Birthday Cake Decorating Ideas

Sometimes coming up with your own ideas for your special someones birthday can be overwhelming, especially if you want to make the cake yourself! It can also be challenging to find free cake decorating ideas and fun cake designs. We offer both for you to use and be inspired from. If you want simple ideas for borders, pictures and colours, we have it here for you. If you're looking for themed ideas, we have some you might like such as Elmo or Batman! Collaborate what we have to offer along with your own creativity to make your own masterpiece!

There are hundreds of different cake pans available that make creating your perfect birthday cake even easier to decorate. Here is an example of a finished Elmo cake using the Wilton Elmo cake pan. Use this pan to bake the cake and decorate Elmo using Wilton piping tip #18-#21. Very simple and the kids will love it! Purchase or rent different cake pans at any local bulk food store (ie. Bulk Barn) or your local craft and cake supply stores.

This birthday cake is a great example of using elegant fondant swags and roses even on your little girls birthday and not just wedding cakes! To make a swag, roll fondant 1/8" thick and cut out a rectangle (length and height as you desire). Place fondant over top 3 straws or dowels and gently press in between each straw so that the fondant forms 3 ripples. Pull out straws and gently press ends together, keeping the rippled form. Use buttercream or water to stick fondant onto cake side. See video for instructions on making a fondant ribbon rose.

This example gives you a birthday cake decorating idea using fresh flowers. Simply pipe on the grass using wilton piping tip 233. Carve out a small hole in the center of the cake. Use a small vase with water absorbing foam, stick stems into the foam and place in the center of the cake. For more tips on using fresh flowers check out our flowers page.

This chocolate cake is simple to make from home and tastes great! Smooth out your icing by using a long metal spatula and add your border using any Wilton piping tip 16-21 which will create a shell border. For instructions on making roses, watch the youtube video below. Now you have a simple, pretty chocolate cake ready to have your personal message written.

This rose cake is similar to the last but this one gives you an idea of the different designs you can incorporate on the side to make your cake more unique. Using a pattern press, press into the sides of the cake gently. Pipe over your pattern with using your choice of piping tip. You can create many different patterns as you can see below.

Here is an example of a birthday cake that may take a bit of time but does not require amazing cake decorating skills! Pipe the basket weave around the cake using wilton piping tip 47. Next make your leaves using wilton piping tip 70 starting from the edge and working your way to the middle. Next cut out flowers from fondant or gum paste and place around your cake.

Our How-To section gives detailed instructions on a variety of cakes, check it out for inspired ideas!

Creating your own unique cake borders and designs is not as hard as you may think. Look at our Design and Techniques information and you will find examples and ideas that you can create using basic icing tips.

See also, how many ways you can write Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Pick Candles are a great way to personalize your birthday cake or ad to the theme of your cake. Since you add candles to your cake anyway, you might as well have something unique and matching your birthday theme! Find more candle ideas at Birthday Express

For more ideas for a birthday cake, check out what MegzCakes has recently created for local customers. This may inspire some creativity for your own cake! Our custom cake gallery and birthday cake galleries are constantly updated with new pictures.

Kid's Birthday Cakes Birthday Cakes Custom Cakes Gallery

Using different materials other than just buttercream icing on your birthday cake can change both the taste and the design options for the cake. Our Working with Icing section provides useful information for which type of icing is best suited for certain cake designs.