PrintCelebrating birthdays!
Just a fun question.
My birthday is coming up, and I've been thinking about the type of birthday cake I want. How do you celebrate and what are your favorites? With ice cream or without (or perhaps the best of both worlds, an ice cream cake)? What kind of frosting?
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25 Comments:
I recently had a birthday and my BF ventured into the kitchen to bake me a cake. It came out really great - which was surprising - not because he's a lousy cook but because he "winged" so much of the recipe, I was surprised it worked! He made a cake from the back of the Soft as Silk flour box and added Kahlua. For icing he made a mixture of whipped cream, Kahlua and Nutella. He didn't have any decorating icing so he "etched" my name on the cake with a toothpick! It was very yummy and it was nice to have a cake baked for me for a change.
When we were growing up, my mother had ice cream cakes for us every year. It was a decade before I could even go near an ice cream cake again.
A simple strawberry shortcake makes a great birthday cake and they're not difficult - but so good.
If anyone baked me any cake out of The Cake Bible, I'd be honored...LOL.
chiff0nade at 9:11AM on 02/05/08
Oh my goodness--another ice cream cake hater! Because my birthday was in July, and she was concerned about my weight (I think she thought that the fact that ice cream cakes are as hard to cut as concrete would slow me down) I always got an ice cream cake. How I longed for the icing flowers on proper cakes...
Now that I've outgrown that phase, however, I must admit I'd probably love a chocolate cake. My favorite cake of all time was dark chocolate cake, iced with chocolate fluffy mousse, shaved dark chocolate, and fresh pitted cherries (like Black Forest Cake, sans whipped cream).
HeartofGlass at 9:54AM on 02/05/08
My daughter has me a coconut cake from scratch for the last two years. She's only 15! I love ice cream cakes especially the mint chocolate chip roll cakes from Baskin Robbins. It was a treat to get one of those because my single dad didn't have a lot of money raising four kids without child support. So those cakes bring back a lot of memories.
evilchefmom at 10:50AM on 02/05/08
Last year I had the best birthday cake ever (from Dufflet for any Torontonians) - alternating layers of banana cake and chocolate cake, with chocolate icing.
Personally I would rather have my cake and ice cream on separate plates, unless it is a molten-style cake.
wellred at 10:55AM on 02/05/08
I guess I should answer my own question. I love ice cream cakes--particularly the ones from DQ with the chocolate crunchy layer in the middle. Yum! My friend got one from Cold Stone a few years ago and it was really good--I think it was coffee flavored.
I also like coconut cakes, though I probably wouldn't want it on my birthday. I prefer spice cakes with a cream cheese icing, or angel food cake for that!
Lastly, my boyfriend introduced me to a little frozen yogurt restaurant that also makes the BEST (seriously) cookie cakes. They are so bad for you, but they taste so so good.
I'm thinking I'll go for the ice cream cake this year...
luswim06 at 11:04AM on 02/05/08
I request the same cake every year from my mother: red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I only have it once a year, for my birthday, which makes it that much more special. Not to mention she's an awesome baker... :)
I don't care if I'm 27 years old and shouldn't be begging for birthday cakes from my mom anymore. It's too good to give up! ;)
sheeats at 11:38AM on 02/05/08
never had anyone make me a cake but if they did it would probably be strawberry shortcake with homemade angelfood cake.
huney_bumper at 12:03PM on 02/05/08
I haven't had a cake made or bought for my birthday in years...my mom always made me strawberry shortcake and she made the shortcake from Bisquick mix, yet it was really light and with a twinge of sweetness. She made extra juice from the fresh berries to really soak into the shortcake. Yum. If I didn't have this, it was usually a warm apple or cherry pie a la mode! Vanilla ice cream please.
radley24 at 12:16PM on 02/05/08
Awww...huney_bumper....everyone should have a cake made for them for their birthday! I wish I could make one for you!
I make a cake & dinner for everyone in my extended world for their b'day....if they so desire. This past November we had a belated b'day for the best man in our wedding, and my brother's b'day in the same week-end....I called it the "pork & cake" week-end because we had ribs & chocolate cake w/peanut butter frosting on Sat., and ham & carrot cake w/cream cheese frosting on Sun.
This week I'm making my dad's b'day dinner & cake.....It. sausage w/peppers & onions for dinner, along with homemade spice cake & cream cheese frosting for dessert. I'm also firing up the ice cream maker for some homemade banana ice cream.
Personally, I'm kinda bland I guess....I love white cake & frosting, with or without coconut on the outside...although I do like alittle jam in the middle....preferably black raspberry.
mepolo at 12:41PM on 02/05/08
We also get to pick out what we want for dinner and dessert for our birthdays. Almost everyone in my family picks out the four-layer dessert. It has a shortbread-like crust, then a cream cheese and powdered sugar layer, then chocolate pudding layer, then topped with Cool Whip. It is light, but good. German Chocolate cakes or Italian Cream cakes are good for birthdays, also!
fruitpie at 1:06PM on 02/05/08
I'm in the same boat huney_bumper. No one to bake me a cake. My SO doesn't like desserts so it's definitely not coming from that direction! He did go to Zingerman's Bakehouse last Nov. for my bday and got me two different kinds of chocolate cake. That was special and they were both awesome and decadent. (and I ate them both myself for several days!)
