5 Cute Cake Designs Customers Will Adore

Cakes are one of the most customizable products that you can make in your cake shop or food business. Most of the time, the first thing people determine whether they’ll buy your cake is the appearance of your product. Appeal to your customers by presenting cakes with these cute cake designs.

5 Cute Cake Designs

Here are 5 cute cake design ideas, as well as how you can put a twist on them for more ideas. Whether for birthdays, weddings, graduations or just a self-indulgent cake, these ideas can be easily implemented in your cake business.

1. Simple cake with cute patterns

One of the easiest ways to create a cute cake is by sticking decorations on the sides of your cake. Even if your cake only has one color, the added colors and different textures from the decorations can bring life to it. 

Here is a cute chocolate cake decorated with a colorful sprinkle mix as an idea.

Source: Sugar and Sparrow

You can also add something like this donut sprinkles cake. 

Source: Cloudy Kitchen

The donut itself is made using homemade royal icing. Another idea is to add cereals, bits of cookies, or marshmallows.

In a similar fashion, you can also pipe your cake with a simple but adorable pattern, like this white cake with tiny red hearts decoration.

Source: Curly Girl Kitchen

2. Animal cake

Honestly, what can be cuter than animals on top of a cake? Add animal decorations to create an adorable cake for your customers.

A design we love is this cake with a couple of frogs and a mini cake. You can create 3D animals using … and pipe in more decorations to fit the theme of your cake.

Source: Pinterest

You can also simply draw them on top of your cake by piping an icing, like this koala cake.

Source: Pinterest

Another way to make an animal cake is to shape the cake as an animal. We love this polar bear cake design. The added white chocolate shavings give an additional texture to the cake.

Source: The Little Blog of Vegan

Read more: 5 Simple Chocolate Decoration Techniques for Cakes

3. Floral cake

Cake with floral decorations can make your cake not only cute but also beautifully elegant. Not to mention you can create a lot of color combinations and interesting cake designs.

You can use vibrant or delicate colors to decorate your cake. This cake below uses a combination of pressed edible flowers on the side and adorned with flowers of different kinds and colors on top, making a cute and pretty cake design.

Source: Pinterest

It is advisable to use edible flowers for floral cakes when you can. That way, the flowers aren’t only beautiful to look at but also add flavor to your cake. Nowadays, you can easily find edible flowers sold in online stores with different variations. You can also buy them mixed, so you get different types of flowers in one purchase.

If you don’t feel like using real flowers, you can surely opt for piping decorations instead. This way, you can have more freedom with the colors and type of flowers, and you don’t have to worry about keeping the freshness of the flowers.

Below is a great example of how you can add flower decorations that are just as pretty as the real ones.

Source: Wirmachen Cupcakes

Another idea is to add flower patterns using buttercream. The pastel colors and dainty design makes the decoration extra pretty and cute.

4. Drip cake

Adding a drip decoration not only makes your cake look cute, it also instantly adds a sense of indulgence to your cake.

We like this cake design for its whimsical feel and fun color combination of pink, white, purple, and blue. The pink piping decoration is a great way to fill the empty space on top, and the sprinkle gives a nice touch.

Source: Cakes by Lynz

Another drip cake design we like is this cake by ANNAs. Macaron is by itself a very aesthetic dessert. The contrast between the white drip cake and the colorful macarons makes the macaron really pop.

Source: This is Anna

5. Kitsch buttercream cake

Vintage-inspired kitsch buttercream cakes have been gaining popularity lately. Inspired by French neoclassical designs and the 80’s aesthetics, this type of cake decoration has been revamped with a choice of modern pastel colors and catchy words on top. While it might not be for everyone, with the heavy amount of swirls and ruffle piping, this cake can be an interesting choice for you. 

Below is an example of a two-tiered, pastel-colored kitsch buttercream birthday cake, complete with birthday candles and edible pearls.

Source: April’s Baker

Here’s an even kitschier, bolder example. This red and pink heart-shaped cake with cherries is almost sickeningly adorable.

Source: Instagram @lucyyoungcakes 

5 Cake Decorating Tips

Here are the top 5 tips

1. Use homemade frosting

Canned frostings are usually thin and don’t stick to cakes as good as homemade frostings. They also tend to result in a lumpy texture and can even slide off your cake. Therefore, it’s best to make your own buttercream frosting.

2. Don’t forget the crumb coat

After baking your cake, don’t start decorating it right away! Your frosting will melt right away, and your cake will be more crumbly and more prone to lumps. Add a thin layer of your homemade buttercream frosting around your entire cake, which is the crumb coat. Smooth it over as best as you can, then freeze the cake for 10-15 minutes to let it set.

The crumb coat locks in the moisture in the cake and creates an even surface. It also keeps any loose cake crumbs from showing up through the final icing and decorations, which makes decorating a lot easier and cleaner.

3. Keep your piping away from the edge of your cake

Whether you’re piping on the top or on the border of your cakes, always make sure that you hold your piping bag a little bit toward the center of the cake. Piping designs that are too close to the edge of the cake have a high chance of falling down the sides of your cake, and you don’t want that!

4. Bench scraper and turntable are your friends

These two tools are very important when decorating cakes. One of them is to get that perfectly smooth edges on your cake, whether for the crumb coat or the final cake layer. To do this, hold your bench scraper in your dominant hand at a 45-degree angle, and use the other hand to grip the turntable. Begin rotating the cake, and gradually press the bench scraper on the sides of your cake, making sure to rotate the turntable at an even pace.

5. Practice makes perfect

Cake decorating is no simple task. A lot of the techniques that you see cannot be achieved in one try. So, don’t be discouraged in your decorating endeavor, and keep practicing!

Read more: 5 Famous Chocolate Desserts That Are Delicious and Easy to Make