A "Grown-Up" Birthday Cake

My oldest son is turning 11 this year, he isn't quite all grown up, yet he is too "mature" for all the "kiddie" birthday festivities ie. action figure cakes and so on.
I used to decorate wedding cakes for a living so normally my kids put in elaborate request of what they want there birthday cake to look like. This year my eldest son's vague request was, "chocolate, I just want a chocolate cake".
So I made his favorite homemade chocolate cake, stacked it in two tiers, frosted it, and then stood back.....it looked so "BORING!"

It certainly needed some spiffing up. What could I do to make it look more like "birthday fun" without diving into the kiddy end of the pool, so to speak?

Ah-ha! I had an idea! I used to make a cake that had Pirouline wafer sticks around the outside, and then wrapped in ribbon tied with a bow. But Piroulines seemed too stuffy for this cake so..... I used plain old wafer cookies. You know, the kind that come in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Here is the result....

I love this because you don't have to worry about having a perfectly frosted cake. Just make the top pretty and cover the ugly sides with wafers. I cut the wafers down a bit so they were just a smidgen taller than the cake.

 I had some fun colored cording on hand to tie around the cake, but any type of ribbon or twine will work. 

Just think how cute it would be to do strawberry and vanilla or strawberry and chocolate  wafers for a girl cake!  Can't wait for my daughter's birthday....but first....Happy Birthday Porter!