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Home » Cake Recipes

Birthday Cake Recipes

Published: Mar 5, 2021 · Updated: May 12, 2023 by Marye

Chocolate layer cake with title text overlay for pinning to Pinterest.
Chocolate layer cake with title text overlay for Pinterest.

Homemade birthday cakes are always special.

I'm sharing 20 of my favorite birthday cake recipes, tried and true, from my list of favorites! There's everything from towering layers to easy 13x9 inch sheets served right in the baking pan.

Be sure to scroll to the bottom for some great tips and how-tos!

A triple chocolate layer cake with chocolate icing. Title text overlay.
Chocolate is the most popular flavor for homemade birthday cakes!
Table of Contents
  • Chocolate mayonnaise birthday cake
  • Chantilly with strawberries
  • Roasted cherry black forest cake
  • Coconut layers with raspberry jam
  • Chocolate cream cake
  • White layer cake
  • Cherry almond cake
  • Dark chocolate with Irish cream frosting
  • Banana layer
  • Spiced devils food
  • Lemon cream
  • Burnt sugar fudge cake
  • Spice
  • Holy cow cake
  • Classic yellow birthday cake
  • Pumpkin
  • Southern caramel cake
  • Orange
  • Chocolate with cookies and cream filling
  • Lemon layer cake
  • 🎂 How to make a birthday cake
  • 🥫 How to store
  • 🧁 Other birthday cake ideas
  • 💬 Comments
A slice of chocolate mayonnaise layer cake with mocha frosting.

Chocolate mayonnaise birthday cake

Best idea ever? This 3 layer cake covered in a mocha buttercream frosting. It's the perfect homemade birthday cake for chocolate lovers!

Slice of chantilly cake on a plate.

Chantilly with strawberries

Chantilly cake was always called Italian cream cake at my house. It's three layers of moist vanilla cake made from scratch with a cream cheese buttercream and ripe strawberries between each layer. It's a pretty birthday cake for mom and the girls!

Black forest cake with chocolate covered cherries on it.

Roasted cherry black forest cake

Black forest cake is one of my favorites. This 4 layer recipe include rum roasted cherries and a whipped cream frosting.

Coconut layer cake with a slice out of it to show the layers

Coconut layers with raspberry jam

Coconut cake is probably one of the most popular southern dessert recipes ever made. This one is filled with raspberry jam and covered in a whipped white chocolate frosting. It would be a delicious homemade birthday cake recipe for any coconut lover on your list.

Square serving of chocolate sheet cake with whipped chocolate icing.

Chocolate cream cake

There's a lot to be said for easy, one layer birthday cake recipes like this chocolate sheet cake topped with a whipped chocolate frosting. It's very easy - and not to be confused with Texas sheet !

Slice of vanilla layer cake with chocoalte frosting.

White layer cake

White 3 layer birthday cake with chocolate frosting is something everyone loves. This is flavored with almond and vanilla for that classic bakery flavor. Add 1 cup of sprinkles for a fun-fetti look.

Sliced cake showing white almond cake layers with a layer of pink cherry cake in between them.

Cherry almond cake

Two almond layers with a pink cherry cake layer in between make up this pretty cherry almond cake. It's the perfect idea for a little girl's birthday.

A slice of dark chocolate layer cake with Irish cream frosting.

Dark chocolate with Irish cream frosting

I like to serve this extra dark chocolate cake with Irish cream frosting to my family with March birthdays! It's a luscious combination.

SLice of banana layer cake with walnut filling

Banana layer

Old fashioned banana layer cake has a gooey nut filling and a rich cream cheese frosting.

A slice of a triple layer spiced devil's food cake with chocolate frosting.

Spiced devils food

This spiced devil's food is a vintage recipe from one of my old cookbooks. It's a mashup of chocolate and spice - makes a very unique birthday cake recipe!

Square of lemon cream cake on a red and white plate.

Lemon cream

Single layers, left right in the baking pan, are the best birthday cakes for transporting to the birthday boy or girl!! This tangy lemon cream flavor is deliciously topped with a whipped lemon frosting.

Slice of burnt sugar fudge layer cake with peanut butter mousse filling and frosting.

Burnt sugar fudge cake

Burnt sugar fudge cake is another vintage recipe that is perfect for any celebration! This one is three layers and filled with peanut butter mousse then topped with a chocolate ganache glaze.

Slice of spice cake with maple cream cheese butter cream between the layers

Spice

Spice cake tastes like home. This version is full of warm spices and filled and topped with a maple cream cheese frosting.

A square of chocolate cake with whipped cream on top sprinkled with crushed  Butterfingers candy.

Holy cow cake

Holy Cow Cake is a simple recipe but you'll need to make it a day ahead of time. A single chocolate layer is soaked in caramel and sweetened condensed milk, then covered with crushed Butterfingers and whipped cream.

A slice of yellow layer cake with fudge frosting.

