Here, you’ll find 18 unique 18th Birthday cake ideas for men and women that’ll guarantee you a memorable birthday party. If you’re looking for inspiration to place an order with your local baker, or you want to recreate one of these cakes yourself thanks to the guidance I provide, you’re in the perfect place
How to find an 18th birthday cake idea suited to your cake-decorating level?
I’ve come up with a system. The cake ideas are presented to you according to their level of difficulty. There are three categories :
What Are Beginner Cake Ideas?
These are easy cake ideas. If you’ve never decorated a cake before (or only did it once or twice), these are the cakes that you should pay attention to.
- What you’ll find: Beautiful cake ideas that only require basic cake decorating techniques. This is a great place to start your journey.
What Are Intermediate Cake Ideas?
Low Intermediate Baker: If you are confident that you’ve mastered the cake decorating basics, such as how to smooth a cake, but feel like you still have a lot of techniques to learn apart from this foundation, this category is perfect for you.
- What you’ll find: Cake ideas that require both basic decorating skills and one or two techniques that are a little bit more advanced. This is a great place to grow your cake-decorating skills.
High Intermediate Baker: If you’ve mastered both basic techniques and several more advanced cake decorating techniques, these cake ideas are made for you.
- What you’ll find: Stunning cake ideas that can be fairly challenging, but are a great place to get even better than you already are.
What Are Advanced Cake Ideas?
If you consider yourself an experienced cake decorator and have mastered most of the decorating techniques, including the use of fondant, then this is the perfect place for you.
- What you’ll find: Showstopping and challenging cake ideas, perfect to sharpen and maintain your skills.
The Grading System
Finally, I’ve also assigned a grade of difficulty to each cake inspiration: 1/5 being the easiest design and 5/5 being the hardest. The goal is to make the ranking the most accurate possible. You will find this to be particularly helpful if you happen to fall in the Beginner or the Intermediate Cake Ideas categories.
Growth Tip : This list is great a place to set goals about your cake decorating skills. Pin this post and come back later to tell us how far you’ve come in your cake decorating journey !
How to follow the instructions of the designs.
For the cake designs in the beginner category: I’ll provide written instructions on how to recreate the cake idea presented to you. Don’t hesitate to watch video tutorials about basic techniques such as how to smooth a cake.
For the designs in the intermediate category: I’ll provide some guidance on how to perform the more complicated techniques.
For the advanced category: you are an experienced baker, at this point, and you will find great opportunities to put this experience to use. To be completely honest, I cannot make myself several cake ideas from the advanced category, so trust your abilities and go for it.
Find the perfect 18th birthday cake idea for your baking skills.
Growth Tip : If you aim to get better at cake decorating, you should choose a cake idea that feels sligthly above your current cake decorating level. Get out of your comfort zone !
18th Birthday Cake Ideas For Beginner Bakers
Here, you’ll find 3 easy 18th birthday cake ideas perfect for beginner bakers.
Simple 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 1/5.
Let’s start with a very feminine and sober cake design.
What you will need :
- Enough frosting to cover your cake.
- Fake or fresh non-toxic flowers (with their stems wrapped in floral tape).
- Cake decorations (if you don’t have macaron on hand you can easily replace them, with ball cake toppers).
How to recreate this cake?
- Apply a thin and even coat of frosting with your offset spatula all around your cake.
- Smooth it with your bench scraper, holding it at a 45-degree angle on the cake while spinning your turntable. Your bench scraper isn’t supposed to move, only the turn table.
- If you can’t see the cake’s edges underneath, you’ve put too much frosting on the cake. Keep scraping until you’re satisfied, cleaning your cake scrapper every now and then.
- Chill the cake for 20 minutes (until your frosting sets) in the fridge.
- Finally, add your flowers and cake decorations.
What you’ve learned :
Semi-naked cakes are the best to start your cake-decorating journey as they allow much more room for mistakes, while still looking very elegant.
Black 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 1/5.
A black and neon pink color palette would make a great feminine adaptation of this beautiful cake.
What you will need:
- Enough black frosting to cover your cake.
- Cake toppers and decorations.
How to recreate this cake?
- First, you must crumb-coat the cake to avoid any crumbs in your final design. Apply a thin and even coat of frosting with your offset spatula all around your cake.
- Smooth it with your bench scraper, holding it at a 45-degree angle on the cake while spinning your turntable. Your bench scraper isn’t supposed to move, only turn the table.
- It doesn’t have to be perfect as it only is the first coat. Chill the cake 20 to 30 minutes in the fridge (until your frosting sets).
- Then, apply a thicker coat of frosting and repeat the smoothing operation. Fill in any gaps and smooth the cake again. Repeat this operation until the cake looks smooth enough for you. Here, you’ll find a video tutorial of the covering process, if needed.
- Next, chill your cake in the fridge for 30 minutes or until your buttercream cover sets.
