Finally! A Mother’s Day Cake that anyone can do! Using an open star tip helps to create a beautiful technique but is easy enough for anyone to d0!

A beautiful cake that is easy to do but Mom will never know you didn't spend hours and hours on it!

I recently make a Rainbow Open Star Tip Cake that people really seemed to like! One of the most common emails I got about this cake was, “How can I make this for Mother’s Day?” I thought I would do a softer version of my original cake that would be a little more appropriate for a Mother’s Day celebration!

To make this cake you will need:

Cake to decorate (I adore this Perfect White Cake recipe)

Buttercream recipe (I prefer Decorator’ Buttercream for piping, but Crusting Buttercream also works quite well)

Food coloring – I used McCormick food coloring and loosely followed this chart that details how to achieve certain colors.

Decorator’s tips: 16, 18, 22, 32, 172, 195, 2C, 4B, 8B, 9FT (this is simply a wide variety of the same style of tip- see how to store all of these tips HERE)

I also use a #4 tip to write “mom”.

A beautiful cake that is easy to do but Mom will never know you didn't spend hours and hours on it!

One difference with this cake and the original cake is I added a few larger open star tips like the 2C, 4B, and 8B. I wanted to add a few more colors and thought that the larger star tips would be better than the smaller tips.

One thing that makes a BIG difference in the overall time spent on this cake is how I use my tips. What I mean by that is, how I bag and how I clean up after using frosting in disposable pastry bags.

I like to “double bag” my frostings. Why do I do this?

  1. If I run out of frosting I can easily drop in a bag of fresh frosting.
  2. Clean up is easier.
  3. If using a coupler set I can easily change tips. If not using a couple set I can easily create a new bag with the new tip and drop my frosting right in.

Here’s how simple it is:

This easy method saves SO much time!

I fill a disposable pastry bag with my frosting.

In a separate bag, I add a coupler set with tip OR just the tip. (depending on the size of the tip)

This easy method saves SO much time!

I then cut the tip off the bag with frosting. Make sure you cut an opening the is slightly bigger than the size of the tip. If the opening is not large enough the pastry bag could interfere with how to frosting comes out of the tip. (I hope that makes sense!)

This easy method saves SO much time!

Simply drop the frosting bag into the bag with the coupler set. When the frosting runs out, simply remove the frosting bag and drop in a new bag. I often store my frosting right in the pastry bag to save time.

A beautiful cake that is easy to do but Mom will never know you didn't spend hours and hours on it!

Ok! So now that we have the supplies ready how do you actually make this adorable cake? Spoiler: It’s SO EASY!!

Another difference in this cake from the original Rainbow Open Star Tip Cake is the addition of the white frosting ring around the top that you see at the beginning of the video. I did this to create some varying height on the cake. (You can definitely leave this ring of frosting out if you prefer)

I think you can really tell on this image how dramatic and lovely the extra height is:

A beautiful cake that is easy to do but Mom will never know you didn't spend hours and hours on it!

Ok, so the process for this cake is fairly easy!

Bake cake, cover in crumb coat, (here is a video of me adding a crumb coat) then go back and do your final “beauty” layer. Try and get the frosting as smooth as possible! I found that the contrast of the crisp, clean lines of the cake with the whimsical multi-colored buttercream “stars” is really quite impressive.

Color frosting and add it to pastry bags with open star tips in varying sizes.

Pipe dollops (stars) around the cake. Be sure to stop and look at the cake from different angle’s to see if it looks even and symmetrical.

PRO TIP: Try using ODD (not even) bunches of dollops. If you look at the image below you will see that I used FIVE big blue star dollops. Research shows that odd (like 1, 3, 5, 7, 9) groupings are more visually appealing. 

You can use as little as 3 different decorating tips as well as add other varieties and styles. I would recommend a small, a medium, and a large tip. Instead of rainbow colors consider pink, yellow, and blue or even red, dark pink and a light pink. You could also add some round tips in for detail or a leaf tip for extra added fun.

I share more about decorator’s tips and storage here.

A beautiful cake that is easy to do but Mom will never know you didn't spend hours and hours on it!

As I mentioned above, I just piped out “mom” using a #4 tip. I removed the star tip from my coupler set on the dark pink frosting bag and added the #4 tip.

This is a great way to make a Mother’s Day Cake personalized for mom!!

Share with your friends!

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Meet Amanda Rettke

Amanda Rettke is the creator of I Am Baker, and the bestselling author of Surprise Inside Cakes: Amazing Cakes for Every Occasion – With a Little Something Extra Inside.Over the course of her 15+ year blogging adventure, she has been featured in and collaborated with the Food Network, New York Times, LA Times, Country Living Magazine, People Magazine, Epicurious, Brides, Romantic Homes, life:beautiful, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Mail, Star Tribune, The Globe and Mail, DailyCandy, YumSugar, The Knot, The Kitchn, and Parade, to name a few.

Reader Comments

  1. Great idea with the pastry bags. Do you have any recommendations as to which brand to buy them in bulk? (I buy 12 packs of Wilton 16″ bags but I’m ready to purchase them in larger quantities.)

    1. I always buy online!! Fat daddio are my favorite and I buy the 16in then just cut them shorter if needed. 🙂

  2. This is gorgeous! I will definitely be making this for Mother’s Day =) Thanks for the video tutorial too!

  3. I am going to make for for all my sisters for Mother’s Day! What an easy way to make a cake that looks so beautiful!

  4. I LOVE this cake, Amanda! I’m planning on making it for my daughter’s first birthday. How many batches of your Decorator’s Buttercream do I need to make to get the same range/variety of colors??

    1. I would make 2 batches so that you have enough of each color. (If you are planning on doing all the colors I did!) It’s a lot of leftover frosting, but the frosting stores well in the piping bags! 🙂

      1. Hi Amanda,

        When you say 2 batches you mean 2 batches of buttercream just for the flower decorations, correct? And then another batch to actually fill and frost the cake? Going to start gathering supplies so I can make this next weekend!

      2. Thanks for getting back to me! Making this cake over the weekend – so excited! I’ll post my pink ombre version on my blog and link back to you 🙂

  5. So so so pretty! Perfect for Spring, Mother’s Day, or just when you need a pick me up.

  6. Perfect indications! Super idea with the double piping bags! It was definitely helpful to switch Colors easily. Thank you very much!

  7. Amazing decorations and detail in explaining how to achieve this look! What brand of piping set do you have? I am starting completely from scratch and would like to purchase quality products that will last.

    1. Hi, Paula! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. Amanda uses Fat Daddio’s products. Have a great day!

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