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!
Always a chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting for my birthday!
My absolute favorite birthday cake I ever made was for my husband and son, who nearly share a birthday. It was a chocolate cake with peanut buttercream frosting and chocolate peanut butter fudge filling from Smitten Kitchen. Both of the boys are drummers, so I decorated the cake to look like a snare drum, complete with fondant drum sticks!
I have a deep love for yellow cake with good, dark, fudgy frosting; but smitten kitchen’s Russian honey cake is my current favorite.
My perfect birthday cake is a chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Just thinking of it is making me want a slice!
My perfect birthday cake is all chocolate, preferably dark!!
Strawberry funfetti. Easily my favorite!
This is BEAUTIFUL! My choice would be vanilla cake and chocolate frosting piled high – the classics are best 🙂
Such a fun cake! And, happy birthday to your son!!
Lemon butter cream between layers of a white cake w blueberries….. made by my niece who is a bigtime Zoe baking groupie!!
I haven’t had a birthday cake but once since I left home. I think you should always have a birthday cake. Mine would be a malted chocolate cake with a beautiful decoration in chocolate with a delicate malted chocolate buttercream. With a side of vanilla ice cream. My goodness…
Normally I’m a vanilla cake girl but I made Molly Yeh’s Funfetti Cake recently and fell In love. Now I have to try the Bake From Scratch vanilla cake with sprinkles!
Me, I’m a huge sucker for a dark chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting. And, a surprise filling! ❤️
My perfect birthday cake has got to be classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting even though it is so simple and totally basic!
My perfect birthday cake is a double dark chocolate cake with strawberries or cherries (not the canned stuff).
My favorite is yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but I would never say no to anything with lemon curd.
I love the idea of the delicate pristine feather look with funfetti! I’m making a chocolate tart for a dinner thing, and I think I’m going to attempt some mini chocolate feathers to top it. Such a cool technique!
Zoe, I’m amazed. You are my favorite baker!
Hello. Stawberry cake is a favorite. Fresh strawberry puree and strawberries to top it off.
This cake it beautiful! So fun!
Favourite birthday cake would have to be flourless chocolate cake! Although any excuse for cake is great.
Your feathers and cake are beautiful!!
For my perfect birthday cake I like to go all out. So I’ll make a cake with a lot of layers, a lot of decoration and probable some more cakes. My favourite is a fresh lemon pie, decorated with fresh fruit 🙂 but for the other ones I could use some help from the book!
Although I’m a die hard chocolate fan, when it comes to cake, either carrot, lemon or funfetti are my favs! The new Bake from Scratch book looks amazing!
Funtastic cake!!. Perfect for my daughter’s bday.
She really loves ❤️ funfetti cake
My perfect birthday cake as an adult (sort of) would be some kind of lemon and coconut cake. Light and refreshing but so so satisfying! My all time favorite birthday cake I’ve had to do date though is still the vanilla fingertip cake my grandma baked for my 7th birthday. The cake was an intricately decorated Barbie skirt and it was beautiful!
I will make this cake the next time I bake!