Birthday
158 recipes found
S’mores Layer Cake
This cake is a labor of love, but you can make all of the individual parts ahead of time, and the finished dessert truly tastes like a bite of old-fashioned s’mores. The base is a deeply chocolatey sour cream cake that stays soft and moist for days. The cake layers are sandwiched together with toasted marshmallow buttercream and graham cracker crumbles. The sweet and salty graham crumbles, made from graham cracker crumbs that are mixed with sugar and melted butter and then baked, add crunchy texture to the cake and make a terrific garnish, too. You will need a kitchen torch to toast the meringue for the buttercream, but it’s totally worth it for that iconic, deeply caramelized marshmallow flavor.
Skillet Sprinkle Sugar Cookie
You don’t need any special equipment to make this superfun, supersize sugar cookie; just a bowl, a whisk, a spatula and a skillet. Not only is making one huge cookie instead of two easier than baking several batches, there is something extraspecial about a giant dessert that is meant to be shared. Eat it warm from the pan with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top; or let it cool and slice it up as you would a pie. Swap out the rainbow sprinkles for holiday-themed sprinkles or whatever colors delight you.
Pistachio Halvah Rice Krispies Treats
What’s better than a pan full of freshly made, just-gooey-enough Rice Krispies treats? A core memory for many, it continues to be a fan favorite, whether a packaged gas station treat or a high-end bakery grab like this one. Perfectly balanced with an additional layer of texture from the pistachio and halvah, this recipe comes from Shilpa and Miro Uskokovic, the supertalented pastry chef duo that opened Hani’s Bakery + Café in New York’s East Village in 2024. Their use of tahini brings a level of sophistication, and offsets the sweet bite this snack can often have. There is not a thing that needs altering in this recipe, yet, in Rice Krispie treat tradition, it encourages a bit of playfulness for the cook to make it their own.
Princess Cake
Princess Cake, or Prinsesstårta, makes a spectacular centerpiece for any celebration, but despite its regal appearance, this simplified version is far easier to make than it looks. The original recipe from Sweden called for three layers of soft spongecake and custard, coated with stiffly whipped cream and covered with a thin layer of green-dyed mandelmassa (almond paste), finished with a single pink rose. While the essence and color scheme have endured, almond paste has been replaced with sweeter, smoother marzipan and the pleasing domed shape — thought to allude to a crown — is a modern addition. Purists may argue that jam, which did not appear in the original recipe but is a fixture of contemporary versions, does not belong, though the tart tang is most welcome among the sweet muddle of soft, creamy layers. Here, the usual three cake layers are reduced to two, and using good-quality shop-bought jam saves time. The entire cake is built in a bowl, allowing you to take your time with each layer. Once turned out, it reveals a beautifully smooth dome, fit for any princess.
Fairy Bread
If you go to a children’s birthday party in Australia or New Zealand, you are very likely to find fairy bread: triangles of untoasted white bread covered with margarine or butter and “hundreds and thousands” (you can use round rainbow sprinkles stateside). Fairy bread is a much-loved treat with fairly murky origins; one variation is hagelslag, a Dutch treat that uses chocolate sprinkles instead of rainbow-colored rounds. After one bite of fairy bread, it is clear why the combination of soft bread, creamy butter and crunchy, sugary sprinkles is beloved by so many — and may be soon by you, too.
Nutella Tres Leches Cake
The dreamy, moist dessert is surprisingly light and airy thanks to the chocolate sponge cake. Cocoa powder bloomed in hot coffee gives the cake a rich, deep chocolatey flavor. Traditionally, tres leches cakes are made with a vanilla cake soaked with condensed and evaporated milks and heavy cream or whole milk. In this lush chocolate version, we replaced the condensed milk with chocolate hazelnut spread and whisked that into evaporated and whole milks and heavy cream for a big hit of chocolate and hazelnut flavor. The cake gets finished with a delicious and light chocolate hazelnut whipped cream with chocolate sprinkles.
Tortellini Salad with Zucchini & Roasted Garlic
This tortellini salad is perfect for make-ahead lunches & makes great use of zucchini! The roasted garlic isn't necessary but in my opinion, worth it!
