Who doesn’t love cake? No matter how young or old you may be, cake is always a treat you will love – that’s for sure. If your birthday is approaching (or the birthday of someone you care about, for that matter), you are probably thinking of what to do for this year’s birthday cake.
The good news is that there are tons of fun and creative ideas you can use for your birthday cake – and you don’t even have to be a pastry chef to be able to pull them off. Following, we have gathered some of the very best birthday cake ideas you can use at home, for an affordable price – so make sure to read on and inspire yourself! Who says that baking your own birthday cake can’t be fun?
1. A Red Velvet Cake
If you are like most of the people out there, you are used to have your cake either white/yellow or brownish. A red velvet cake is an elegant, unique and absolutely delicious choice though and it can amaze everyone who will get to see your cake.
Simply create your usual cake batter recipe and add red food coloring. We advise on using natural food colorings, but if you don’t have any, you can use whatever you have as well. The cake will turn red. This recipe works best with strawberry or vanilla filling and with a rich, buttercream frosting as well.
The cake will look spectacular without being in any way more difficult to bake than your average birthday cake!
2. A Rainbow Cake
This cake goes around the same idea as the red velvet one – but it uses all of the colors of the rainbow. Keep in mind that you will have to bake multiple thinner layers of cake to be able to pull this off. Once everything is baked, you can use whatever filling and frosting you like the most (however, you should try to keep it “white” because this will give the cake a really beautiful contrast). For your cake décor, you can use rainbow-colored fondant flowers (which you can make at home too).
3. Easy Cake with Strawberry Frosting
If you are in a hurry and you cannot take the time to bake a “proper” cake, you can use boxed cake mixes to get where you want. Simply bake two or three layers of cake and use seedless strawberry jam instead of your normal filling.
For the frosting, you will need 1 cup of salted butter, 1 pack of powdered sugar (32 oz) and 1 cup of very finely chopped strawberries. Beat the butter until it gets a very smooth consistency, gradually add about half of your powdered sugar and then add gradually add the strawberries too.
Once you get the consistency you want, gradually mix in the remaining sugar as well. This frosting is absolutely delicious, extremely easy to make and it will not be pricy either! Decorate your cake with slices of strawberries and it will look just wonderful!
4. Oreo Cake
We think that it is more than fair to agree over the fact that everyone loves Oreos. There’s really nothing not to love about them! From the cookie to the filling, everything is delicious about these small snacks!
If you are a big fan of Oreo too, why not turn this into a birthday cake? Or, rather said, into four mini-birthday cakes made out of delicious Oreo ice-cream? Believe it or not, you don’t need much in order to make this cake – and it will not take a lot of work either.
You will need 2 cups heavy whipping cream, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 10 Oreo cookies and ¼ cup frosting (you can tint it with blue or with another color, if you want to – and you can use leftover frosting or store-bought frosting as well).
Start by whipping the cream until it is very stiff and then incorporate the other ingredients as well: the condensed milk, the Oreos and the frosting as well. Mix everything as thoroughly as possible and then split the mixture in four equal parts, each on its own plate. Make a “cake” out of each of the ice cream parts and then place everything in the freezer for about 6 hours.
5. Pancakes for Your Birthday
Pancakes are a staple of the American breakfasts – and truly, they can turn into an actual celebration as well. If you don’t want an actual cake or if you simply want to prepare a delicious breakfast surprise for someone’s birthday, make some pancakes using your normal recipe (you can use store-brought mixes or you can use your own homemade pancake mix as well).
Create a “frosting” with powdered sugar and milk (or with any other “syrup-like” ingredients you want) and pour this all over the pancakes. Add sprinkles, a cute candle and make a wish! Easy to make, extremely fun and definitely delicious!
6. Doughnut Cake
This is a fast, delicious and really creative idea you can use instead of the traditional birthday cake. You can either buy ready-made plain doughnuts to make it or you can make your own – that’s your choice.
Aside from doughnuts (about 14 to 18 of them, to be more precise), you will need ingredients for your favorite glaze (2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons corn syrup, 3 tablespoons hot water and ½ teaspoon of your favorite extract – it can be vanilla, almond or anything else, really). Mix all these ingredients to create a glaze.
Before you dip the doughnuts in the glaze, make sure you arrange them in a “pyramid” shape on your cake stand. To do this, you should first test out the first “layer” and see how many doughnuts you need there and then you should lower the number as you go “higher”. Once you have determined all these things, dip the doughnuts into the glaze and use sprinkles to decorate them. Arrange them in your “cake shape” and serve them as such.
7. Crepes Cake
Crepes are the European/French version of the American pancakes – and they are absolutely delicious. The batter is made in the same way as that which is made for your usual homemade pancakes – but it is much thinner. Its consistency is a bit thinner than that of honey and it should allow you to pour and even out the batter in a pan without much trouble.
For a cake, you will need about 20-25 crepes. This might take some time to make, but it will be nevertheless delicious. For the frosting and for the filling, you are free to use whatever combinations you like. From Nutella to plain whipped cream, everything goes. Use your creativity and you’ll come up with something absolutely amazing!
8. A Bundt Pan Cake
You don’t have to go for the traditional cake shape if you don’t want to. A Bundt pan can turn a cake into a real show – and it will allow you to come up with something creative and unique in a very easy way. You can bake your favorite cake (carrot, vanilla, chocolate or whatever recipe you love the most) in a Bundt cake just as you do with your normal cake pans.
Also, you can create a glaze or a “dressing” for the cake using your favorite recipe too. This kind of cakes don’t usually come with frosting – but they are nevertheless delicious. Decorate your Bundt pan cake using your own creativity and you will definitely create something truly original and tasty!
9. A Cupcake Tower
Cupcakes are the closest “relative” to actual cake – and everyone loves them. The best thing about a cupcake tower is that they give you even more freedom to be creative when it comes to their design. Also, you can create multiple types of cupcakes at the same time too.
Use your favorite cupcake recipe(s), decorate the little sweet wonders and arrange them in a tower. This will look amazing and, if you have any guests coming over for your birthday, it will give them the opportunity to eat whatever type of cupcake they enjoy the most.
10. A Moustache Cake
Moustaches (and beards) have been extremely popular out there lately and they can be extremely fun too. If you want to create a moustache cake, you should know that you don’t need a special pan for it. In fact, your usual round-shaped pan is more than enough.
Bake your favorite cake (it can be chocolate, carrot or whatever else you enjoy the most) in a round-shaped pan and allow it to cool off. Using a sharp knife, cut the cake in a “Yin and Yang” shape – so that you get two parts that resemble wings or the two sides of a moustache. Arrange them to create a moustache and cover everything in your favorite frosting.
If you want to, you can use filling for the “moustache” cake as well – just make sure you do this before you arrange the moustache. That’s it! You’ve got a very trendy and extremely fun cake without any kind of extra-trouble!
