Ack! Mom’s birthday is coming up! Last year you ordered a cake, and the year before that you whisked up a cake mix that you then covered with store-bought frosting. Both were yummy!
This year, though, you want to create a masterpiece, something visually stunning that will simultaneously blow her mind and her taste buds. A homemade cake is going to mean more to her than anything you bought at the store or ordered from the bakery. Yes, it’ll take time and planning, but we know that you’ve got what it takes to create a masterpiece fit for a queen: your mama.
In this article, we’ll be going over 18 of our favorite birthday cakes for moms!
Strawberry Cakes
1. Strawberry Limeade Cake
If there’s one thing better than a birthday cake, it’s a layered birthday cake. Right? Right. This incredible creation has three layers of moist deliciousness, and that means three layers of the strawberry cream cheese frosting, too! As if strawberries in the frosting isn’t enough, there are legit strawberries in the cake layers, as well. No joke. This is a strawberry lover’s dream!
2. Easy Strawberry Cake
Want to produce a cake that has maximum impact but requires minimal preparation? Voila! This super easy berry dessert is the answer to your wishes. The two main ingredients are a cake mix and strawberry jello – how easy is that?! It’s a simple and beautiful way to dress up a boxed cake, and nobody will know the difference. Especially if you pair this fresh concoction with mom’s favorite ice cream… she’ll be in awe of your kitchen capabilities.
3. Fresh Strawberry Pound Cake
For lovers of the dense, moist decadence that is a pound cake (and hey, isn’t that everyone?), try this incredible recipe for a cool take on an old favorite. Especially if mom’s birthday is in the spring and you can find the freshest, reddest, ripest, best-est berries (bonus points if you can get them from a local farm!), this delectable dessert is bound to be a party pleaser. That glaze though. For reals.
Ice Cream Cakes
4. Chocolate Chip Cookies Cake
As if ice cream cake itself isn’t one of the most joyous creations to ever come from the kitchen, this cake combines ice cream and cake and cookies! Seriously, though. Four layers of cookie and three layers of ice cream – each a different flavor. You might as well pair it with pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and some sweet loot bags because this is all but guaranteed to bring out your mom’s inner child as you’ve never seen before.
5. Meringue-Topped, Layered Ice Cream Birthday Cake
Oh. Em. Gee. We can’t even. Just look at the photo! Your ice-cream-loving mama has never seen anything this incredible. She has hearts for pupils, and we don’t blame her. The five layers of cookie crust, ice cream, more ice cream, brownie, and MORE ice cream… gah! And don’t even get us started on the Haagen Daaz scoops nestled among mini meringues to decorate the tippy top. Prepare for a sugar coma in 3, 2, 1… zzzzzz…
6. Vegan Cotton Candy Ice Cream Cake
Yes, this really is a thing. And yes, it really is vegan! The mom in your life has probably been dreaming of ice cream cake for years, and now you can make her dream a reality. And what a reality it is! Just looking at this incredible concoction will be gift enough, but when mom finally bites into these five layers of luxurious gluten-free goodness, you will be her favorite person for life. The end.
Cheesecake
7. Birthday Cake Cheesecake
Does your mom love cheesecake? Does she love cookie dough? Oreos? How about sprinkles? If you answered, “yes”, then look no further because this is the mother of all birthday cakes… for your mother. It may take a while to whip this baby up and put it all together, but if ever a labor of love was worth it, it’ll be this one. Make sure mom gets a piece before any of the kids do because there’s no way there will be any leftovers here!
8. Neapolitan Cheesecake
This one actually requires zero baking – perfect for a summer birthday when the temps are high and birthday guests’ patience levels are low. Not only is it a no-bake recipe, but it also combines all the goodness of strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla cheesecakes in one pan. Why choose just one cake when you can have all three? More is better, that’s our mantra, and it’ll be mom’s too once she gets a beautiful bite of this baby.
9. Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake
Now, this is an elegant, classy birthday cake for an elegant, classy lady. Seriously, just look at the delicate mini chocolate chips and glossy, deep-colored cherries adorning the top of this confection. If mom’s birthday happens to fall during the proper season, it’s your duty to choose the juiciest, plumpest cherries you can find and serve this insanely delicious treat for her big day. Save some for us too, please!
