Gallery of Cake Designs

There's nothing like looking at a gallery of cake designs to help you gather inspiration for your next creation. This slideshow features creative ways to use buttercream, fondant, royal icing and even a bit of airbrushing to achieve amazing designs. Take the ideas you see here and incorporate them into your masterpiece.

It's amazing what you can achieve with a star tip, a round tip and some silver dragees. This buttercream wedding cake design is actually quite simple, but it delivers a lot of visual impact. For the finishing touch, add a few sprigs of realistic silk roses, or opt to use real roses instead.

Here's a cake design that is very familiar yet still a great all-around design to use for nearly any occasion including birthdays, anniversaries or whenever congratulations are in order.

Most little girls would love to have a doll cake for their special occasion. Here's a chance to be really creative. Experiment with color, cover the entire "gown" in stars or drape the cake in fondant and use a ribbon tip to add bows and swags. You're only limited by your own imagination.

Here's another easy fondant design that is very simple yet quite appealing. If you ever enjoyed cutting shapes out of Play-Doh as a child, you'll love working with fondant.

This dramatic looking cake couldn't be easier to create at home. Carve just one side of a standard heart-shaped cake to match the image and cover it in buttercream. Next, color your fondant with red paste coloring, roll it out and drape it over your cake. Smooth it down and cut away the excess leaving a 1/4 inch rim on the cake board. Add a few buttercream or fondant roses, and use a small round icing tip to pipe your message of love.

Don't forget about gingerbread houses when you're thinking about cake designs. This is a great opportunity to work with royal icing. Hone your skills, and you may wind up entering a gingerbread house contest.

This cake design incorporates a number of cake decorating elements. The clown figure is a combination of fondant piped with royal icing, while the fondant-covered cake base has been airbrushed with food coloring. Fondant cutouts and a bit of string piping complete the look for a very festive cake any child would love.

This cake design-in-progress uses the basket weave technique and a cluster of roses to create a cake that would be perfect for Mother's Day, Easter or as a table/dessert centerpiece for any special occasion.