you will build your cake. The items you will need from your house are: a mixing bowl, cake pan, an electrical mixer, a spatula, and measuring cups. First, you can start by washing your hands and wiping down your work area. Make sure to go over the directions on the cake box a second time just to be sure you have all the materials it asks for. Then, if you want the process to go a little faster you can organize your items according to the order you will use them in the process of making the cake. Also, be sure to preheat the oven to the temperature the cake box asks for before you begin. Next, put the dry cake mix into your mixing bowl. Then, put the right amount of water, oil, and eggs that the box asks for into the bowl as well. With the electric mixer mix the batter until it is smooth and not clumpy. After this is done, grease the large cake pan with some butter so that the cake won't stick to the pan when it is done. Now, pour the cake batter into the cake pan, using the spatula to scrape all the batter of the sides of the bowl. Lastly, place the cake on the top rack of the oven once the oven is preheated and use the timer on your microwave for the amount of time it needs to be baked specified on the box. While the cake is baking you now have the time to clean up your work area where you made your cake. After the cake is done remove it from the oven. If you take a toothpick and push the toothpick to the bottom of the pan and it comes out clean without cake on it then the cake is done. Turn off the oven and let the cake cool. Once the cake is done cooling you can spread the icing on the cake. Using the spatula, you can spread the icing easier than any other method. Finally after spreading your icing you can place the number of birthday candles onto the cake that you need.