Recipes Desserts Cake The Best Birthday Cake Recipes By Food & Wine Editors Updated on March 10, 2023 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: © Con Poulos We love a classic layered birthday cake, but these recipes take a party favorite to the next level with sophisticated ingredients like brown butter, salted caramel, and homemade sprinkles. With everything from a baked Alaska ice cream birthday cake to a dreamy, creamy milk chocolate layer cake, these desserts will get the party started. Whether you're turning six or sixty, we have your perfect birthday treat. If you want to get extra fancy, be sure to check out these decorating tips for camera-ready cakes. 01 of 15 Ice Cream Birthday Cake © David Malosh This awesome cake for a crowd features chocolate cake, two flavors of ice cream, thick layers of fudge sauce, heaps of chocolate crunchies, and a luscious ganache topping. Get the Recipe 02 of 15 Best-Ever Birthday Cake Greg Dupree Who can argue with a classic yellow cake dotted with sprinkles and finished with a chocolate icing? This recipe is exactly that, no boxed mix required. Get the Recipe 03 of 15 Red Velvet Cake Abby Hocking / Food & Wine This towering cake is made with deep red cake layers and lots of cream cheese frosting. Unsweetened cocoa powder and red food coloring give the cake its signature hue. Get the Recipe 04 of 15 'The Bear' Chocolate Cake Christopher Testani / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Christina Daley The famous chocolate cake from the television show The Bear features an airy chocolate mousse layered between a fudgy chocolate cake and topped with a rich chocolate frosting. This recipe has several components, and all three elements can be made in advance and assembled the day of your celebration or gathering. Get the Recipe 05 of 15 Rainbow Cake Abby Hocking / Food & Wine If you're looking for a colorful celebration cake, this seven-layered rainbow stunner is the way to go. Get the Recipe 06 of 15 Vanilla-Scented Cornmeal Cake with Olive Oil Buttercream Sam Aguirre-Kelly Pastry chef Bronwen Wyatt's rich, elegant cake is perfect for just about any celebration you may have coming your way. You can simply spread the buttercream frosting to cover it, swirling for a little flair, or follow Wyatt's decorating tips by using a pastry bag to form ruffles and squiggles with the buttercream. Top the cake with your choice of edible decorations. Get the Recipe 07 of 15 Chocolate Party Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Homemade Sprinkles Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Prop Styling by Christina Daley / Food Styling by Ali Ramee Rich, chocolaty, and so very festive, this chocolate cake with ganache frosting is worthy of a party. Ganache has many applications in pastry, and here chef Paola Velez uses it to make the silky-smooth frosting to top her chocolate cake. If you're making the sprinkles from scratch, remember to start one day ahead so they can dry overnight. Get the Recipe 08 of 15 Brown Butter Layer Cake © Pernille Pedersen Seattle chef Tom Douglas uses brown butter for an indulgent nutty flavor in this fun twist on a classic white cake. Get the Recipe 09 of 15 Baked Alaska Birthday Cake © Con Poulos This ultimate birthday cake features three flavors of ice cream, moist chocolate cake, nutty ganache, and fluffy meringue. Get the Recipe 10 of 15 Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen When you want to keep things simple and bright, this easy and delicious lemon cake only takes one bowl to throw together. Get the Recipe 11 of 15 Milk Chocolate-Frosted Layer Cake © Con Poulos This cake from pastry chef Karina Gowing is perfection for anyone who loves frosting. The ultracreamy icing, which is almost like a milk chocolate ganache, gets spread liberally over layers of light, delicate, cocoa-flavored cake. Get the Recipe 12 of 15 Ombré Coconut Burfi Cake Andria Lo Underneath the purple and white ombré coat of sweetened coconut, cookbook author and blogger Hetal Vasavada's slim, tall layer cake is bound with a cloud-like layer of Swiss meringue buttercream. But the best part is the chewy coconut filling, inspired by burfi, a type of fudge-like, milk-based Indian sweet. Coconut milk keeps the cake layers incredibly moist with a tender crumb. Get the Recipe 13 of 15 Crunchy Milk Chocolate-Peanut Butter Layer Cake © Tina Rupp The genius of this layer cake is its extraordinarily crunchy filling, made with almonds, salted peanuts, creamy peanut butter, chocolate, and Rice Krispies. The silky milk chocolate ganache frosting almost pushes the recipe over the top. Get the Recipe 14 of 15 Caramel Layer Cake © Christina Holmes This impressive cake is encased in a fudge-like caramel frosting. Pastry chef Lisa Donovan adapted it from a recipe by Southern-cooking doyenne Edna Lewis. Get the Recipe 15 of 15 Yellow Layer Cake with Vanilla Frosting © Fredrika Stjärne This classic cake is a birthday party staple. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit