The very best birthday cake recipe (to bake for one's own bday)? Looking for something moist and delicious with sweet frosting and more than one layer, preferably.

Question

Jamie · Answer

ina knows best: i have made this chocolate cake for myself and others countless times and i have never felt the need to find another recipe because it is perfect. cake is my favorite dessert and chocolate is my favorite flavor, so this is really saying something. the only adjustment i would even contemplate is a different frosting if you want contrast with the cake flavor, but i also adore the one in the recipe as-is! this is also one of the only cake recipes i turn to often that is not from my queen, Sally’s Baking

Sophie · Answer

Double Chocolate Layer Cake, Deb Perelman’s edit: my go to birthday cake for grownups. For a dinner party “just a small slice” crowd, I make a 2/3 recipe for 3 tall layers in a 5” cake pan. It’s not too sweet, the secret ingredient is hot coffee. Use the good stuff. Having a set of three spring form cake pans of the same size makes this a very convenient bake. It’s been simplified to a one bowl recipe so you 100% have to sift the cocoa. Don’t mess around! Cream cheese frosting instead of ganache is also a big time saver because it’s much easier to ice.

Cristina Sciarra · Answer

Chocolate cake: I wrote this recipe a decade + ago and it’s still my go-to chocolate cake recipe. For vanilla, you want the buttermilk vanilla cake from Yossi Arefi’s Snacking Cakes—which is a genius book in general. For frostings/fillings, flip through Nicola Lamb’s Sift (or Substack) and Natasha Pickowicz‘s More Than Cake. Store bought jam, lemon curd, and caramel are useful shortcuts!