Take a look at these cool homemade Penguin cakes shared with us by cake decorators from around the world. Along with the cake decorating design ideas here, you’ll also find loads DIY birthday cake-making ideas and how-to tips to inspire your next birthday cake project. Enjoy!
And don’t forget… if you end up with a cool cake, have great tips to share or pictures of awesome birthday cakes you’ve made in the past, share them here and be a part of our coolest birthday cake community.
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Featured Cakes
Cake by Elishua W., Swindon, England
I drew out the design using the shape of the tin as a guide for how big I needed it. I used the spare cake around the head to add on as wings. I made the cake a day before I needed to ice it as it is easier to ice than fresh cake. I made butter cream and iced the whole cake. I colored all the roll out icing the different colors I needed. I then rolled and cut out the different shapes I needed for the cake.
After placing the icing where I wanted it I finished off the cake with white chocolate buttons around the side. I got all my cake decorating design ideas of this website! It is an amazing site!
The cake decorating design ideas I had was such fun to figure out. I took the Stand up Wilton teddy bear and the mini teddy bear and on both I trimmed off all the arms, legs, ears, tails and noses so I basically had a snowman cake. I then piped in the black and white with a star tip., Then the yellow with a bigger tip and pink for the cheeks with a smaller tip.
For the wings I did a couple layers of white stars then the black to give it a little more shape. The beak and feet are made out of fondant. The party hat was an ice cream cone covered in fondant and decorated in buttercream.
The big green cake was a chocolate 1/2 sheet cake with raspberry filling and the penguins were chocolate cake as well. The girl it was for was so excited she had to show all her friends at the party!
Cake by Marisa C., San Francisco, CA
You can use any cake and frosting recipe. Bake cake and frost. Cover with blue colored fondant. The ice and snow are done with royal icing which I applied with a tip (Wilton #11 or #12) and also used a (damp) knife to spread. Use tip #2 or #3 for the fine/pointy pieces of ice.
The penguins were done in a fondant/gum paste mix. Color the mix with Icing Colors (have plenty of black coloring on hand, you will need a lot!).
I shaped each piece with my hands. I rolled the orange fondant/gum paste mix with a rolling pin and shaped the feet with an angled spatula. Their eyes were done in royal icing tip #2.
Good luck! It’s not as difficult as it may look! You can play around with the cake decorating design ideas to suit you!
Cake by Ashley R., Fort Wayne, IN
This was my first attempt at cake decorating design ideas of this kind. I made this cake for my friend’s 22nd birthday. And I thought since she loves penguins I would make her a penguin cake!
I started out by making a 13×9 inch cake. I allowed it to cool. I had to enlarge the picture of the penguin on the computer and print it out in two pieces of paper and taped them together. I cut the shape out and cut lines for the detail. Then I traced it on to wax paper with a needle so I wouldn’t be using ink or lead. I placed the wax paper onto the cake and cut out the shape of the penguin. After that I iced the cake.
I then placed the cake in the freezer for about a half an hour so I would be able to place the wax paper back on top of the cake to trace the detailed lines. I used a star tip on the black parts. On the wing I pulled down with the star tip so it showed a difference between the body and the wing.
Cake by Kristy R., Washington, MO
For my son’s Happy Feet birthday I made a little Mumble and a Happy Feet scene with blue jello for the ocean. I made Mumble from a small stand up bear cake pan (I cut the ears off the bear to make him a penguin). Then I used a small star tip to make the markings of little Mumble on the cake. I copied all my cake decorating design ideas from a coloring book.
For the large cake I made two 9X13 cakes, stacked them with icing in between then cut out an opening on the top cake. I used a package (3oz.) of berry blue gelatin (you may need two packages).
Here are the directions for that: In a small bowl dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Pour cold water into a two cup measuring cup; add enough ice cubes to measure 1-1/4 cups. Add to gelatin; stir until slightly thickened. Discard any remaining ice.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until soft-set. Slowly pour gelatin into circle. Frost top and sides of cake. After I frosted the cake I added clear edible glitter to give the appearance of glistening snow and ice and then added plastic Happy Feet figures. All the kids really loved the gelatin with their cake.
