There's lots of reasons to make the birthday cake yourself. For one thing, you know what's in there. And you can make it to the size you need. If you want a cake that's different to the kind you find in supermarkets, and you don't want to pay through the nose for a cake from a bakery, then making it yourself is the only way to go.

It's also a good option if you're on a really tight budget. There doesn't need to be anything fancy about a cake really. The birthday boy or girl just wants the joy of being the one to blow out the candles, and the children at the party just want a slice of cake they to eat. So if you like baking, why not do it yourself?

Here's some great ideas to help you along the way. And please do let us know what you do yourself. What great cake ideas have you come  up with in your parenting experience?

Coolest cake ideas

For ideas you can't do much better than this website run by two sisters, Coolest Birthday Cakes. The site has a fabulous tagline, describing itself as "thousands of homemade birthday cakes even amateurs can make."

The premise is a simple one. People submit photos of the cakes they've made, and the two sisters vet the submissions. The photos that are accepted are put up on the site. Along with the photo, there's also a description of the cake and its creation from the person who made it. To help you if you want to recreate any of the cakes you see here.

Annabel Karmel ideas

Did you buy into Annabel Karmel's cookery books for tots too? I did. I have to say that for a certain type of parent, ie me, who needs to know how to make mashed potato her cookery books an absolute lifesaver.

Personally, I think most of the recipes she has in there are absolutely revolting for adults let alone trying to get toddlers to eat them. But that said, there are a couple of recipes of hers that are now firm favourites in our house. And I've wowed many a person who's stopped by for dinner with the butternut squash risotto (mmmm buttery!).

These two Annabel Karmel birthday cake recipes are available online thanks to the archives of The Sun newspaper, of all places.

The first one is the No Bake Cake, pictured above. A cake you don't have to bake sounds like a favourite to me although this one looks like it might take a bit of time to put together! The other cake, the Princess and the Pea Cake, is a beautiful looking yet devilishly simple creation. I think even I could have a go at that.

Nigella Lawson's easy option

That famous domestic goddess and cook, Nigella Lawson, also has a super easy cake for hassled mums and dads to make. Nigella Lawson's easy birthday buttermilk cake is featured on The Guardian's website. Where, and this is the bit I really like, journalist Justine Pattison has a short video clip showing you how to make it.

It is part of the websites Cooking with Kids section. Making this cake could be a fun project to do with the kids. Perhaps a great idea for getting them to make the birthday cake for mum or dad.

Angry Birds cake

How's that for a simple but cool idea? If you haven't heard of Angry Birds then you need to have a chat with your offspring. My five year old doesn't have any sort of games console in the house, yet he talks about them all the time and draws pictures of them. These strange little creatures are the product of game called, as you might have guessed, Angry Birds.

If like me though you're not exactly artistic and have never attempted to do anything at all with icing except scrape it on a cake with a knife, then something like this might go horribly wrong.

If that happens don't let it get you down. It even happens to the professionals. So much so there is in fact a website dedicated solely to their mistakes. Cake Wrecks for "when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong".

Number Five

Or indeed number 6 or number 8. You could adapt this idea from the blog of Elsie van Rooyen to a variety of different numbers. It is fiendishly simple though. She took a ring cake and a couple of loaf cakes, and fashioned them into the shape of the number. |She's then used icing and shapes like liquorice straps to create a road and car theme. A very sweet cake and perfect for a five year old's birthday.

And now for something completely different!

On my travels around the internet I found this idea for a cake, which is totally off the wall. And yet I find myself thinking, I want one of these! Possible this is better as a Halloween cake than a birthday cake, and definitely not one for the kids unless they're teenagers. In which case, the boys will probably find this the height of cool.

It is, wait for it, the Killer Rats Cake. And I'm not putting the picture up here. You'll have to go to the website for a look. Go on, you know you can't resist...

