Easy Birthday Cake Recipes

Surprise the guest of honor with a homemade birthday cake by preparing one of these fluffy, fruity, frozen or chocolatey confections. 

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Simple Birthday Cake with Marshmallow Frosting

Sour cream gives this white layer cake a tender crumb while chunks of semisweet chocolate offer a contrasting texture. Crowned with a cloud of marshmallow frosting, this recipe is simple yet sure to please.

Get the Recipe: Simple Birthday Cake with Marshmallow Frosting

Ice Cream and Cookie Dough Layer Cake

Ice cream cakes aren't just for kids anymore. Alternate layers of custard-style ice cream, chocolate cake and raw chocolate chip cookie dough for a birthday dessert that's as playful as it is indulgent.

Get the Recipe: Ice Cream and Cookie Dough Layer Cake

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Ina Garten's chocolate cake has a subtle mocha flavor thanks to the cup of freshly brewed coffee in the batter, but our favorite part of this recipe is the thick chocolate buttercream icing on top of the cake and between its layers.

Get the Recipe: Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Totally Surprised Birthday Cake

This cake delivers a tart shock to the taste buds with its fresh lemon filling hidden between vanilla-laced layers. Cover it with smooth vanilla frosting and macerated berries and serve it for a fruit lover's special day.

Get the Recipe: Totally Surprised Birthday Cake

Ice Cream Cake

Serve this decadent dessert with a warm drizzle of chocolate, butterscotch or caramel sauce for an elegant twist on the store-bought ice cream cake.

Get the Recipe: Ice Cream Cake

Salted Caramel Icebox Cake

Alternating caramel and chocolate stripes make this revamped retro treat both tasty and pretty to behold. Make your own wafers to add a personal culinary touch.

Get the Recipe: Icebox Cake

Lemon Pound Cake

This rich and tangy pound cake makes for a refreshing dessert on an ordinary weeknight or, when placed on a pretty pedestal stand, a perfect birthday treat.

Get the Recipe: Lemon Pound Cake

Chocolate Chip Layer Cake

This cake was developed with the beloved flavors of a chocolate chip cookie in mind. Regular chips are too large for the cake, so be sure to use miniature ones. Enjoy a slice with a scoop of coffee ice cream.

Get the Recipe: Chocolate Chip Layer Cake

Coffee Angel Food Cake

Coffee lovers will find it hard to resist this angel food cake with shots of espresso in the batter and in the sweet, dripping glaze. Serve with vanilla frozen yogurt for a look that is reminiscent of a frothy cappuccino.

Get the Recipe: Coffee Angel Food Cake

Devil's Food Cake with Dulce de Leche Frosting

Birthday cake unveils its wild side within these sinfully rich devil's food layers that are enveloped in a frothy whipped dulce de leche frosting.

Get the Recipe: Devil's Food Chocolate Cake with Dulce De Leche Frosting

Ice Cream Birthday Cake

Kelsey shows how by combining store-bought ingredients –– crumbled chocolate wafers, vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet and pound cake –– you can create a gourmet-tasting frozen birthday treat. A gooey fudge topping adds a final celebratory touch.

Get the Recipe: Ice Cream Birthday Cake

Boston Cream Pie

Despite what it's called, this "pie" is actually a cake. One theory on how it got its name: In 19th-century Boston where it originated, the layers were baked in pie tins, which were more common than cake pans.

Get the Recipe: Boston Cream Pie

Florence's Orange Cake

This dense cake gets its vibrant flavor from fresh orange zest and an irresistibly tangy orange glace drizzle.

Get the Recipe: Florence's Orange Cake

Lorie's Ultimate Coconut Cream Pie

Put a tropical spin on a classic birthday treat with an ivory pie that delivers coconut flavor four ways. The fluffy filling is infused with coconut milk and extract, cream of coconut and shredded coconut for ample island-inspired flavor.

Get the Recipe: Lorie's Ultimate Coconut Cream Pie

Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake

Buttermilk adds extra moisture to this towering peanut butter and chocolate confection. Process peanut butter cups into a powder and sprinkle them between each layer of milk chocolate frosting for the full nutty effect.

Get the Recipe: Smith Island Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Cake

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