- Use a knife warmed with water to get sharp edges on your cake.
- Finally, add your cake topper and cake decorations.
What you’ve learned :
As a cake decorator, the most basic technique you have to master is how to frost a cake properly.
Silver 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 1,5/5.
Black and silver is another really festive choice, perfect for an 18th birthday party for both men and women.
What you will need:
- Enough black frosting to cover your cake.
- DIY edible silver paint + small paintbrush.
- Silver cake decorations and cake toppers.
How to recreate this cake?
- First, crumb coat, cover, chill, and cut the edges of your cake as explained in the previous cake design.
- Then, recreate the paint splatters, by dipping your paintbrush into your edible paint and pulling back and releasing the bristle of your paintbrush towards the cake.
- Finally, add your cake toppers and cake decorations.
What you’ve learned :
As a beginner cake decorator, cake toppers and decorations are your best friends, make the most of them.
18th Birthday Cake Ideas Perfect For Intermediate Bakers
Here, you’ll find nine 18th birthday cake ideas perfect for intermediate bakers.
Sunset 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 2/5 (Low-Intermediate)
This sunset cake will make a perfect 18th birthday cake if you’re looking for a unique design.
A little guidance
To recreate this beautiful sunset buttercream, simply apply your darkest buttercream on the bottom half of your cake and the other color on the top half. Then, use your spatula to blend the demarcation as much as possible. Finally, smooth your cake as usual.
Black And White 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 2,5/5 (Low-Intermediate)
If you’re into more classical things, a black-and-white cake is a sure way to go.
A little guidance
To create this textured fault line cake, apply a second buttercream layer on your cake once the cover has had time to set in the fridge. Then use a cake comb on that fresh buttercream layer to recreate the texture.
Cute 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 3/5 (Intermediate)
You can also opt for a funny cake design like this one.
A little guidance
Writing/drawing on cakes is always a challenge for me. I like using a toothpick to trace what and where I’m going to write/draw to avoid weird spacing and placing. Don’t hesitate to practice on parchment paper if you’re not comfortable yet with your piping technique.
Blue 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 3/5 (Intermediate)
In France, we get to drink from 18, so this kind of cake would be perfectly fitting.
A little guidance
To recreate this kind of cake with a bottle as cake decoration you literally have to carve your cake to make space for the bottle as shown in this quick tutorial.
18th Birthday Heart Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
If you’re looking for an Instagram-worthy cake idea, heart cakes are the perfect choice.
A little guidance
To recreate this kind of cake you don’t need to have a special cake tin. You can easily DIY them using your usual round cake pans.
Floral 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 4/5 (High-Intermediate)
A preference for elegant cakes? You’ll love this one, and you should definitely read my post dedicated to elegant cake ideas for women.
A little guidance
If you’re wondering how to recreate this beautiful buttercream cover, check out this watercolor buttercream tutorial.
Elegant 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 4/5 (High-Intermediate)
If you’re into refined cake designs, this is the cake for you.
A little guidance
When making tiered cakes, you have to pay extra attention to the structure of the cake. Therefore, you should always use a sturdy cake board for each tier. You should also support the bottom tier with dowel rods or bubble tea straws cut to the height of the cake. Finally, you should ensure each tier is leveled before stacking them.
Golden 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 4/5 (High-Intermediate)
If you like elevated cakes for men, this is the cake for you. You should also read my post dedicated to elegant cake ideas for men.
A little guidance
Knowing how to add golden elements to your cake design is always useful, so check out this golden drip cake tutorial.
Pink 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 4,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
Maybe you’re looking for a luxurious kind of cake design. In this case, there’s no need to look anymore.
A little guidance
Check out this video to get a step-by-step tutorial to recreate the marbled fondant and the geode effect.
18th Birthday Cake Ideas For Advanced Bakers
These six 18th birthday cake ideas will be perfectly suited to experienced cake decorators.
Square 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty level: 5/5
I love square cakes they’re original and elegant at the same, and can easily be adapted for men’s and women’s birthdays.
Regal 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty level: 5/5
Maybe you’d like to go for a more regal look, in this case, this is the perfect cake design for you.
18th Birthday Cake For Men
Difficulty Level: 5/5
Or maybe you want your cake to reflect one of your passions in life. Here, it’s gym but take this as an example of how you can make your birthday cake a real reflection of what you like.
Pastel 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 5/5
If you’d rather opt for something a little more traditional and elegant, this type of cake would be more fitted.
Funny 18th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 5/5
Finally, don’t be afraid to be creative and funny like with this type of cake design.
If you’re looking for more cake ideas, check out one of my other cake ideas exclusively for men, or one of my cake ideas lists for women.
Did you enjoy these 18th birthday cake inspirations? Sharing is caring!
Please let me know in the comments and/or tag me on Instagram @theperfectcakeidea. I’d love to see your creations. And, don’t forget to pin this post so you can come back to it.
