I have been meaning to post this birthday cake recipe for years. These photos, in fact, are from October 2016. I retrieved them from an external hard drive, edited them, then found another folder containing all the photos I had already edited but long forgotten about… good use of time. Argh!
What is a good use of time is that spent making this cake, which comes together very quickly, is very forgiving, and is always well received by adults and children alike.
It’s identical to a recipe I made years ago with the exception of oil substituted for butter, which allows for easy mixing and keeps it moist, and vanilla substituted for the lemon juice/zest/extract. A simple cream cheese-butter frosting + sprinkles completes the job.
Two Notes:
- I make a half recipe of the original, which still makes a cake large enough to feed a crowd. I like doing this because I hate having leftover cake on hand, which sits in the fridge, tempting me all day long, and eventually goes in the trash when I tire of eating cake for lunch. With this half recipe, very little is leftover/wasted.
- Because I make a half recipe, I use two smaller pans: 6×2-inch cake pans. If you don’t feel like investing in yet another set of pans, which I totally get, you can simply use one 9-inch cake pan. Your cake will not be as tall, but it will still be delicious.
Somehow Ella turns 9 this month. Hard to believe:
This is a great cake to have little people help with. It can be mixed by hand (as opposed to with an electric mixer) and, as noted above, it’s very forgiving — little attention is ever paid to the mixing order of ingredients, and it still always turns out well.
These are those two 6-inch round pans mentioned above:
Let cool completely before frosting. To make the frosting, gather your ingredients: heavy cream, sugar, cream cheese (cold), salt, vanilla.
First, place cold cream cheese, sugar, and a pinch of sea salt in a stand mixer.
Beat until light and creamy:
Then add the cold heavy cream and vanilla:
Beat until thick and creamy:
Sprinkle hunters:
Birthday boy (two years ago).
Love these candles!
You can also use the recipe to make cupcakes. The batter will give you 13-14 cupcakes. You can also make snowy owl cupcakes if the Halloween spirit is moving you: Separate two Oreos and stick two, icing sides up, on a frosted cupcake facing up. Insert an orange M&M or jelly bean in between as a nose, and affix chocolate M&M onto the Oreos for eyeballs.
Description
Notes:
This is a small cake. I bake the cake in two small cake pans: 6×2-inch round cake pans . You could also use one 9-inch cake pan. Or if you want to make a larger cake, you can double the recipe and use two 9-inch pans. See the notes below the recipe for the larger yield. That said, I can’t say enough good things about investing in those two small cake pans. This recipe makes the perfect size cake with very few leftovers.
To make cupcakes: Be sure only to fill the cupcake holes halfway up with batter—they will overflow/not bake properly.
There are two frosting recipes below. I prefer the whipped cream-cream cheese frosting recipe, which I adapted from this Stella Park’s recipe . I use Stella’s proportions but use a different method. Find the more traditional cream cheese frosting recipe in the notes below.
forthecake:
- 1 1/2 cups ( 192 g ) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup ( 115 g ) neutral oil, such as grapeseed or avocado
- 1 cup ( 215 g ) sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons ( 158 g ) buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
for the whipped cream – cream cheese frosting (see notes below for a butter-cream cheese frosting recipe):
- 8 oz ( 226 g ) cream cheese
- 1/2 cup ( 100 g ) sugar
- 2/3 cup ( 140 g ) heavy cream
- pinch sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
for presenting:
- sprinkles (I like the tiny dots ) and candles. These candles are fun.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar. Add the oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla, and stir to combine.
- Coat two 6-inch cake pans (or one 9-inch pan) with nonstick spray (or butter liberally). I like to cut a round of parchment paper and fit it into the bottom of each pan. Pour half of the batter into each pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. Cool completely.
- To make the whipped cream – cream cheese frosting: Beat cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the heavy cream, a pinch of salt, and the vanilla. Beat again until light and fluffy.
- To assemble: cut each cake in half crosswise, layer as follows: cake, frosting, cake, frosting, until all four layers are stacked. Frost the entire outside of the cake with the remaining frosting. Shower sprinkles over top.
Notes
for the cream cheese – butter frosting:
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons | 8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- confectioners’ sugar to taste (about ¾ cup)
- flaky sea salt to taste
- Beat cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add confectioners’ sugar to taste. Add a pinch of salt. Mix again. Taste. Adjust taste as desired.
for a large cake (two 9-inch pans):
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs, whisked lightly
- 1¼ cups buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- Follow the instructions above, but bake in two buttered 9-inch pans for roughly 35-40 minutes.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
I have been meaning to post this birthday cake recipe for years. These photos, in fact, are from October 2016. I retrieved them from an external hard drive, edited them, then found another folder containing all the photos I had already edited but long forgotten about… good use of time. Argh!