Hopefully mums around the country will get treated to a lovely meal this Mothering Sunday (increasingly getting known as Mother's Day). While I love the idea of getting a meal out, getting a table for lunch on Mother's day is a bit like getting a table for dinner on Valentine's Day. Another option is to have a family meal that, ideally, mum doesn't have to cook.

There's also the traditional breakfast in bed, and a few other special treats you might like to consider for the mum in your life - your own, your mother in law, or your partner.

Breakfast Ideas

If you're letting the kids do the breakfast themselves, then you might want to limit things to toast. As a way of dressing it up a little you could use a toast stamp. I'm a new convert to these having only just used one for the first time when reviewing some Valentine's Day products. I have to say I didn't really think it would work! This one looks fab, it's a Best Mum stamp for £2.49. Although you can find lots of different toast stamps online for mum.

Can you go wrong with pancakes? Personally I think not. I love mine lathered in maple syrup. It doesn't matter whether you buy the mix ready made, or make it yourself (really it is just milk, eggs, sugar and flour). The important thing is that you find out in advance what mum's favourite topping is!

For a bit of a difference, you could have a go at making a banana pancake. I'd love it if I got one of these - I found this recipe on the fruit and veggie guru website.

Breakfast pizza anyone? Researching this article is the first time I'd heard of this. No doubt it is something everyone else has been eating for years. It is simply a pizza base with bacon, eggs, cheese, maybe some onions and herbs on top. I'm linking to this recipe here to show you an example as it includes the dough. But really for simplicity, you could just buy a pizza base.

If you've the time and the ability then try out the BBC Good Food Guide's Spoilt rotten Mother's Day menu. Now this would be a real treat. Chive bread with smoked salmon. With a pot of fresh coffee. And the Sunday papers. With the kids bouncing around the bed. The perfect morning.

Baking

Personally I'm a big fan of chocolate cake for breakfast. Anyone else of an age where they read books about teenage delinquents instead of vampires? You'll know what I mean then if you've read the book or seen the 80s brat pack movie The Outsiders. SE Hinton could teach Katherine Meyer a thing or two about tortured teens I reckon! But I'm going off topic now.

Cake is always good for any occasion, and this is something you can get the kids involved in. Some cupcakes made for mum, and iced. You can have a great deal of fun with this. Or make some cookies and use writing icing so the kids can write messages on there. We did this last year for Father's Day and my husband was thrilled to bits. The only downside is that it makes eating the cookie very difficult.

Asda sells its Writing Icing for £1.74. There's three types - the glitter one could be a lot of fun. Other supermarkets will sell something similar too. I've used these types of products before, and they are a great way to add some fun to icing cakes and cookies. However, I have found they are always quite stiff. You might find it easier if sit them in a cup of very hot water for a while before using.

For something a bit different you could try getting a photo printed onto edible paper, using edible inks. I remember when these first started to appear on the market, and it cost an arm and a leg to get a cake made with photo icing. Now, it seems, you don't even need to get a specialist printer.

Home printers can be used. It would seem that you can get edible ink cartridges for the Canon iP4700, for example. Now, I have to warn you I've never actually tried this myself. But in theory I can't see why it wouldn't work. I would probably keep the printer just for printing edible inks myself.

Edible ink cartridges, like ordinary ink cartridges, cost almost as much as the printer itself. You can buy them online from websites, like AnyCake.com. Then you'll need something to print on. Rice paper, or sugar paper, or specialist icing sheets are good. A pack of 24 A4 sized sheets on the same website cost £23. Don't limit yourself to cakes, photos can be printed for cupcakes and cookies. Now that would make a fabulous take home gift for a party, if you are having a smallish one (I'm not sure I'd want to try and print out individual photos and put them on cookies for a party of 20 to 30 kids!).

If you just want to do this for a one off, you can order a photo icing sheet online. Typically prices for this seem to be around the £7 mark. You'll need to make sure you do this in good time for Mother's Day though. All you have to do is email them the photo, and they will send you the icing sheet with photo printed on it.