How To Make The Perfect Moana Birthday Cake

If you’re throwing a Moana party, you’re going to need Moana cake ideas! This fun Moana birthday cake is the perfect way to celebrate a birthday. Complete with candy waves and edible shells, it’s a cake that any little princess will love! This post contains affiliate links but these are all products that I have personally used and love! Ever since we first saw Disney’s Moana, we’ve been obsessed. The soundtrack all we listen to in the car (and I even catch myself listening when the girls aren’t with me). Yes, it’s THAT good! Immediately after seeing the movie, my 4 year old started planning her Moana birthday party. It didn’t matter that her birthday was months away…she knew exactly what she wanted.

Of course, that also included a Moana birthday cake. That was totally fine by me…a Moana cake was right up my alley. I LOVE making fun birthday cakes! I didn’t give it much thought until a few weeks ago, when I actually had to start planning. I started by ordering my supplies because I couldn’t possibly recreate a tropical island without seashells and palm trees. I found this cute mini seashell mold and palm tree cake toppers on Amazon. What in the world did people do before Amazon Prime came along, I’m pretty sure my kids would have been getting a lot more birthday cakes from the grocery store. Scroll down to the recipe card to get the full list of everything you’ll need to make this Moana cake.

I started by using candy melts to make the seashells. You can easily make solid colored seashells but since candy melts are so fun to play with, I thought it would be prettier to swirl different colors together. Melt each color in a separate bowl so that you can create as many color combinations as you want. When you’re ready, take two colors and just slightly swirl them together with a toothpick or fork. Don’t swirl too much or the colors will combine into one solid color. Fill the mold, scrape the excess candy off the top and refrigerate. This is also a good time to start working on the big wave, since it’s one of the most important features.

You’ll need blue and white candy melts and a bowl that has a good curve on the bottom. There are different shades of blue and white candy melts available but I used the regular blue (not royal blue) and bright white. It’s easiest to melt the colors separately, then swirl them together once they were completely melted. Again, be sure not to swirl them so much that they form a single color. After combining the colors, pour them into the bowl and use your fingers or a spatula to form a wave shape. Be sure to make it long enough since you’ll be pushing it about 1/4 of the way into the Moana cake to make it stand upright. Place the bowl in the freezer or refrigerator until the candy sets, then add more melted candy until you have the wave shape that you want.

I did this several times until it looked just the way I wanted. Now it’s time to start on the actual Moana cake. You’ll need two cakes baked in 9×13 cake pans. I recommend having two pans because otherwise you have to bake one cake, let it cool, then bake the second one later that day or the next morning. That’s what I did and it took forever…seriously, it felt like FOREVER (patience is not one of my virtues). You’ll also want to be sure the cakes are completely cooled before you take them out of the pan or they will break apart. I know this because I’ve learned the hard way and had to use icing to “glue” my cake back together (I really need to work on that patience thing)!