Let's Celebrate! 8 Alternatives to Birthday Cake

This might come as a bit of a shock, but not all of us like cake. Yes, we're total weirdos! But this doesn't mean that we don't like a special treat on our special day. Here are some fabulous desserts that we think are worthy of birthdays or any celebration.

• Chocolate-Glazed Chocolate Tart from Gourmet - This is truffle meets mousse meets glaze meets chocolate cookies. Don't tell me this ain't show worthy.

• Lemon Souffles from Martha Stewart - Lemon-flavored clouds of sheer delight.

• Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake from Smitten Kitchen - I think we can all find something to enjoy in this particular cake.

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars with Hot Fudge Sauce from Epicurious - Serving this one straight from the freezer is its secret.

• Strawberry Mascarpone Tart from Simply Recipes - Think of this as dressed up strawberry shortcake.

• Apple Lavender Tarte Tatin from Saveur - Caramelly apples with a crunchy top and hit of lavender? Oh, yes.

• Lemon Meringue Blueberry Pie from Bon Appétit - Dramatic wisps of meringue are better than candles on this dessert.

• Vanilla Orange Flan from Food & Wine - Simple. Sweet. Perfect.

Any other birthday-worthy desserts to recommend?

(Image: Martyn Thompson/Gourmet)

Comments (24)

how about baba au rhum? you can light it on FIRE

I like cake, but I like CHEESEcake MORE! We had 200 at our wedding and served a sour cream cheesecake with a fruit compote. My wonder friend baked and frozen cheesecakes for a month beforehand. It was FABULOUS!

My hubby likes cake but looves cheesecake, so I make that on his birthday.

I bake al ot for brithday's around my office and my favorite request instead of cake was homemade blueberry muffins!

Thank you! I am one of the non-cake lovers and this is a terrific list of alternatives.

My DH insists on rhubarb pie for his june birthday. We love it -- but this year I might try substituting the smitten kitchen almond cake with rhubarb-strawberry compote (but with only rhubarb compote).

When I was a kid, my best friend and I both decided we'd have pumpkin pie for our birthdays (his is in October and mine in November). We kept that up for many years.

Mmmm, I had Key Lime Pie for my last birthday.

I love a good birthday pavlova...

My husband hates cake but loves tarts (hee hee!), and his birthday/special occasional request is always a lemon curd tart. I don't always love Martha Stewart's recipes, but her one for lemon curd is divine (we use it as a spread and as a tart filling).

For the last year or so, our birthday treat of choice has been a flourless, dark chocolate torte with nuts and dried fruit, with ice cream, gelato or yogurt on the side. I swap out the nuts and fruit depending on preferences of the moment. The torte freezes well, too. It has become my little black dress of desserts.

I love key lime pie. Usually no one will make it from scratch though (no one wants to squeeze the key limes), so I have to provide my own dessert for my birthday. It's worth it.

I would choose any of these (except the flan) over cake any day...especially that AMAZING chocolate tart! YUM!

I would prefer any of these things to traditional birthday cake. The most creative I've got so far is ice cream cake. These ideas are much better.

HAHAHA! XD

This is just like that episode of Friends where Monica makes Rachel a birthday FLAN. Could also be entitled, "How to ruin your best friend's birthday."

No flans allowed!

All the others look YUM though, I wouldn't mind a birthday tart.

drooling.

my husband always has chocolate pie for his birthday. he and his brother and dad all have birthdays within a week, so pie breaks up the cake repetition. it's so good his sister now has pie for her birthday too.

i tried for years to make this pie - a rich, old-fashioned pudding type - and it's a family joke that my mother-in-law never gave me the right recipe so that hers would always be best. after a few years she finally let me in on the secret (heaping tablespoons, but not too heaping). i finally translated it into exact measurements to save future generations the trouble. =P

That Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake is causing me heart palpitations! OMG

I have made that exact tart from Gourmet before and let me tell you.....it is DIVINE! I literally had dinner guests going back for thirds. It is so easy too - I highly recommend it!!!

http://eatandrelish.com/2011/03/21/unapologetically-chocolate-the-best-chocolate-tart-in-the-world/

Oh the chocolate tart looks wonderful.. I often buy such things then stencil them with icing sugar or edible gold powder depending on the colour of the tart. The results look fabulous and it only takes minutes. My other cookery vice is cooking with lavender so I want to try to make apple and lavender tarte tartin. I can not get those makes in the UK otherwise I'd buy them.

We weren't cake people so my beloved mother always made our favorite desert for our birthday. As children we felt like such rebels!

How about some pumpkin crunch? Mmmm, my birthday is coming up soon, since the office mates will likely do a cake, I think I'll go for some pumpkin crunch on the home front.

Key lime pie sounds wonderful too.

We could celebrate our birthdays at work with whatever treats we wanted. One friend opted for Rootbeer floats. (to this day, the only way I'll drink rootbeer)

peach pie/cobbler (berries will do) for me. or my mom's pralines.
My brother always requests chocolate pie.
My partner wants the old school, nothing healthy, no "weird spices" (I play with every recipe and start in the spice bowl) toll house cookies. Skip the walnuts.
Yes, I make a few my way for me. (skipping the chocolate chips, adding the nuts and dried fruit and spices)

My dad always requests strawberry rhubarb pie for his birthday, and when he was kid, my brother would often request a rice crispy square cake (just a pan of them, that was cut and served like cake). One year my mom shaped it out into the number 3 for his third birthday.