15 Simple Moana Birthday Cake Ideas + Tutorials for Kids - FREE Topper (2024)

Moana was the first movie my daughter ever sat down and watched all the way through. “How Far I’ll Go” is the first song she learned (most of) the words to. If she ever asks for a Moana birthday party (and she probably will.. every year she picks a different Disney girl), I am so excited to make a Moana cake!

If you’re looking for ideas to get your creative juices flowing in making a Moana birthday cake, you’ve come to the right spot. Not only is this article filled with gorgeous pictures of Moana cakes, it’s also packed with tips, supply lists, and tutorials!

Plus, I’ve designed some Moana cake topper sets, and I’m giving one away for FREE! Just scroll down, you’ll see it!

I like to compile cakes that the average person can realistically make on their own… Meaning, these are mostly achievable, easy Moana cake ideas. (I did throw in a couple of doozies just because they are so beautiful, but if you’re experienced, you can do it!) And if you’re just looking for a place to buy a Moana cake, I’ll tell you the best place to get a cheap Moana cake that’s pretty AND delicious.

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How to Make a Moana Cake

• Watch the movie. Draw your inspiration not just from other people’s cakes, but from images from the movie that strike you! There’s the sand, the ocean, her pets Pua and Hei Hei, the heart of Te’Fiti, and so many other little things that can inspire you.
• Plan it out. You don’t want to go into cake-making mode without any real plan to go off of. Plan out your cake in whatever way works for you, even if it’s just a basic sketch of what you want to achieve. I like to create my design right down to its proportions in Photoshop.
• Play to your strengths. If you’ve never, ever worked with fondant before, don’t do something crazy and start a custom-designed, three-tier birthday cake (like I did for my daughter’s first birthday). You don’t want to pull an all-nighter, stress yourself out, and be grumpy during the party.
• Get your supplies well in advance. There’s a list below of some basic supplies you’ll need, as well as some cake toppers and other Moana cake decorations you might like to use. Order these things weeks in advance to make sure you have everything you need before it’s time to get started.
• Make it ahead. I never recommend making a cake the day of the party – and depending on its complexity, the day before might be too late, too. If you’re using fondant accents that need to dry, make them several days ahead. Bake the cakes the evening before you want to get the cake frosted. Only leave what you absolutely have to for the day of the party!

Supplies Needed

Cake Pan

If you’re looking for a Moana-specific cake pan like the Wilton pans of character faces, you won’t find one. I checked! Maybe someday, but for now, you’ll either have to use your imagination to frost Moana’s face onto a cake or go with a standard sheet or tier cake with Moana decorations. Depending on which kind you go with, you’ll need one of these pans:

WIlton Performance 9×13 Sheet Cake Pan

This is the standard size for a sheet cake, whether it’s one or two layers (you can definitely get away with one for a small party).

Wilton Nonstick 12×18 Sheet Cake Pan

If you want an extra-large sheet cake to feed more people or have more room for toppers, writing, and decoration, this is the pan for you.

Wilton Performance 4-Piece Round Cake Pans

Cooling Racks

Once your cake(s) come out of the oven, you’ll want to turn them over onto cooling racks so they stop cooking and cool down as quickly as possible so you can start decorating! I love this set of stackable Wilton cooling racks:

But if you’re using an extra-large sheet cake pan, you’ll need an extra-large cooling rack like this one:

Icing Spatula

Even if you’re going to cover your cake in fondant, you’ll need to spread a layer of frosting over the cake for it to stick to. And if you’re doing a buttercream-only cake, you’ll want to make sure your frosting base is nice and smooth. This 13-inch angled spatula from Wilton is the perfect one!

Frosting Tips & Bags

I tend to use a few frosting tips even when I’m making a fondant cake. There’s just no good (or easy) fondant substitute for grass, flowers, or words made of icing! If you don’t have any (or enough), I recommend the kit below from Wilton. It comes with lots of tips, some couplers, and frosting bags as well.

Candle(s)

You can go for the regular stick candles in your required quantity, or you can get this adorable 2.5-inch candle that doubles as a cake topper featuring Moana and her pet pig Pua!

Moana Cake Toppers and Decorations

Walmart Moana Cake Topper via Amazon

Walmart doesn’t generally carry Moana-specific toppers out on the shelves. But if you’re looking to purchase just the licensed toppers they use in their custom bakery cakes, you can buy it from Amazon!

Edible Moana Cake Topper

My Smart Choice has a line of circular edible images on Amazon that fit perfectly on top of an 8-inch frosted cake. If you’re looking for an easy DIY Moana cake that still looks nice, this is the way to go!

Moana Cupcake Ring Toppers

For very young children, sometimes cupcakes are easier than trying to get them to sit down with a slice of cake. They’ll love these Moana rings on top of their cupcakes that they can wear home, and you’ll love how easy it is to make your cupcakes Moana-themed.

