January is supposed to be about fresh starts, good intentions, and maybe drinking more water. Luckily, one of my most reliable habits is birthday cake. While the rest of the world is easing back into routines, I’m over here daydreaming about frosting swirls, that romantic wisp of candle smoke, and all the birthday cakes I want to bake for friends, family, and eventually… myself. Birthday cake is a human right. I will not be taking questions at this time.
Over the last decade-plus, we’ve baked more than a few birthday cakes around here — the classic, the creative, the no-bake, and the ones that require a little patience and a lot of sprinkles. This is a collection of my very best birthday cake recipes: cakes meant for gathering, for singing loudly off tune, for making a wish and blowing out the candles.
From timeless vanilla birthday cakes, cakes that call for the Bundt pan, to crepe cakes and icebox cakes, there’s something here for every kind of celebration. I hope you find a cake (or three) to mark the year ahead — because birthdays are coming whether we’re ready or not, and cake makes everything better.
Traditional Cake Recipes
Everybody’s Vanilla Birthday Cake
Let’s start with the classics: my best yellow cake recipe. This is a simple, moist and stacked classic birthday cake made in two round cake pans or a 9×13-inch sheet pan. It’s a sweet, velvety cake batter with a cute crumb, fluffy texture and plenty of vanilla extract. My favorite birthday cakes are topped with the best chocolate buttercream frosting and this vanilla cake is the perfect base.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2016/01/everybodys-birthday-cake/
Everybody’s Chocolate Birthday Cake
Where there is vanilla, let there be chocolate!! This cake recipe is so moist and decadent it’s a chocolate lovers DREAM! The chocolate frosting also has a healthy scoop of peanut butter (which you can totally skip if you prefer) that cuts the sweetness and adds a nice depth of flavor to the already bonkers cake. Is it even a birthday party without this chocolate cake? Maybe but barely.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2021/01/everybodys-birthday-cake-chocolate-peanut-butter/
Funfetti Birthday Bundt Cake
This is my aunt’s classic pound cake — rich with butter, sugar, and eggs — dressed up for a birthday party. A splash of almond extract (forever my favorite) gives it that bakery-case magic, while rainbow jimmies are folded right into the batter for maximum cheer. I like to tint a portion of the batter pink or sunny yellow, just enough to give the cake a little wink when you slice into it. The best part? No frosting, no stacking, no stress. This bundt is a total stunner and stays tender and celebratory for days — the kind of birthday cake that quietly steals the show.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2022/02/funfetti-birthday-bundt-cake/
The Distinguished Guests Birthday Cake
This cake comes from a 1934 cookbook I found while packing up my New Orleans house, which already tells you everything you need to know. It’s a fluffy white cake made extra light by folding in stiff egg whites, layered with an easy pecan caramel, and wrapped up in a swoon-worthy chocolate buttercream. It’s a bit of a project, yes — but the payoff is a truly special, old-school elegant birthday cake that feels celebratory, impressive, and very much worthy of the guest of honor.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2023/05/the-distinguished-guest-birthday-cake/
Angel Food Cake with Raspberry Rose Cream
I’ll quietly admit it: I love an angel food cake for my birthday. It’s a light, cloud-like pillow of a cake that offers absolutely zero resistance to the fork — just sweet air and ease. For me, the topping is everything, and it needs to be just as delicate as the cake itself. Enter softly whipped cream scented with rose and rippled with raspberry for the prettiest color and a gentle, floral fruitiness. It feels feminine, lovely for a spring birthday, and perfectly celebratory in a not-too-much kind of way. Bookmark this beauty for a warm-weather birthday cake moment.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2023/03/angel-food-cake-with-raspberry-cream/
The Perfect Chocolate Bundt Cake
I don’t fully understand the sorcery of this chocolate cake, but I trust it completely. Cocoa powder gets whisked with sugar, oil, and coffee, the batter comes together loose and easy, and somehow it bakes up into a moist, bouncy, deeply chocolatey bundt that feels like far more than the sum of its parts. This is an unfussy but deeply celebratory birthday cake. Just a simple shower of powdered sugar and a room full of people ready to cut in.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2024/01/the-perfect-chocolate-bundt-cake/
No-Bake & One-Pot Cake Recipes
Neapolitan Rice Krispie Treat No-Bake Birthday Cake
Too hot to bake? I put together this full layer cake without so much as pre-heating the oven! This no-bake cake is made with three different layers of sweet and stretchy Rice Krispie Treats. A chocolate layer, a vanilla layer, a strawberry layer all stack together to create a tall layer cake. Top with dots of buttercream and chocolate shavings and it’s a very happy summer birthday. This no-bake special is at the top of the list for best birthday cake recipes!