What is a good use of time is that spent making this cake, which comes together very quickly, is very forgiving, and is always well received by adults and children alike.
It’s identical to a recipe I made years ago with the exception of oil substituted for butter, which allows for easy mixing and keeps it moist, and vanilla substituted for the lemon juice/zest/extract. A simple cream cheese-butter frosting + sprinkles completes the job.
Two Notes:
- I make a half recipe of the original, which still makes a cake large enough to feed a crowd. I like doing this because I hate having leftover cake on hand, which sits in the fridge, tempting me all day long, and eventually goes in the trash when I tire of eating cake for lunch. With this half recipe, very little is leftover/wasted.
- Because I make a half recipe, I use two smaller pans: 6×2-inch cake pans. If you don’t feel like investing in yet another set of pans, which I totally get, you can simply use one 9-inch cake pan. Your cake will not be as tall, but it will still be delicious.
Somehow Ella turns 9 this month. Hard to believe:
This is a great cake to have little people help with. It can be mixed by hand (as opposed to with an electric mixer) and, as noted above, it’s very forgiving — little attention is ever paid to the mixing order of ingredients, and it still always turns out well.
These are those two 6-inch round pans mentioned above:
Let cool completely before frosting. To make the frosting, gather your ingredients: heavy cream, sugar, cream cheese (cold), salt, vanilla.
First, place cold cream cheese, sugar, and a pinch of sea salt in a stand mixer.
Beat until light and creamy:
Then add the cold heavy cream and vanilla:
Beat until thick and creamy:
Sprinkle hunters:
Birthday boy (two years ago).
Love these candles!
You can also use the recipe to make cupcakes. The batter will give you 13-14 cupcakes. You can also make snowy owl cupcakes if the Halloween spirit is moving you: Separate two Oreos and stick two, icing sides up, on a frosted cupcake facing up. Insert an orange M&M or jelly bean in between as a nose, and affix chocolate M&M onto the Oreos for eyeballs.
Description
Notes:
This is a small cake. I bake the cake in two small cake pans: 6×2-inch round cake pans . You could also use one 9-inch cake pan. Or if you want to make a larger cake, you can double the recipe and use two 9-inch pans. See the notes below the recipe for the larger yield. That said, I can’t say enough good things about investing in those two small cake pans. This recipe makes the perfect size cake with very few leftovers.
To make cupcakes: Be sure only to fill the cupcake holes halfway up with batter—they will overflow/not bake properly.
There are two frosting recipes below. I prefer the whipped cream-cream cheese frosting recipe, which I adapted from this Stella Park’s recipe . I use Stella’s proportions but use a different method. Find the more traditional cream cheese frosting recipe in the notes below.
forthecake:
- 1 1/2 cups ( 192 g ) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup ( 115 g ) neutral oil, such as grapeseed or avocado
- 1 cup ( 215 g ) sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons ( 158 g ) buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
for the whipped cream – cream cheese frosting (see notes below for a butter-cream cheese frosting recipe):
- 8 oz ( 226 g ) cream cheese
- 1/2 cup ( 100 g ) sugar
- 2/3 cup ( 140 g ) heavy cream
- pinch sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
for presenting:
- sprinkles (I like the tiny dots ) and candles. These candles are fun.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar. Add the oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla, and stir to combine.
- Coat two 6-inch cake pans (or one 9-inch pan) with nonstick spray (or butter liberally). I like to cut a round of parchment paper and fit it into the bottom of each pan. Pour half of the batter into each pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. Cool completely.
- To make the whipped cream – cream cheese frosting: Beat cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the heavy cream, a pinch of salt, and the vanilla. Beat again until light and fluffy.
- To assemble: cut each cake in half crosswise, layer as follows: cake, frosting, cake, frosting, until all four layers are stacked. Frost the entire outside of the cake with the remaining frosting. Shower sprinkles over top.
Notes
for the cream cheese – butter frosting:
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons | 8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- confectioners’ sugar to taste (about ¾ cup)
- flaky sea salt to taste
- Beat cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add confectioners’ sugar to taste. Add a pinch of salt. Mix again. Taste. Adjust taste as desired.
for a large cake (two 9-inch pans):
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs, whisked lightly
- 1¼ cups buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- Follow the instructions above, but bake in two buttered 9-inch pans for roughly 35-40 minutes.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Notes:
This is a small cake. I bake the cake in two small cake pans: 6×2-inch round cake pans . You could also use one 9-inch cake pan. Or if you want to make a larger cake, you can double the recipe and use two 9-inch pans. See the notes below the recipe for the larger yield. That said, I can’t say enough good things about investing in those two small cake pans. This recipe makes the perfect size cake with very few leftovers.