Big Batch Honey Deuce Spritz with Raspberry-Ginger Lemonade
A fun twist on the popular US Open cocktail, the Honey Deuce, but with homemade raspberry-ginger lemonade and a top off of Prosecco.
Sungold & Heirloom Tomato Tart
A tomato tart filled with a ricotta-mascarpone filling and sliced heirloom tomatoes. I also pile on fresh Sungolds dressed in olive oil and salt.
Peach Crumble Bars
Peach crumble bars are such a great way to enjoy fresh peaches while they're in season, and the bars are perfect for back to school!
No-Churn Apricot & Honey Ice Cream
This ice cream is made with a simple 2-ingredient base of sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream, and a swirl of homemade apricot jam and honey.
Spice Cake With Tamarind
Chef Isaiah Screetch was inspired by jam cakes from his native Kentucky when conceptualizing this recipe for spice cake that evokes warm West African flavors. The cake marries tart tamarind with the complexity and earthiness of calabash nutmeg (a nuttier, more fragrant nutmeg native to West Africa), ground cayenne and ginger. “The spice cake is primarily used for special occasions like birthdays and weddings,” he said. While it typically includes dairy to “create richness and keep the cake moist,” Mr. Screetch makes his cake using soy milk to keep it vegan-friendly. To save time, he recommends baking the cake the night before you plan to enjoy it and wrapping with plastic wrap to maintain moisture so it doesn't dry out.
Classic White Cake
For this delicate, fluffy cake, snow white layers are made by ditching egg yolks and going straight for egg whites. To avoid overmixing, the batter calls for the reverse creaming method, made popular by the cookbook author Rose Levy Beranbaum, in which the dry ingredients are mixed with a solid fat (butter in this case) before the liquid ingredients, including oil, are added. A mix of butter and oil helps create the soft, tender crumb. Ice the cake with whatever frosting you prefer, though vanilla is classic. Use clear vanilla extract for the brightest layers and buttercream.
Homemade Choco Tacos
Easy choco tacos filled with vanilla fudge-swirl ice cream, dipped in a peanut chocolate magic shell. They're delicious and a great weekend project!
Black Forest Sheet Cake
This beauty has all the beloved flavors of the classic Black Forest cake — cherries, chocolate and cream — re-assembled into a casual sheet cake perfect for summer picnics and birthday parties. To make the process even simpler, you can make and refrigerate the cherry jam up to 3 days in advance. Feel free to use fresh or frozen fruit (and there’s no need to thaw first, if using frozen). You can make this cake in the summertime, when fresh cherries are at their peak, or in the dead of winter, when you need something fresh and fruity to brighten your day.
Chocolate Birthday Cake
This tender, dark chocolate cake, layered with a fluffy, not-too-sweet, white Ermine icing, also known as boiled-milk frosting, is inspired by the memory of a Chuck E. Cheese chocolate birthday cake from the early 1990s. This style of devil’s food cake is also a staple of the refrigerated cases in supermarket bakeries, and starts with an oil-based cake that doesn’t harden when cold, as butter-based cakes do. The chilled, soft sponge gets its special dark and nostalgic flavor from vanilla, sour cream and Dutch-processed cocoa powder, which is less acidic than natural cocoa powder and produces a darker color and rounder flavor. Hot coffee blooms the generous amount of cocoa powder and melts the chopped bittersweet chocolate, giving this cake a dreamy, fudgy texture when cold. Sour cream lends tenderness to the crumb and lightness to the frosting. The buffed, blindingly white frosting is sturdy enough for candles.
S’mores Tart
This stunning dessert takes the elements of s’mores – marshmallows, graham crackers and melty chocolate – and recombines them in an elegant way. A billowing meringue singed with a blowtorch replaces the toasted marshmallows, a homemade graham cracker crust replaces the cookies and a soft, bittersweet ganache stands in for the usual melted chocolate bar. It does take time and effort, but you can do it over the course of a couple of days. The spectacular results are well worth it.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Malls have been declining in number since their peak in the 1980s, but, before losing their cultural significance, they helped make the cookie cake the frosted icon it is today. Created by Michael Coles and Arthur Karp in 1977 (not by Mrs. Fields, which was founded the same year), the cookie cake was first sold in Atlanta malls by their company, Great American Cookies. In this cookie cake, browned butter gives the cookie extra toasty, nutty flavor, and the extra egg yolk makes it chewy and tender. Don’t skimp on the chocolate chips; you can use semisweet or bittersweet morsels or a combination of both. This recipe calls for a cookie cake pan, which is a round pan that is about 1/2-inch deep. You can also bake this in a 10-inch round cake pan lined with parchment paper, increasing the baking time to 25 minutes or so. Malls might be closing left and right, but this food court-style giant chocolate chip cookie cake will never go out of style.