Cake by Laura A., Mechanicsville, MD
My 16 year old daughter loves penguins. When the movie Happy Feet came out she wanted one for her birthday. I simply couldn’t grasp the concept of trying that one so I went to a website that teaches children to draw penguins. I practiced my cake decorating design ideas on paper then when the time came baked two separate layers of a 9X13 pan cake.
I used box cake mix then pulled out my cake tips. I cut the out line on one layer and set it aside. Then I iced the bottom layer in white frosting. I lay the penguin on top to make it look kind of ice block-ish. I used a medium star tip and decorated the different colors starting with the face. I added a store bought plastic “happy Birthday” because there really wasn’t’ a space to write it. She loved it.
The penguins are made of black and orange food coloring almond paste. I molded it into penguins. The Igloo on top is a separate cake I put on its own foil covered board, cut to shape. Since it was for my son’s first birthday he needed his own piece.
I decorated it with whipped white icing and sugar crystals. I cut a 6 inch cake into the shape using a small bowl. The main part of the cake is two layers of a nine inch cake on the bottom and one layer of a six inch cake on the second tier. I used sky blue gel food coloring for both and then made icicles on the edge with white frosting. I added more sugar crystals for an icy shimmer.
I got all my cake decorating design ideas from this website and from other penguin cakes. Thanks!
Cake by Jenny E., Cambridge, UK
I made this cake for my daughter in the shape of one of her favorite soft toys. This cake was made from two pudding basin cakes, one big one for the body and one little for the head.
The cake decorating design ideas I copied from the toy. It is iced with sugar paste icing. The beak was held on with cocktail sticks.
Cake decorating design idea by Kim D., Indianapolis, IN
This was for my seven year old daughter’s “Happy Feet” Birthday party. I got the idea from another cake I saw on the internet for cake decorating design ideas.
We used a yellow butter cake from a box and I made the cream cheese icing from a recipe on the internet (mix room temperature 8 oz cream cheese, 6 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Then add 3 cups confectioner’s sugar slowly) – it is nice and creamy and actually looks like a winter wonderland. My daughter loved it – the taste is out of this world!
The bottom cake is a 12″ round cake and we made a loaf of pound cake (from a box) to cut up the half circle for the igloo. My husband cut up the pound cake also for the tunnel that leads to the igloo. Make sure to ice underneath before attaching it to the cake. We made blue raspberry jelly separately with fish gummies inside. Once it was set we cut out a round piece out of the cake and placed a round piece of jelly the same size inside the hole in the cake. It was awesome.
All of the kids at the party lined up to make sure to get a piece of the water!!! The adults loved the icing!! We just bought those wind up penguins to place on the “snow” and afterwards let the kids take them off and play with them. We purchased them at a party supply store.
Cake decorating design idea by Aimee B., Williamson, GA
I made this cake for a friend. Her son was in love with Happy Feet and wanted a cake just like his favorite character. I used two 10in round pans and I used two boxed cakes. I found a few cake decorating design ideas from this site.
After baking I took a toothpick and outlined the design on the top cake of the penguins face. I made some fluffy white frosting and colored some black and some gray. Before icing the cake I colored some fondant blue, black and white for the eyes and pink, black and yellow for the mouth. I molded the fondant to form a mouth coming out of the cake like 3d.
I made the tongue more life like by pricking it with a toothpick to form the taste buds. I rounded the eyes and placed them on the cake. With the large star tip I piped the black frosting and then the white and then the gray. I sprinkled with coconut to give it that wintry look and formed some small snowballs out of fondant.
It came out great very easy and fun!
Cake decorating design idea by Dee G., Columbia, MO
My niece loves penguins and asked me to make her another penguin cake. Last year I did a flat penguin and thought I would surprise her with a stand up penguin.
I used the Stand Up Bear pan and cut the ears off. I then frosted it with black, white and light orange frosting. This was a fun cake to watch come to life. I think the next time I will ice it smooth.
Cake decorating design idea by Michelle K., Roscoe, IL
I made this cake for my girlfriend’s daughter’s first birthday. I used a sheet cake pan and cut out the cake in the shape of a penguin. Frosted the whole cake white and then decorated it with pink icing. She requested a pink one instead of the old fashion black and white. It turned out better than I had expected. It was fun and really not that hard.
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