This one bowl cake: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/dining/celebration-cake-recipe-coronavirus.html

Love this cake and I think it's very seasonally appropriate right now:

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/4037-spice-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting

(if you don't subscribe I'm sure you can find the recipe elsewhere online, I know it's also in the Test Kitchen's Family Baking Book if you happen to have that)

A lot of spice cakes are too sweet or just don't have enough flavor, but I like this one so much that I might even prefer it to my carrot cake recipe (also ATK, also amazing, though).

Black forest cake.

Nigella’s Guinness cake with cream cheese frosting.

Homemade funfetti cake (from scratch white cake with sprinkles mixed in the batter) with swiss meringue buttercream frosting

basque cake
boston cream pie
Devil food cake with chocolate whipped cream filling and whipped fudge frosting

Orange almond cake. Easy and can even do a few days ahead and it tastes better. I have cake stencils to make it a bit fancy but you can always use a doily.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/orange-almond-cake-recipe-1951718

Neither of these is fancy, but they’re so good. They’re both based on boxed cake mixes.

Gooey Butter Cake

Combine and spread in 9x13 pan as crust: 1 box pound cake mix, 2 eggs, 1 stick melted butter.
Mix together and spread over crust: 1 8-oz. pkg. softened cream cheese, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 lb. box of powdered sugar (reserving 1/2 cup).
Sprinkle reserved powdered sugar over cheese mixture.
Bake 325-350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Piña Colada Cake

Bake white cake according to box directions. While still warm, poke holes all over cake. Pour over cake, 1 can cream of coconut and 1 can crushed pineapple. Chill. Spread Cool Whip on top.

I love this almond cake: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/almond-cake-recipe/

Vanilla cupcakes with a dense crumb. Pretty easy to convert into a regular cake, two or one tier. It’s also fun to add sprinkles and make it funfetti. I do not care for the buttercream that accompanies the recipe, fwiw.

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/double_vanilla_cupcakes/

This is my favorite cake (with the caveat that I don't love super sweet stuff). I skip the ganache and serve with whipped cream:

https://leitesculinaria.com/3076/recipes-barefoot-contessa-orange-chocolate-chunk-cake.html

She’s not too picky at all! I bought a custom cake topper that I goes in the top on a long toothpick type thing so I don’t necessarily need to decorate but I was kind of hoping for a layer cake.

A lemon or vanilla cake (I fake it with any kind of organic in a box that involves butter instead of oil), but into four layers with whipped cream frosting.

My favorite is a simple everyday cake: Kyra’s hot milk sponge cake from a recipe by Nick Malgieri. It’s not a fancy celebration cake though.

Are you looking for looks or taste? (My favorites aren’t always impressive looking) What is your mom’s personality like? Would she prefer fancy or fun?

I’m looking for a great cake to make for my moms birthday. I usually make chocolate cake (from the Hershey’s box) so something different than your basic chocolate cake. I can handle recipes that require skill so don’t be shy. Im just really needing some inspiration! Please include links to recipes if possible. Thanks!