The Best Birthday Cake Recipes

By Food & Wine
Updated January 12, 2017
We love a classic layered birthday cake, but these recipes take a party favorite to the next level with sophisticated ingredients like brown butter and salted caramel. With everything from a baked Alaska ice cream birthday cake to a dreamy, creamy milk chocolate layer cake, these recipes will get the party started. Whether you're turning six or sixty, we have your perfect birthday treat.
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Ice Cream Birthday Cake

Credit: © David Malosh
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This awesome cake for a crowd features chocolate cake, two flavors of ice cream, thick layers of fudge sauce, layers of chocolate crunchies and a luscious ganache topping.

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Triple-Layer Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

Credit: Nicole Franzen
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This magnificent cake has three layers of moist, tender chocolate with a hint of cinnamon and a silky chocolate ganache.

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Caramel Layer Cake

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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.

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Four-Layer Coconut Cake

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Coconut oil and toasted ground coconut are baked into the batter of this beautiful cake, which is then layered with bittersweet marmalade and fluffy white frosting.

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Milk-Chocolate-Frosted Layer Cake

Credit: Con Poulos
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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.

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Yellow Layer Cake with Vanilla Frosting

Credit: Fredrika Stjärne
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This classic cake is a birthday party staple.

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Crunchy Milk Chocolate-Peanut Butter Layer Cake

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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.

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Brown-Butter Layer Cake

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Seattle chef Tom Douglas uses brown butter for an indulgent nutty flavor in this fun twist on a classic white cake.

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Baked Alaska Birthday Cake

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This ultimate birthday cake features three flavors of ice cream, moist chocolate cake, nutty ganache and fluffy meringue.

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