To make cupcakes: Be sure only to fill the cupcake holes halfway up with batter—they will overflow/not bake properly.
There are two frosting recipes below. I prefer the whipped cream-cream cheese frosting recipe, which I adapted from this Stella Park’s recipe . I use Stella’s proportions but use a different method. Find the more traditional cream cheese frosting recipe in the notes below.
forthecake:
- 1 1/2 cups ( 192 g ) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup ( 115 g ) neutral oil, such as grapeseed or avocado
- 1 cup ( 215 g ) sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons ( 158 g ) buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
for the whipped cream – cream cheese frosting (see notes below for a butter-cream cheese frosting recipe):
- 8 oz ( 226 g ) cream cheese
- 1/2 cup ( 100 g ) sugar
- 2/3 cup ( 140 g ) heavy cream
- pinch sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
for presenting:
- sprinkles (I like the tiny dots ) and candles. These candles are fun.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar. Add the oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla, and stir to combine.
- Coat two 6-inch cake pans (or one 9-inch pan) with nonstick spray (or butter liberally). I like to cut a round of parchment paper and fit it into the bottom of each pan. Pour half of the batter into each pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack. Cool completely.
- To make the whipped cream – cream cheese frosting: Beat cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the heavy cream, a pinch of salt, and the vanilla. Beat again until light and fluffy.
- To assemble: cut each cake in half crosswise, layer as follows: cake, frosting, cake, frosting, until all four layers are stacked. Frost the entire outside of the cake with the remaining frosting. Shower sprinkles over top.
Notes
for the cream cheese – butter frosting:
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons | 8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- confectioners’ sugar to taste (about ¾ cup)
- flaky sea salt to taste
- Beat cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add confectioners’ sugar to taste. Add a pinch of salt. Mix again. Taste. Adjust taste as desired.
for a large cake (two 9-inch pans):
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs, whisked lightly
- 1¼ cups buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- Follow the instructions above, but bake in two buttered 9-inch pans for roughly 35-40 minutes.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2019/02/06/one-bowl-buttermilk-birthday-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/
A few weeks ago we had over dear friends and their son for dinner. For dessert, I threw a few dark chocolate bars* on the table and let the adults help themselves. For the children, I baked off chocolate chip cookie dough balls I had portioned earlier and stashed in the fridge.
But when the children finished their cookies and ran off to play, leaving a few unclaimed cookies on the sheet, all four sets of adult eyeballs zeroed in. We shared the remaining few, and then I immediately baked off half a dozen more (and later, half a dozen more).
My point is not that, when entertaining, there should always be dessert on the table; my point is that dessert can be simple. No one would have been disappointed with the chocolate alone. But who can pass up a warm chocolate chip cookie? Sometimes I wonder why I bake anything else.
Confession: I love baking but I bake less often these days. As life gets busier and busier, sweet endeavors are the first slashed from my never-ending must-try list. With less time to experiment, I find myself turning to my reliable favorites. I’ve included them below.
*Dark chocolate bars: I have two favorites: this one and this one .
PS: Do you love to bake?
Dessert Repertoire: 16 Essential Recipes
Foolproof Pie Dough : There is nothing tricky about making pie dough. This one is made in the food processor and relies on a cool trick to prevent over processing. This is the only pie/tart/pastry dough I make anymore.
A good brownie: My Favorite: Fine Cooking’s Rich, Fudgy Brownies
A good blondie: Brown Butter Blondies with Sea Salt
A good chocolate chip cookie: My Favorite: Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Something fruity and summery, like this blueberry Cobbler from Cook’s Illustrated
Buttermilk Panna Cotta
A Good Chocolate Cake
A Good Flourless Chocolate Cake
A very good almond torte: Chez Panisse Almond Torte
A good olive oil cake, such as this Orange and Olive Oil Cake + many other cakes made with oil: The Case for Baking with Olive Oil (as Opposed to Butter)
A good apple cake: This is my favorite: Teddie’s Apple Cake
A Fruit Galette: Foolproof Pastry Dough + Frangipane + Fruit (all made entirely in the food processor). I’ve made countless variations of this theme from apple to rhubarb to peach to pluot .
Pots de Crème Two Ways: Chocolate (stovetop method) and Vanilla Bean (water bath method)
A good chocolate buttercream .
One-Bowl Buttermilk Birthday Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Vegan Chocolate Mousse — astonishingly light and satisfying, this one is made with whipped aquafaba (chickpea cooking liquid) and almond milk. In addition to being vegan, this one is dairy-free, too.