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2021/03/the-no-bake-neapolitan-birthday-cake/
One-Pot Neapolitan Sheet Cake Recipe
This sweet little birthday cake comes together right on the stovetop in a single pan, which already feels like a small miracle. The baked cake is topped with a trio of whipped creams — vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry — and if I’m being honest, the strawberry is the star for me. It’s pink, nostalgic, and turns my childhood dreams of Neapolitan ice cream into cake in the very best way. Easy, charming, and perfectly celebratory without trying too hard.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2020/04/one-pot-chocolate-sheet-cake/
Smaller Treats as a Birthday Cake
One of my biggest flexes as a baker is turning one stick of butter into TWELVE FROSTED CUPCAKES. Of course I’ve done it two ways for your preference:  Small Batch Vanilla Cupcakes and Small Batch Chocolate Cupcakes. The chocolate cupcakes have a secret ingredient: beets! Basically these cupcakes are salad. That’s how that works. Sprinkles and candles also required.
Non-Traditional Birthday Cake Recipes
Carrot Cake Birthday Cake
I consider this the only carrot cake recipe you’ll ever need. It’s packed with fresh carrots, pineapple, and walnuts and filled with plenty of cream cheese frosting. My parent’s had a Carrot Cake wedding cake (such a flex) but I love mine with a birthday candle and song!
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2022/01/the-perfect-carrot-cake-recipe/
Dede’s Strawberry Pistachio Doberge Birthday Cake
On the list of the many great things New Orleans has taught me is the Doberge Cake – a tall, six layer cake filled with two flavors of pudding and topped with two flavors of buttercream or cream cheese frosting. Lemon and chocolate is traditional for a classic Doberge but, seeing as I can’t leave well enough alone, I made this cake to refine the concept to my ideal flavor pairing. Talk about an impressive birthday cake! And – don’t stress about baking six perfect cake layers. We just bake three layers and slice each in half. And the pudding is zhooshed up store-bought pudding. We take ease when we can get it.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2021/03/dedes-strawberry-pistachio-doberge-cake/
Hummingbird CakeÂ
Not to be confused with carrot cake (though they are friendly cousins), hummingbird cake is made with ripe mashed bananas, warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, and often a hint of pineapple for extra moisture and sweetness. It’s tender, fragrant, and layered generously with rich cream cheese frosting — familiar, but just different enough to feel special. I might love it even more than a traditional carrot cake, and it makes an excellent, slightly unexpected cake recipe for anyone who wants something classic with a creative Southern twist.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2024/05/my-favorite-hummingbird-cake-has-a-secret-ingredient/
Chocolate Stout Cake with Raspberries and Cream
I’m deeply partial to this rich, single-layer chocolate cake — it was the base of our wedding cake a few years back — but it also makes a truly lovely birthday cake, especially in the colder months. Made with coffee and Guinness stout, the cake bakes up dense yet surprisingly tender and impossibly moist. I finish it with a barely sweet Swiss meringue buttercream and a scattering of fresh raspberries for lightness and contrast. It’s a winner of a cake, no matter when you choose to celebrate.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2024/12/wedding-cake-inspo-chocolate-stout-cake-with-raspberries-and-cream/
Texas Sheet Cake Recipe
You’ll find a Texas Sheet Cake at the dessert table of literally every Wilson family function for obvious reasons – that thin layer of cake fudge created when warm chocolate icing meets warm chocolate cake. This is the sort of cake leftovers we half-heartedly cover with foil, knowing full well we’re only five minutes away from sneaking back into the pan for a sliver. Also very important, and I cannot stress this enough: the knife stays in the cake pan. Modest but decadent, this is one of my favorite birthday cake recipes.
You might also like these fall-flavored variations of the classic Texas Sheet Cake: Brown Butter Pumpkin Texas Sheet Cake and Apple Cinnamon Texas Sheet Cake
Full recipe here:Â https://joythebaker.com/2021/02/texas-sheet-cake-recipe/
Chocolate Chip Cookie Birthday Cake
Birthday cookies? Absolutely yes! Use an electric mixer to combine a toasty browned butter mixture with dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) into a soft cookie dough. Add chocolate of course. This cookie cake is dotted with colorful buttercream frosting and finished with rainbow sprinkles. Pro Tip: line the bottom of the baking pan with parchment paper to ensure the cakes come out of the pan easily after baking.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2022/01/chocolate-chip-cookie-cake/
Grain, Gluten Free, & Dairy Free Cake Recipes
Sweet Laurel’s Grain-Free Chocolate Raspberry CakeÂ
This cake recipe is made with almond flour and maple syrup. I especially love the fresh raspberry puree layer but you could certainly substitute any fruit puree or jam you prefer. Passion fruit? YES.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2018/05/sweet-laurels-grain-free-chocolate-raspberry-cake/
Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Decadent Chocolate Cake
A cake recipe that calls for a GF flour blend and full-fat coconut milk to create a smooth and rich chocolate ganache. Top with cocoa nibs an extra crunch.
Full recipe here: https://joythebaker.com/2020/10/gluten-free-dairy-free-decadent-chocolate-cake/
Whether you’re loyal to a classic birthday cake recipe or feeling brave enough to try something new, I hope one of these cakes finds its way to your table. May your year be filled with candles to blow out, wishes worth making, and cake shared with people you love. Here’s to a very sweet year ahead — one slice at a time. xo
