Here, you’ll find 16 sweet 16th birthday cake ideas for girls that’ll impress all your guests. 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 a 16th 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 16th 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 !
16th Birthday Cake Ideas For Girls Perfect For Beginner Bakers
Here, you’ll find 3 easy 16th birthday cake ideas perfect for beginner bakers.
Easy 16th 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.
- Cake decorations and cake toppers.
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 very first technique you have to master is how to frost a cake properly.
Red 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 1,5/5.
Here’s a cake a little more trendy. You can obviously adapt it to your own zodiac sign.
What you will need:
- Enough colored frosting to cover your cake.
- Melted white chocolate in a piping bag + Alphabet silicon mold.
- Heart sprinkles.
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, pour your melted chocolate into the letters of your silicon mold. Tap the mold on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles and use a knife or spatula to clean any excess.
- Pop your mold in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Gently unmold your letters.
- Place your letters and your heart sprinkles on your cake.
What you’ve learned :
Chocolate letters are a great beginner-friendly alternative to buttercream writing.
Layered Buttercream 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 1,5/5.
Layered buttercream is an easy way to add texture and/or a pop of color to your cake.
What you will need:
- Enough frosting to cover and decorate your cake.
- A cake comb
- A piping bag + an open star piping tip (like the 6B by Wilton).
- Cake toppers and decorations (you can easily switch edible cake decorations for nonedible if it’s too much work).
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, apply a new layer of buttercream on the bottom third (or the bottom two third depending on your taste) of your cake.
- Smooth it as usual, then use your cake comb as you would a cake scrapper to create texture.
- You can now add dots of buttercream with your 6B piping tip.
- 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.
16th Birthday Cake Ideas For Girls Perfect For Intermediate Bakers
Here, you’ll find nine 16th birthday cake ideas perfect for intermediate bakers.
Butterfly 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 2,5/5 (Low-Intermediate)
If you’re looking for a sweet and dreamy cake design, you’ll love this butterfly cake. Remember don’t hesitate to play with colors and different cake toppers/types of flowers.
A little guidance
To recreate this butterfly cake you’ll need to learn how to make a drip cake.
Printed 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 3/5 (Intermediate)
Maybe you’re looking for a little bolder cake design. In this case, this printed cake is perfect for you.
A little guidance
To recreate this printed buttercream, you’ll need to paint it on your cold buttercream-covered cake with DIY edible paint.
Colorful 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
If you want an even more colorful 16th birthday cake, you should try watercolor cakes.
A little guidance
To recreate this textured and colorful buttercream, you can follow this watercolor cake tutorial.
Elegant 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
I love cakes that are both elegant and Instagram worth. If you do too, you’ll love this elegant heart cake.
A little guidance
You don’t need to use a heart-shaped cake tin to recreate this kind of cake. You can easily DIY them using your usual round cake pans. You can also check this fondant bow tutorial.
16th Birthday Heart Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
Vintage heart cakes are everywhere these days, so if you’re looking for something trendy you’ll love this cake.
A little guidance
To recreate this signature piping check out this vintage cake piping tutorial.
Vintage-Style 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
As you can see, you can easily personalize your vintage-style heart cake by playing with colors, size, and the complexity of piping.
A little guidance
Using an alphabet silicon mold and fondant is an easier alternative than buttercream to write on cakes, but you need to learn how to use them properly.
Floral 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
You’ll love this cake design if you’re a fan of sober and floral cake designs.
A little guidance
When I write with buttercream on my cakes, I always trace where I’m going to write/pipe with a toothpick to make sure I end up with good placement and spacing. You can also practice on parchment paper beforehand.
Minimalist 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 4/5 (High-Intermediate)
If you have a preference for fondant cake, you might prefer this cake design. But, keep in mind a lot of buttercream-covered cakes can easily be adapted into fondant-covered cakes.
A little guidance
When covering a cake in fondant pay extra attention when preparing your cake. Make sure it’s leveled, and your buttercream (or ganache) should be very neat to get a cleaner finish. Keep in mind that your first attempt probably isn’t going to be flawless, but it’s perfectly fine because practice will make your technique perfect. Here’s a detailed video tutorial, that’ll teach everything you need.
16th Birthday Cake Ideas For Girls For Advanced Bakers
These four 16th birthday cake ideas will be perfectly suited to experienced cake decorators.
Tiered 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty level: 5/5
If you plan on hosting a lot of people, a tall-tiered cake like this one is your best option.
Neon 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 5/5
Maybe you’d like something more vibrant and eclectic. In this case, you’ll love this neon birthday cake.
Classic Chanel 16th Birthday Cake
Difficulty Level: 5/5
You can also have a lot of fun with small cakes like these ones. Don’t hesitate to personalize your cake design according to your own favorite luxury brand.
If you’re looking for more cake ideas, check out my elegant cake ideas for women, or one of my other birthday cake ideas for women.
Did you enjoy these 16th birthday cake inspirations? Sharing is caring! Pin this post to come back to it.
Please let me know in the comments if you’d like some specific cake ideas and/or tag me on Instagram @theperfectcakeidea. I’d also love to see your creations.