Specialty Cakes for Food Sensitivities
10. Pistachio Melon Cake
Looking at this gorgeous goodie from the outside, it’s impossible to tell that there’s not a standard flour-and-sugar cake in there! It’s actually layers of melons! Whether your mom is vegetarian, vegan, lactose intolerant, is eating low-carb, trying to avoid gluten, or whatever else… this cake will make her birthday the best she’s ever had. Maybe don’t feed it to her if she has a nut allergy, though. Definitely not advisable!
11. Deep Dish Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake
Don’t let the title fool you. This cake has zero ice cream in it, even though it tastes like the real thing. Instead, it has super cool ingredients like dates, hemp seeds, flax seeds, bananas, and nut butter. But don’t worry, this tastes nothing like a salad – although you could argue with Mom that it’s as healthy as one! It’s equal parts delicious and shockingly good for you. You’re welcome, mom!
12. Fudgey Paleo Chocolate Cake
How can you say no to a cake that started out like a brownie recipe and ended up as a chocolate cake of epic proportions? You can’t, and neither can your mama. With quality natural ingredients and the option to use chocolate frosting or coconut oil caramel frosting (we recommend both, obviously), this Paleo dessert will wow even the most skeptical of sugar lovers.
No-Bake Cakes
13. No-Bake Cheesecake
For those sweltering days where the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven, no-bake cheesecake is the perfect choice – for you and mom both! With all the goodness of a regular cheesecake plus a topping of fresh raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, rum, and bourbon… every bite may make you swoon. Instead of filling a glass of champagne to toast mom’s birthday, you can just raise a forkful of cake instead!
14. Chocolate Raspberry No-Bake Cake
Just when you thought there couldn’t be anything more enticing than the idea of a standard chocolate cake… get a load of this! It’s basically a castle constructed of delicious chocolate wafer cookies, heavenly heavy cream, and fresh plump raspberries all topped off with delicate little chocolate curls. This cake probably takes as much effort as throwing a boxed cake mix into the oven, but it has a much better WOW factor.
15. Amazing No-Bake Golden Birthday Cake Oreo Cheesecake
Everyone loves Oreos, but have you tried Birthday Cake Oreos? Better yet, GOLDEN Birthday Cake Oreos? They’re next level. Imagine eating next-level Golden Birthday Cake Oreos in a birthday cake. With this recipe, you get the amazingness of Oreos in the crust, the cake itself, and as a topping. Mind-blowing, right? We guarantee that mom will never forget this birthday treat!
Cool and Unusual Cakes
16. Orange Cinnamon Spiced Crepe Cake
Now, this is a unique kind of cake! Not only is it made of a pile of crepes instead of a traditional flour-and-sugar cake mix recipe, with every bite you’re getting 22 layers of sweet crepes and 21 layers of spiced pastry cream. That’s 43 layers in total. The instructions even suggest you use a kitchen torch to “brulee” the top, giving it a nice crunch that counteracts the softness of all those layers. Mmmm.
17. Jelly Roll Yellow Sponge Cake
We know what you’re thinking – a jelly roll isn’t a cake. Well, when the cake experts at Wilton say a jelly roll is a cake, we believe them. Just look at this recipe! There’s much more sponge cake to it than jelly roll. And if you add the sweet flowers on top as the Wilton chefs have done, it’ll be picture perfect. A light, sweet end for your sweet mama on her special day.
18. Candy Cane Cake
Especially if the mama in your life happens to have a birthday that falls in December, this candy cane confection will be a perfect fit for the occasion. It has two layers of chocolate cake separated by a surprising, yet delightful bit of vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream frosting, plus more of the buttercream frosting on top. The top is covered in a dark chocolate ganache drip and dusted with crushed candy canes. Mom will look like the heart-eyed emoji after just one bite.
Final Thoughts
With choices like these, we know that you’ll make mom the cake of her dreams. It’ll be tough to pick just one of these incredible, gorgeous birthday cakes for moms, but the truly tricky part will be not tasting the finished product until you show it to her. Good luck!