Last week my youngest son turned 18. It hit me that he’s a man and about to head out into the world to make his mark. I am so excited for him and looking forward to watching him and his brother become their own men, but it’s a touch bittersweet to watch them take off into the world. This birthday will be marked by several cakes and desserts, as we do around here. For his actual birthday, I was traveling and left him a flan, a long time favorite birthday request. The next day, when I returned from my trip I was met by the latest Bake From Scratch cookbook and immediately flipped to the Birthday Cake chapter. Sometimes we just want the classics, and there is nothing better than a really good white cake with vanilla buttercream. It’s probably the most popular cake combination, for good reason. I am perhaps the last baker on the internet to make a Funfetti Birthday Cake, but this occasion called for a bit of celebratory color!! I simply added sprinkles to the Bake From Scratch White Cake.
In the spirit of my son’s birthday, I have partnered with Brian Hart Hoffman and the excellent folks at Hoffman Publishing to Give Away a Copy of the Bake from Scratch (Vol 3): Artisan Recipes for the Home Baker
People ask me where I find inspiration and the truth is, EVERYWHERE! The decorations for this funfetti birthday cake were inspired by a Netflix special and a place card. I was watching a documentary about the fashion designer, Alexander McQueen, and I told my husband his dresses would make incredible cakes, especially a dress covered in feathers that already looked like a cake. The place cards from my friends at The Punctilious Mr. P’s Place Card Company arrived and they were pictures of gorgeous birds that looked like cake toppers. It wasn’t inspiration as much as fate! The feathers are easy to make with white chocolate, which you can watch me make in my instagram video. Funfetti Birthday Cake recipe and chance to win the book are below!
(place cards and holders by Mr P’s Place Card Company)
Funfetti Birthday Cake with Chocolate Feathers
Funfetti cake:
White Cake recipe from Bake from Scratch (Vol 3), fold in 1/4 cup colored sprinkles just before pouring into prepared pans. I baked the cake in three 6-Inch Cake Pans
Vanilla Buttercream from Bake From Scratch
You can find my crumb coat and cake decorating videos on YouTube (where you will see some vintage Zoë):
White Chocolate Feathers – 6 ounces white chocolate chips
Thank you to Martin and Karen at Mr P’s Place Cards for the beautiful inspiration!
I eat confetti cake every year for my birthday! Although, as I have gotten older, I have learned to move beyond a box mix
My favorite birthday cake is a Chocolate Fudge Cake made with a boiled glaze you pour over while the cake is still hot ❤️. Another fave is a classic Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese Fosting and lots of toasted pecans!
My perfect birthday cake would be a flancocho! It’s a layered cake with a top layer of flan and a bottom layer of whatever flavor cake you like! I would choose chocolate.
So many favorites. I love anything cheesecake, anything chocolate, anything lemon!
I’m not sure I’ve ever had a “perfect” birthday cake but homemade treats never are! My mother always makes me me a standard homemade chocolate cake with vanilla icing. Simple and sweet:) Can’t get much better than that!
For me, the perfect cake will always be carrot with cream cheese frosting.
My perfect birthday cake is a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting
Simple and classic is my favorite birthday cake – vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, and lots of sprinkles!
I just wanted to let you know that my favorite cake of all time is A German Chocolate Cake but it has to be Homemade I don’t really care for store bought & the iceing has to be Homemade as well cause it just won’t taste right!!!
As a kid, my perfect birthday cake was the cake with the barbie shoved in the middle. It was like getting 2 presents! Now it could be as simple as an Angel Food cake with whipped cream. Simple yet delicious!
I’m always partial to cheesecake or carrot cake for my birthday but I’m also loving a passionfruit cake with mascarpone frosting right now so it might make the birthday spot this year!
Banana cake is one of my favorite cakes to make.
I usually go with Birthday Pie (banana cream!), but for a cake I loooove David Lebovitz’s Ginger Cake.
I’m the winner !!!!
My dream birthday cake is a super chocolatey cheesecake. So dense and indulgent for a birthday! Actually, this was my wedding cake too!
Yummy
Wish I had seen this before my brother’s bday last month!! This is his fav and he wanted a homemade version.
Beautiful cake
Perfect cake is always confetti cake I have 3 kids and the colorful specks makes them happy. On the other hand I love fresh fruits and deciding which frosting to use is another thing.
My perfect birthday cake, might be a fruit tart! With blueberries, raspberries, kiwis that sorta thing
My favorite for birthday cake every year is chocolate cake with chocolate frosting! Doesn’t get better than that!
My perfect birthday cake would have to be absolutely loaded with chocolate!
Simple inside, no chunks or chips of chocolate or cinnamon for me. Most of all NO COCONUT! Thank you very much.
My perfect birthday cake would be a double chocolate with chocolate ganache all chocolate everywhere.
My family traditionally does ice cream cakes for birthdays, but this cake looks worthy of changing that tradition!