Looking for Cake Ideas for Mother’s Day? Whether you’re simply looking for inspiration to place an order with your local baker, or whether you want to recreate one of these cakes yourself, you’re in the perfect place. Here you’ll find 15 cake ideas perfect for Mother’s Day or your mother’s birthday, including easy designs with instructions to recreate these beautiful cake ideas.
How to find a Mother’s Day 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 recreate these Mother’s Day cake ideas?
What cake recipe should you use to make your perfect cake come true?
To recreate these cake ideas, you will need a trustworthy cake recipe. You have several options.
Adapt your favorite cake recipe.
There are a lot of ways to adapt a cake recipe. You mainly have four options to tweak your favorite recipe :
- You could change the flavor of your cake recipe: with citrus zest, the essence of your choice, or turn it into a chocolate or carrot cake for example.
- You could add a filling: a caramel sauce, a homemade flavored whipped cream, ganache, or buttercream.
- You could also add some texture: oreo bits, crumble crumbs, nuts, or fresh fruit for example.
- Finally, you could personalize your frosting.
Be careful, if you’re a beginner baker, having to figure out both your cake design and creating a new cake recipe could be overwhelming. Therefore, I always recommend taking your learning journey one step at a time.
Look for a cake recipe.
Where? You can ask friends, or family or simply look on the internet. You have to keep two things in mind though :
- The recipe has to be suitable for cake decorating, especially for cakes that require stacking or carving (intermediate and advanced cake ideas).
- Once again, if you’re a beginner baker, be careful not to put too much on your plate and choose a recipe suited to your current level.
Use my cake recipe recommendation.
Finally, you could try the delicious recipe I recommend. I firmly believe everyone should have a trustworthy chocolate cake recipe, and my chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting is both beginner-friendly and perfect for cake decorating. I’m sure you’ll love it.
What you will love about this recipe :
- It has a perfect chocolate flavor.
- It’s a really easy recipe, perfect for beginners.
- It has a great texture.
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 the 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 Mother’s Day 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 !
Mother’s Day Cake Ideas Perfect for Beginner Bakers
Here, you’ll find 3 easy cake ideas perfect for beginner bakers.
Mother’s Day Bento Cake.
Difficulty Level: 1/5.
This kind of bento cake is perfect for Mother’s Day as it is a beautiful (and delicious) way to convey messages to the people you love.
What you will need:
- Enough frosting to cover and decorate your cake
- A piping bag with a thin round piping tip (or simply cut your piping bag straight, 1/2 cm or 1/4 inch away from the tip).
How to recreate this cake?
- For the cover. 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.
- Chill your cake for 30 minutes or until your buttercream cover sets, so it doesn’t get damaged in case you have trouble with the next step.
- For the writing. If you’re not used to writing with buttercream, use a toothpick or the tip of a knife to trace where you’re going to write on your cake.
- Now, you can retrace the imprint you made on your buttercream. If you’d like to practice beforehand, you can always do so on a sheet of parchment paper until you’re confident enough.
What you’ve learned :
Writing on cakes with buttercream is an essential cake-decorating skill. While it’s not really complicated, it does require some practice.
Floral Mother’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 1/5.
What you will need :
- Enough frosting to cover and decorate your cake.
- A piping bag with a thin round piping tip (or simply cut your piping bag straight, 1/2 cm or 1/4 inch away from the tip).
- Fresh (wrap the stems in floral tape) or fake flowers
How to recreate this cake?
- For the cover of the cake and the buttercream writing, simply refer to the previous design. Once, you’re done, move on to the flowers.
- For the flowers. Simply wrap their stems if you’re using fresh flowers, and insert them into your cake just following the picture or your heart’s desire.
What you’ve learned :
Adding flowers to your cake can really take your cake design to a superior level, without too much effort.
Layered Buttercream Mother’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 1,5/5.
What you will need :
- Enough frosting to cover and decorate your cake.
- Fresh (wrap the stems in floral tape) or fake flowers
- Cake toppers
How to recreate this cake?
- For the cover of the cake. You can refer to the first cake idea if you’ve never done it before.
- For the layered buttercream. Color what’s left of your buttercream with 2 colors of your choice.
- Apply a uniform layer of your first colored buttercream around the bottom 2 thirds of your cake.
- Smooth that new layer of buttercream with your cake scrapper, just like you did for the first layer.
- Allow it to set in the fridge. Then repeat the process with the last color on the bottom half of your second buttercream layer.
- Finally, place your flowers and cake toppers.
What you’ve learned :
Buttercream layers are an easy technique to personalize your cakes as a beginner cake decorator.