Classic yellow birthday cake

Another classic, yellow layer birthday cake is delicately flavored and filled and frosted with bittersweet chocolate frosting. Old fashioned and yummy! This is also a great recipe for making into funfetti.

A serving of pumpkin cake with a bite taken out of it.

Pumpkin

Pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting has just 3 ingredients and is stupid easy and quick to make! Perfect for the pumpkin spice lovers on your list as well as fall birthday parties.

Slice of caramel cake on a plate.

Southern caramel cake

This vintage caramel cake recipe has a gooey pecan filling and Jack Daniels caramel frosting.

A slice of cake showing 3 layers.

Orange

Sweet and citrusy- this from scratch orange layer cake is three layers of tangy goodness filled with a delicious orange buttercream.

Chocolate layer cake with cookies and cream filling

Chocolate with cookies and cream filling

Thick, rich cookies and cream filling is spread between three layers of chocolate birthday cake. It's perfect for cookies and cream lovers!

A triple layer lemon cake with whipped lemon buttercream frosting with a slice being removed.

Lemon layer cake

Delicate lemon layer cake is filled and frosted with a whipped white chocolate frosting that is absolutely the best!

🎂 How to make a birthday cake

These are just the basic outline of what you'll need to do. Each recipe will have slightly different instructions.

  1. Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature.
  2. Preheat the oven.
  3. Grease and flour pans.
  4. Mix the ingredients in the order given in your recipe.
  5. Fill the pans half full.
  6. Put on middle rack of oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs sticking to it.
  7. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes in the pans.
  8. Gently run a knife around the edge of the pans to loosen.
  9. Turn out to a cooling rack and cool completely.
  10. Make your frosting as directed.
  11. Fill and stack the layers. If it's more than 2 layers use 4 thin skewers or plastic straws placed through the layers to hold them in place. Put skewers 1 inch from the edge, evenly spaced around the cake.

Crumb coating

  1. Thin about ½ cup of frosting with a tablespoon or two of milk to make it very easy to spread thinly.
  2. Use this to coat the entire cake with a thin layer of frosting.
  3. Chill for 30 minutes.
  4. Add the remaining frosting.

🥫 How to store

Unfrosted layers can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored for 3 days at room temperature or frozen for 3 months.

Once frosted it will be fine at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerated for 5 days. Keep it in an airtight container or cake carrier.

Be careful about refrigerating, however. It can take on off flavors or become dry.

Expert tip: Get clean slices by using a serrated knife and dipping it in hot water between slices.

  • Preheat the oven at least 10 minutes. Start preheating before you begin the recipe so the batter doesn't sit and wait.
  • Don't fill your pans more than half full.
  • Most recipes can be made funfetti style by adding a half cup to one cup of sprinkles. Just mix them with about a tablespoon of flour before adding them to the batter to help them hold their color and keep from sinking to the bottom.
  • Trim the layers so the tops are completely flat.
  • Be sure that your layers are completely cool before frosting or trimming.
  • Take the time to put a thin layer (a crumb coating) of frosting on your cake and chilling it until firm, before adding the remaining frosting. This will keep crumbs from getting all over the place and ruining the look of your creating.
  • Not into decorating? Use sprinkles, chopped nuts, coconut, or even cookie crumbs on top or up the sides.
Can you make a birthday cake the day before?

You can. An iced cake will be fine for a day or two. If you need to make it further ahead of time make the cake layers, wrap and freeze unfrosted for up to 3 months, then thaw and frost as close to your event as possible.

Is it OK to let cake batter sit before baking?

Nope. If you let your batter sit for even a few minutes too long the leaveners (baking powder or baking soda) will start to weaken and your batter won't rise as high... if at all.

Why do cakes crack on top?

Your oven temperature was too high.

🧁 Other birthday cake ideas

  • Whipped wedding cake frosting is perfect for decorating.
  • White Cupcakes have a vanilla almond flavor that's always popular.
  • Pecan layer cake is another vintage recipe that's easy to make and delicious!
  • Bundt cakes are easy to make and hold up well so you can make them ahead of time.
  • And, of course, you can never go wrong with a cheesecake recipe!

First published March 5, 2021. Last updated June 29, 2021 to add more information.

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About Marye

Meet Marye Audet, a wizard in the kitchen and a storyteller at heart. Marye is like your eccentric but fun aunt who knows all the secret recipes and isn't afraid to spill them.

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  1. Kathy says

    March 07, 2021 at 1:43 pm

    My Aunt used to put coins between the layers, on top of the frosting. She wrapped them in wax paper so we didn't choke on them.

    Reply
Marye Audet-White, founder of Restless Chipotle Media

Hey Y'all, I'm Marye

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NY Times bestselling author. 10 cookbooks. Mom of 8 kids. Homeschooling mom for 22 years. Addicted to Hallmark Christmas Movies. Collector of old cookbooks.

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