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20 of the Most Beautiful Homemade Cake Decorating Ideas

These simple tricks result in gorgeous, Insta-worthy cakes!

Brian Woodcock

Half the fun of making a homemade cake recipe is getting creative with the decorations. After the cakes themselves are baked and stacked, you get to let your inner artist go wild, crafting flowers, figurines, and other decorations out of fondant or other smart materials. And when you get it right, nothing beats the look on everyone's faces when you reveal the creation—possibly to the tune of "Happy Birthday" as everyone oohs and aahs.

But whether you're looking for a homemade birthday cake idea, putting together treats for a holiday party, bringing dessert to a potluck, or simply want to spend a little time making something extra beautiful this weekend, we want to help you turn your next dessert into a treat worthy of a celebration. That's why we're highlighting some of our favorite decorating tips. From the so-simple-it's-genius (fruit leather and fondant flowers) to an impressively detailed haunted house that—we promise—will have folks talking about your skills for years to come, we've assembled 20 of our most impressive, most interesting, and (most importantly) most doable confectionary concoctions both from our site and from around the web.

Don't worry! These recipes all have easy-to-follow instructions, including templates and links to useful products and essential additions to help you avoid any "Nailed It!"-style mishaps. So you can rest assured that you'll be able to make even the most complicated-looking cakes here and come away looking like a Cake Boss.

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Spring Daisy Lemon Layer Cake

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Coconut Angel Cake

This beautiful cake is simply decorated with generous amounts of toasted coconut.

Get the recipe.

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Retro Christmas Tree Cake

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Towering Haunted House Cake

Go all-out this October and make a cake everyone will talk about for years.

Get the recipe.

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Raspberry Pink Velvet Cake

Decorated with fresh raspberries, meringue cookies, and edible flowers, this pink velvet cake would be a fun and cheerful addition to any bridal shower or birthday party.

Get the recipe.

SHOP EDIBLE FLOWERS

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Robin's Egg Coconut Cake

Frosted with coconut buttercream in a unexpected shade of robin's egg blue this malted coconut cake is almost too pretty to eat.

Get the recipe.

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Stained Glass Cake

Made from melted Jolly Rancher candies, these "stained glass" shards are a fun and easy way to dress up a cake.

Get the recipe.

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Candied Pretzel Cake

While this cake looks like ready for a wintry soiree, you can coat pretzel rods in any color of candy melts and sugar to fit the theme of your party.

Get the recipe.

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Spice Layer Cake

Decorate a nearly naked spice cake with caramel acorns and piecrust leaves.

Get the recipe.

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Sugared Rosemary and Citrus Cake

For an easy and rustic finishing touch, arrange sugared rosemary and dried slices of blood oranges in a crescent shape on top of your iced cake.

Get the recipe at The Sweet and Simple Kitchen.

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Carrot Cake With "Flowers"

What better way to finish a carrot cake than with these adorable "flowers" made from thin slices of carrot?

Get the recipe at Sprinkle Bakes.

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Polka-Dot Cake

Get this sweet polka-dot look simply by pushing upside-down chocolate chips into the sides of your frosted cake.

Get the recipe at Style Sweet CA.

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Petal Cake

This fun frosting technique looks complicated, but all you have to do is pipe blobs of frosting in a vertical line and smear it down with the back of a spoon before piping another row. Find a visual tutorial at the Cake Blog.

Get the recipe at Hungry Girl Por Vida.

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Flower Vase Cake

Turn your cake into an edible centerpiece by placing a few stems inside plastic test tubes and inserting it into the middle of your frosted cake.

Get the recipe at Alana Jones Mann.

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Rainbow Cake

There are no rules to this cake—just have fun playing around with a variety of frosting colors and whatever piping tips you have on hand.

Get the recipe at I Am Baker.

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Chocolate Forest Cake

These tiny trees are easy to make. All you have to do is pipe melted chocolate onto a nonstick surface (foil will work) and put it in the fridge. Once cool, pop the trees off the foil and attach them to the side of your cake with a little bit of frosting.

Get the recipe at Chocolate & Carrots.

Lyndsey Matthews Freelance Writer Lyndsey Matthews is the Destination News Editor for AFAR; previously she was a Lifestyle Editor across all of Hearst Digital Media's brands, and a digital editor at Martha Stewart Weddings and Travel + Leisure.

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