It's Birthday Week at The Kitchn, and if it's your birthday, you're in luck — it's all birthday cake today! We're swinging in with our favorite birthday cakes and cupcakes — sweet, pretty, and candle-ready. We have fudgy chocolate cakelets, and a Funfetti cake (from scratch!). There's strawberry milk cake, and a hot pink raspberry cake too. We have the perfect fluffy yellow butter cake, ready for your fudge frosting, an orange vegan cake, and deliciously light and fluffy gluten-free cupcakes. Read on for these and more — our favorite birthday treats from the archives.
CAKES
• 1 Funfetti Cake From Scratch - The classic favorite, but from scratch not a box.
• 2 Quick Yellow Cake - A simple, 10-minute yellow cake that's light and fluffy.
• 3 Root Beer Chocolate Bundt Cake - A quick and simple chocolate bundt cake.
• 4 Strawberry Milk Cake - A pink cake!
• 5 Hot Pink Raspberry Cake - And another pink cake!
• 6 Dark Chocolate Cake - A perfect little chocolate cake for layering.
• 7 Cuatro Leches Cake - Sweet and decadent.
• 8 Vegan Sticky Orange Cake with Marmalade Glaze - Deliciously sticky.
• 9 Dark and Damp Molasses Cake - A dark, different sort of cake.
• 10 Carrot Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - Carrot cake for a crowd!
CUPCAKES
• 11 Airy Angel Food Cupcakes - Extra-light cupcakes.
• 12 Boston Cream Cupcakes - Stuffed with pastry cream.
• 13 Gluten-Free Strawberry Cupcakes - Fruity and gluten-free.
• 14 Fudgy Chocolate Cakelets - Fudgy, chocolate, dark.
• 15 Chocolate Chip Cookie-Stuffed Yellow Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing - Cupcakes stuffed with cookie dough! Crazy!
Your turn — what's your favorite cake or cupcake birthday recipe?
(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)
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does anyone have a good recipe for a lemon cake that doesn't require eggs?
It IS my birthday today, so even though I'm not a big fan of cake, I love the post. :)
BTW, as a child, I always asked for my mom's layered poppyseed torte for my birthday. Then there were some years as an adult where carrot cake was my request, or more recently chocolate lava cake. Now? Forget the cake, just pass the creme brulee!
hello, i live in France and i would like to know if it is possible to do RED VELVET ROSE cake without buying mixes already done like in US.
Thank you!!!
cynthia
I'm actually making cupcakes tonight for my daughter's third birthday and really struggling to find a classic yellow cupcake recipe. Bonus points if it would allow dividing the batter to make half vanilla/half chocolate cupcakes. Any leads would be great for a reliable recipe.
The coconut lime cupcakes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz' Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World are the best cupcakes I've ever made. Cheap and easy too.
@Cynthia -- do you mean a Red Velvet Cake? I've never heard of a Red Velvet Rose Cake.
There are many recipes on the internet; there are 2 that I tend to make.
The classic one:
http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/224271/red-velvet-cake
And interesting variation:
http://mattleeandtedlee.com/lee-bros/recipes/red-velvet-cake/
You may need to order the food colouring online; I've never found it in France, and ordered mine from the U.S. Make sure to order flavourless red gel; it can be very bitter. Also, red velvet cake is made with natural, non-Dutched, cocoa. You'll know you have the right cocoa powder because it is lighter and reddish in colour when compared with the more common Dutched cocoa. Valrhona makes a good one.
http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-560920/Wilton%26%23174%3B-Icing-1-oz%2C-Red-No-Taste
Bonne chance!
Well, it was just my birthday, so I think I'm entitled to enjoying a full week. ;) That strawberry milk cake sounds delicious enough to make tonight.
Yea! It's my birthday week, too! Having a birthday on Cinco de Mayo rocks!! Thank you for all of the great ideas.
I'm pretty excited that my girl is turning one in June - totally making Hot Pink Raspberry Cake!
I'd love to bring something to work to share with my fellow teachers for my birthday. Any fabulous bundt or sheetcakes (easier to transport) you care to share?
These are gorgeous! Dang, the Funfetti. I missed this trend as a child. Never heard of it, but I am a sucker for white cake with pretty stuff on it. My little guy turns 6 this month and I think we will use the Funfetti idea. For chocolate birthday cake, you can't beat Ina Garten's Ned Beatty's Chocolate Cake. The intro to the recipe in her cookbook says that Ned Beatty was a milkman and his wife made the cake for his customers. It's amazing.
@MBM77, in a recent Everyday Food from Martha Stewart there is a "classic" yellow cake recipe that also has an option for 1/2 chocolate: http://www.marthastewart.com/897987/classic-yellow-cake-batter
I legitimately just searched for my birthday cake YESTERDAY. The irony. I picked the Hot Pink Raspberry Cake - with white chocolate and raspberry filling and a whip cream frosting. SO EXCITED to see how it turns our :)
@ CYNTHIAKP: I live in France too, and found basic food coloring in my local cooking store (try Alice Délice and such stores). Since the macaron craze, everyone has them. I found the best prices at a supposedly trade-only store, but when I asked, they said I could buy them but would pay the TVA (which was totally ok since the price was low). A number of online website also sell them, but I don't have any specific address in mind.
You can find liquid or powder coloring; I'd advise the powder version, since it does not modify your recipe, but it is a bit harder to find.
my favorite is Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake. It's the perfect chocolate cake with chocolate icing and it's always a huge hit.
Do you know of a good chocolate mint cake? My daughter is requesting that for her 5th birthday this weekend. Most recipes I've found are just a chocolate cake with mint in the frosting. Thanks!