If you’re looking for more easy cake ideas, check out my post about Heart Cake Ideas that would also be suitable for Mother’s Day.
Mother’s Day Cake Ideas for Intermediate Bakers
Here, you’ll find 6 cake ideas perfect for intermediate bakers.
Gradient Mother’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 2/5 (Low-Intermediate)
This gradient cake design is minimalist and elegant, which makes it perfect for Mother’s Day.
A little guidance
In order to recreate this beautiful gradient effect, apply your light buttercream on the top half of your cake, and your darker shade on the bottom half. You might use a third transition color to get a more seamless finish. Then, use your spatula to blend the demarcations as much as you can. Finally, smooth your cake as usual. If you think the gradient isn’t as blended as you wished, keep blending and smoothing until satisfied.
Watercolor Mother’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 2,5/5 (Low-Intermediate)
If looking for something a little bit more artsy and original a watercolor cake might be exactly what you need.
A little guidance
You can easily recreate the watercolor effect following this watercolor buttercream tutorial.
Flower Wreath Cake
Difficulty level: 2,5/5 (Low-Intermediate)
Flower wreaths on bento cakes have come to become a staple. It’s perfect for Mother’s Day as it reminds you of the bouquet you might offer on such occasions.
A little guidance
While this cake looks really cute, it only requires very basic piping techniques. All you’ll need are a petal, a 4B, and a 1M piping tips to be able to recreate this flower wreath. Then, I recommend practicing making dots and little swirls on parchment paper before moving to the actual cake.
Daisy Mother’s Day Cake.
Difficulty Level: 2,5/5 (Low-Intermediate)
In the same spirit, this cute Daisy Bento cake is also perfect for celebrating mothers.
A little guidance
Daisies are easy enough to recreate with a little bit of practice. If you want to give it a try, you can follow this buttercream daisies tutorial.
Pastel Mother’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 3/5 (Intermediate)
If you’re looking for a cake design that stands out from the crowd without being too difficult, this pastel cake is perfect for you.
A little guidance
To recreate this effect, simply apply your different colors of buttercream, on your buttercream cover. Make sure to not apply too much pressure or you’ll end up with a messy result.
Family Love Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
Mother Day’s is a celebration of mothers obviously, but also of family, therefore this cake design is perfectly suited to the occasion.
A little guidance
To recreate this beautiful design, you can make a buttercream transfer. You only have to print the hand design you would like to recreate and place it under a sheet of parchment paper. Then, pipe your buttercream following the pattern. Next, let it set in the fridge.
Finally, place it on your cake and apply a little bit of pressure with your hand to be able to unstick the parchment paper. Here’s a video tutorial of a buttercream transfer to make the process easier.
Painted Mother’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
Palette knife cake decorating is really trending and there’s a good reason for it: it looks simply stunning. If you love it as much as I do, this cake design might be the one you’ll recreate to celebrate Mother’s Day.
A little guidance
Depending on the size and shape of your palette knife you’ll get different results. You can use this to give free rein to your creativity. If you’d like to try yourself at palette knife buttercream flowers you can follow this tutorial.
Printed Mother’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 4/5 (High-Intermediate)
If you’re looking for an original fondant cake, this might be the perfect cake design for you.
A little guidance
First, you’ll need to cover your cake with fondant. If you’ve never done it before, here’s a detailed video tutorial, that’ll teach everything you need to know about the process. Then, simply use edible paint and a stencil over your fondant cover as shown in this quick patterned cake video tutorial.
Flower Bouquet Cake
Difficulty Level: 4,5/5 (High-Intermediate)
If you’re looking for a showstopping cake design, this is the perfect cake for you.
A little guidance
You’ll have to put in some work though. You’ll need to cover your cake with fondant, recreating the different elements and texture of the flower’s box. Then, simply place your fresh or fake flowers as usual. You can also use buttercream flowers to take your design to the next level.
Mother’s Day Cake Ideas for Advanced Bakers
These 3 Mother’s Day cake designs will be perfectly suited to experienced cake decorators.
Wild Flowers Cake
Difficulty Level: 5/5
If you’re not scared to take on a challenge, this beautiful floral cake is definitely going to stand out from the crowd on Mother’s Day.
Heart Mother’s Day Cake
Difficulty level: 5/5
Here is another beautiful floral cake. What’s nice about cake decorating is that there are a thousand ways to create starting from the same concept. This floral wreath shaped like a heart is perfect for Mother’s Day.
3D Mother’s Day Cake
Difficulty Level: 5/5
If you’re used to fondant work or know a cake decorator who is, who wouldn’t love a cake in their image? You’re sure to make a hit with such a cake.
Did you enjoy these Mother’s Day 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.
Pin this post and come back to it later.