Norwegian Custard Buns (Skolebrød)
These cardamon-infused custard buns are filled with a vanilla bean custard, then dipped in a simple confectioner’s sugar glaze and coated with shredded coconut.
Birthday Cake Blondies
Think of these as a starter birthday cake to make for friends — they travel well and feel like a party wherever you’re handing them out. Despite the sheet of sprinkles coating the top, these blondies aren’t cloyingly sweet. The batter has just enough brown sugar for a gentle butterscotch richness and a good hit of salt. Toasted at the edges and chewy in the center, these bars also have tiny crackles of caramelized sprinkles throughout.
One-Bowl Chocolate Cake
Fluffy and tender, this chocolate cake comes together quickly in one bowl. It’s a friendly little birthday cake with its dead simple frosting (or a really great snack without). A blend of oil and buttermilk or yogurt keeps the crumb moist, as does a nice pour of hot tea. Oolong gives the cake a floral aroma, while using coffee instead highlights the cocoa’s bittersweetness. Plain hot water gives this an old-fashioned chocolate cake flavor. The two-ingredient frosting – essentially cream and chocolate melted together, then cooled until thick enough to swoop and swirl – can be made in the same bowl used for the cake batter. You can sprinkle flaky salt, chopped toasted nuts or sprinkles on top too. But, frosted or not, this cake welcomes coffee, tea or ice cream.
Gelato
This Italian frozen dessert looks almost identical to ice cream, but has a few key differences: Compared to its cousin, gelato is made with more milk than cream, and uses fewer or no eggs, instead leaning on other stabilizers to keep it from becoming icy as it freezes. Here, cornstarch is the stabilizer for this easy at-home version, providing a smooth, creamy texture. Because gelato has a lower butterfat percentage than ice cream, it’s best served slightly warmer; for best results, let it soften on the counter for a couple minutes before serving. This recipe makes a basic vanilla gelato, but you can easily make different flavors by adding mix-ins such as chopped chocolate, dulce de leche, or chocolate ganache once the gelato is churned.
Vanilla Cupcakes
This easy recipe makes 12 light, fluffy cupcakes that are packed with vanilla flavor and topped with a classic buttercream frosting. They use the reverse creaming method made popular by author Rose Levy Beranbaum in which the dry ingredients are mixed with a solid fat (butter, in this case), before the liquid ingredients are mixed in, which helps ensure that you don’t overmix your batter. This mixing method, along with the buttermilk and a combination of butter and oil, creates the soft, tender crumb of these cupcakes. The confectioners’ sugar frosting is a simple affair, flavored with lots of vanilla, some lemon juice and a bit of salt to balance out the sweetness. Make sure to whip the frosting until it is completely smooth and soft. This recipe makes enough to frost the cupcakes with a thin layer; for a more generous topping, you’ll want to double it.
Detroit-Style Pizza
With charred and cheesy edges, a thick and chewy crust, and a reverse order of toppings, Detroit-style pizza has earned its place in the seemingly endless world of pizza. This hearty pie first appeared on the menu at Buddy’s Rendezvous Pizzeria in the Motor City, in 1946. Owner Gus Guerra baked his mother-in-law’s recipe for Sicilian-style pizza in the deep pans typically used to hold auto parts; the dark, industrial steel better distributed heat than traditional baking pans. Using plenty of sharp, aged Wisconsin brick cheese (see Tip) cut into cubes, with some touching the sides of the pan, helps create the pizza’s coveted burnished edges. You can find a Detroit-style pan online, but a 9-by-13-inch metal baking pan will also work. (You’ll just have to settle for slightly less crispy edges.) Inspired by J. Kenji López-Alt’s Detroit-style dough recipe, this version calls for bread flour, which creates a delightfully light and chewy crumb.