Happy Virgo season, my loves! My birthday is tomorrow, so I thought it only right to FINALLY share what I believe to be the best birthday cake recipe you could ever make - I made it for myself last year and I plan on doing the same this year!
World's BEST, though? That's a bold claim and obviously personal preference, but it's my favorite cake I've ever made and I prefer it to any bakery-made cake I've ever had (including our wedding cake!) Everyone I've ever served it to has raved about it, so I'm not gonna stop making it anytime soon.
This "recipe" is actually a Frankenstein combination of pieces of different recipes that I've come to love over the years; the cake itself is one recipe, the filling another, and then I have two different frosting recipes that I love. I also have several tips and tricks to make your cake taste better and look nicer, so I'll be including those along the way as well. Let's get started!
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| Yellow cake, strawberry and raspberry filling, strawberry frosting |
This was my first (well technically second, I did a practice run) stab at piping frosting for decoration and I was pretty happy with how it came out! It's by no means bakery quality, but I got what I needed out of it. 😂 My Granny made thousands of cakes in her life and always created the most beautiful piping decorations, I would love to be as good as her one day! But for now, I'm sticking to sprinkles, fruit, candy... anything I can press into the frosting!
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| Lemon cake, blueberry filling, mascarpone frosting |
Cake
For the cake, I use this doctored up cake mix recipe. I normally do yellow cake, but I did lemon recently which was really good too - I added lemon zest to the batter which I highly recommend if you do lemon!
Ingredients:
- 1 box cake mix (15.25 oz cake mix, any flavor)
- 1 box (3.4 oz) instant pudding mix (one that matches the cake mix flavor)
- 1 cup sour cream (at room temperature)
- 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 4 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup milk (at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Directions:
Bake cake in greased pans according to package instructions.
Note from Laura: I always use this recipe with three 9" cake pans, which I bake for 17 minutes. My pans are coated, so if you're using non-coated pans, your cake may need a couple more minutes.
Note from Laura: To make the cake super easy to get out of the pans, I trace the bottom of the pans on parchment paper, cut the shapes out, add a layer to the bottom of each pan, and then follow with nonstick spray. Each layer will fall out of the pan with ease after it cools for ~10 minutes!
Note from Laura: THIS IS KEY!! To make your cake extra moist and bakery-quality, you MUST brush simple syrup on the naked layers before you add filling/frosting. I use about 1/4 cup of syrup for a 3-layer cake, which I make by whisking 2 tablespoons of sugar with 2 tablespoons of boiling water until the sugar dissolves (let cool before using). Then once you go to assemble your cake, use a basting brush to add a generous amount of simple syrup to the top of each layer. Do not skip this step, it truly takes your cake over the top!
Berry Filling
Note from Laura: The berry filling is optional, but so good! If you decide to skip it, just use frosting between your cake layers as you normally would.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cup berries of your choice (my favorite combo has been strawberry/raspberry; I've never tried adding peaches but I bet they'd work too - peel them first!)
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
Directions:
- Add the berries and water to a food processor and puree until smooth. You should end up with about 2/3 cup puree.
- Combine the sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Stir in the berry puree.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring consistently until mixture thickens and comes to a boil, about 8-10 minutes.
- Allow to boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat. Refrigerate and allow to cool completely.
Note from Laura: If you want to get some prep out of the way, you can make the filling a day or two ahead of time and store it in the fridge until you're ready to assemble your cake.
Frosting Option 1: Whipped Mascarpone Frosting
This is the most heavenly frosting I've ever made - not like the usual buttercream you'd expect on a layer cake. It's very light and much less sweet - but you will not miss the extra sugar one bit!
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, cold
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 16 oz mascarpone cheese, chilled
Instructions:
- Add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and whip on high speed until soft peaks form.
- Add the mascarpone cheese to the whipped cream and beat until stiff peaks form. It will happen fairly quickly.
Frosting Option 2: Berry Frosting
Note from Laura: This recipe was originally written for use with strawberries, but you can use any freeze-dried berries you want - I've done a combination of different kinds before and it always turns out well.
Note from Laura: The ingredient amounts listed below are 50% more than the original recipe calls for - I find this is a good amount to use on a 9" three-layer cake without having too much left over.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups freeze-dried strawberries
- 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 6 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- salt, to taste
Instructions:
- Using a food processor or blender, process the freeze-dried strawberries into a powdery crumb. You should have around 1/2 cup. If it’s not grinding down fine enough, you can sift it with a fine mesh sieve to rid larger seeds/pieces. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar, strawberry powder, heavy cream/milk, and vanilla. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. Taste. Add 1–2 more Tablespoons of heavy cream/milk if needed to thin out, if desired. (I usually add at least 1 more.) Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.
- Use immediately or cover tightly and store for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. After freezing, thaw in the refrigerator then beat the frosting on medium speed for a few seconds so it’s creamy again. After thawing or refrigerating, beating in a splash of heavy cream or milk will help thin the frosting out again, if needed. (It stiffens in the refrigerator.)
Assembly
Note from Laura: You are welcome to level your cake layers using a serrated knife to trim off any doming or uneven-ness, but I never do this (who wants less cake??) I just use frosting to even out any areas with doming or tilt.
Note from Laura: Yes I am mentioning this again, it truly is a must! To make your cake extra moist and bakery-quality, you MUST brush simple syrup on the naked layers before you add filling/frosting. I use about 1/4 cup of syrup for a 3-layer cake, which I make by whisking 2 tablespoons of sugar with 2 tablespoons of boiling water until the sugar dissolves (let cool before using). Then once you go to assemble your cake, use a basting brush to add a generous amount of simple syrup to the top of each layer. Do not skip this step, it truly takes your cake over the top!
Note from Laura: For cake frosting, there are two tools I recently started using that have been game changers and have made getting a smooth layer of frosting so much easier. The first is a turntable/lazy Susan, which is primarily useful for round cakes - place your cake onto a cardboard base to make it easy to move between the turntable and your cake plate. The second tool that is immensely useful is a bench scraper/pastry cutter - this makes frosting cakes (especially round cakes) evenly SO much easier than using a knife or an offset spatula (though I still love my offset spatulas for plopping on frosting and filling in holes).
- Place the first layer of cake on a serving plate or a cardboard cake round. You can use a small smear of frosting underneath the layer to help anchor it in place and prevent potential sliding.
- After brushing the layer with simple syrup, spread half of the berry filling evenly on top of the cake layer, within about 1/2" of the edge.
- Add the second layer of cake and repeat the syrup/filling layer with the remaining berry filling.
- Add the final layer of cake on top. Add a very thin, even layer of frosting on the outside of the entire cake (it's okay if you can still see the cake through the frosting - we'll add more soon). This is called the crumb coat and will make the cake much easier to evenly frost. Stick the cake in the fridge to chill for at lest an hour.
- Once your crumb coat has chilled, go in with the rest of your frosting.
- Decorate however you want, and serve! I like serving my cake chilled but this is not necessary, just personal preference.
Are you still with me?? I hope you are! Please let me know if you try this cake! It's a labor of love but SO worth it - whoever you share it with will think you're Ina Garten, and you'll be on the hook for every birthday cake from then until eternity.
And heck, happy birthday to me. 😎🎉
xoxx, Laura
Some of my favorite cake tools:
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