Moana Cake Figures

There are a few different Moana figurine sets available, and which one you should get depends on what kind of scene you’re trying to set up on your Moana cake. Some of the playsets don’t come with a baby Moana figurine or Tamatoa, and to me, that’s a dealbreaker! I recommend this Disney Deluxe Moana figure playset because you’ll have lots of options for decorating, and your kiddo will have a blast playing with these high-quality figures after the party.

Printable Moana Cake Toppers

Baby Moana

This adorable baby Moana cake topper can be customized with your child’s name and age. You can print it on paper and cut it out, or upload the transparent PNG to software like Print Then Cut to use your Cricut to cut it out! It’s got baby Moana reaching toward the age number, which is made out of gold glitter (I think Tamatoa would approve).

Grown-Up Moana

Moana’s all grown up in this cake topper, standing strong with her power of the ocean illustrated in the water symbol shaped like the heart of Te’Fiti. It can also be customized with your child’s age and name!

Maui and Moana

Maui has been a huge success in terms of male Disney characters, and his friendship with Moana turned out to be awesome. This printable cake topper features both of them along with a wooden sign that says “Happy Birthday [NAME]” that can be customized for your child.

Free Printable Moana Cake Toppers

If you’re trying to spend as little money as possible on your Moana birthday cake, I’ve got a free printable PDF of Moana characters you can use as cake toppers! Just print them out on cardstock at Best/Fine quality, cut them out, and attach them to sandwich toothpicks. You’ll be able to create your own little movie scene on top of the cake.

If you’d like to get transparent PNGs of each character so you can upload it to Design Space or any other Print-Then-Cut-type software for quick and easy cutting, you can get them with the premium listing here!

Moana Sheet Cake Designs

Fun Money Mom

This Moana birthday sheet cake has a beach made of crushed vanilla wafers and a wave made of candy melts. Pretty cool!

Special Supplies Needed: seashell candy molds

Time to Make: 5 hours

Skill: Beginner

The Annoyed Thyroid

Chocolate fingers and leis surround this beach scene Moana cake.

Special Supplies Needed: chocolate fingers; leis

Time to Make: 3.5 hours

Skill: Beginner

Moana Doll Cake

Rosanna Pansino used the princess cake mold set to create a grass-skirt Moana doll cake – and it’s actually pretty easy! Here’s a video of how it was done:

Special Supplies Needed: Rosanna’s 3-piece princess cake pan set

Time to Make: 3 hours

Skill: Intermediate

Moana Wave Cake

Asma Qureshi on YouTube shows you how to create a beautiful, edible ocean wave using blue isomalt! It’ll work perfectly for a baby Moana cake where she’s walking out to the ocean and it moves for her.

Special Supplies Needed: blue isomalt nibs

Time to Make: 5 hours

Skill: Intermediate

Baby Moana Cake

This video from Zoe’s Fancy Cakes shows every little step of how she achieved this photo-realistic cake in the shape of baby Moana’s head! Color dusting is a big part of her method, and she uses bits of fondant under her main drape of fondant to achieve the lips and nose.

Special Supplies Needed: skin tone fondant

Time to Make: 2 hours

Skill: Intermediate-Advanced

Moana Cupcakes

Moana Cupcake Cake

I couldn’t find a tutorial or blog to go with this photo, but you really don’t need one to make this cupcake cake. It’s easy! Just arrange the cupcakes in whatever shape you’d like, frost them shades of blue to look like the ocean (and maybe sprinkle some wafer-crumb sand on one end), and add your character toys wherever you like!

Heart of Te’Fiti and Maui’s Hook Cupcakes

These super-simple cupcakes show off two of the most important items in Moana: Maui’s hook and the heart of Te’Fiti.

Special Supplies Needed: shredded coconut

Time to Make: 2 hours

Skill: Beginner

Maui Cake

A Maui birthday cake can be pretty easy, but tedious. This simple two-tier has his leaf skirt surrounding the bottom and a simple brown-skin fondant covering the top with his tattoos drawn all over it. Do yourself a favor and top it with a toy hook instead of trying to make your own out of chocolate!

Special Supplies Needed: Maui’s hook toy (up to 12”)

Time to Make: 6 hours

Skill: Intermediate

Tamatoa Cake

This is by far the most insanely difficult Moana birthday cake on this list… But if you’ve got the skill, it’s 100% worth it. Look at that beautiful crab cake (LOL)!

Special Supplies Needed: a lot… check her post for links!

Time to Make: at least a week

Skill: Expert

Walmart Moana Cake Options

Currently, Walmart has two cakes available using licensed Moana images and toppers: a simple sheet cake and a two-tier round cake. Wal-mart’s frosting is tasty and their cakes are reasonably priced if you don’t have time (or, well, skill) to make your own!

This is the sheet cake:

and this is the 2-tier Walmart Moana cake:

Not bad, right?

Not gonna lie, I’m in love with that Tamatoa cake near the end… but I’m also really into all the cakes that use cookie crumb “sand” and isomalt waves to recreate Moana’s relationship with the water on an edible cake!

Which Moana cake is your favorite? When is your kiddo’s Moana birthday party? Let me know in the comments below!