When I was a kid, my special request for bday from my mommie (who was an awesome cook and baker) was graham cracker cake. She would ice it with that fluffy 7- minute icing that was just like marshmallows from a cloud in heaven. Then she always melted chocolate covered caramels and drizzled that over it and sprinkled it with chopped walnuts. OMG..... I recently found her cake recipe when going through things for our move last year. So tempted to make it but I would have to eat it entirely myself. It was a nice walk down memory lane though.
frederika at 2:02PM on 02/05/08
My mother always used to make be a chocolate cake, with different icings every time that I changed my fancy (which was often over the years). Betty Crocker, so nothing fancy, but I loved them. I think that it was the time and effort that she actually took to bake something, rather then buy it that always made me happy. She does it now, when I let her.
I think, though, that I would have to say that it's a toss-up between a nice rich chocolate cake with a very thin chocolate glaze. Or gingerbread cake with a vanilaa glaze. I have never been huge on large amounts of icing. I usually would just scrape it off. I much prefer the glazes.
Traveller at 4:33PM on 02/05/08
I honestly don't remember when I had a cake baked for my birthday...it was many moons ago, and my Mum baked it, that much I can tell, but since my Mum passed away when I was 17, I've been pretty much cake-less for my birthdays ever since. Well, my co-workers once bought me a cake, among other things, when they threw me a surprise birthday party at work, and it was very sweet (pun intended:-)), although I don't remember now what kind it was.
We usually go out for my birthdays though, so I get a dessert I want anyway:-). But if I were to ask for a birthday cake... in general, I like cakes that are light and mousse-y. One of my favourite cakes is a tri-chocolate mousse cake, so I'd probably ask for it. Although I'd be perfectly happy with a key lime pie, too:-).
brooke29 at 4:52PM on 02/05/08
I get my self a birthday cake from my local bakery which my parents pay for but I am old enough to pick -out!! I go out to breakfast an dinner with friends or family..I love my birthday its my day an of course anyone born on that day!!!! I
rabbitriddle at 5:04PM on 02/05/08
I love cheesecake on my birthday!
JEP at 6:39PM on 02/05/08
JEP, I also love cheesecake for my birthday! So does my mom, so for a few of my teenage years we traded off - I would make her a cheesecake for her birthday, and she would make me one for mine. Though one year I requested a raspberry cheesecake, and she had such a time straining the seeds from the raspberries that the next year I got a yellow cake with buttercream frosting, which in my book is nearly as good.
woodenspoon at 11:13PM on 02/05/08
I've made home-made ice cream cakes before, and they are so much better than the store bought! They are pretty simple too. I always bake cakes for my friends and family for the parties that I throw. Not necessarily from scratch, (sometimes) but I always use mayo instead of eggs in the cakes! Happened by accident one year (about 3 hours before the party, I realized no eggs in sight!) my good friend just said to add a tablespoon of mayo for each egg that was called for, and it would be fine. I tell ya - best most moist cake ever!
I think my favorite scratch cake was the Milky Way Cake from my Disney cookbook.....so fantastic, but not good for hot weather - the melted chocolate "frosting" is real messy when it's hot out!
Maleficent_fan at 11:58PM on 02/05/08
brooke29 ... I'll bake you that cake and mail it. When is your birthday? ;)
PerkyMac at 12:06AM on 02/06/08
thank you for the though mepolo but i look at it this way, think of all the calories i'm saving (wink)
huney_bumper at 1:22PM on 02/06/08
Aww Perky, thanks! Too bad my birthday is in October:-)
brooke29 at 1:37PM on 02/06/08
frederika that cake sounds amazing, care to share the recipe?
sustarz at 2:53PM on 02/06/08
Strawberry shortcake, made with angel food cake, in real layers like real cake with fresh whipped cream and sliced lightly sweetened strawberries. Light as a feather and delicious.
I like regular cake, but I hate, hate, hate frosting and methodically remove every spec of it when I find myself in situations when I have to at least take a bite of it. The only exception to this is the frosting on the lemon cupcakes at Buttercup Bakery in Manhattan.
chisai at 6:01PM on 02/06/08
you've got it sustarz - I promise I will look for it tomorrow. Mom and Gram's cookbooks are packed up in the basement. I've never had anything like it. The cake could be a derivative of the Hungarian Dobos Torte but without the extra effort of all the layers. This is really bad, I'm talking myself into making it now.
The other family favorite that was made for my Dad and I made for my kids' birthdays was the Hershey's Chocolatetown Special cake with buttermilk. Very moist and flavorful.
I must admit that I and my group of girlfriends cannot pass on wedding cake. That white cake with the almondy, slightly coconuty flavor and scent is absolutely cakegasmic. I sometimes make candles and I found "wedding cake" scent on a candlemaking website. I could not resist. When we met before Christmas for dinner I took the candles in gift bags and made them sniff before they looked or opened. Their eyes all rolled back in their heads and sigh.... Anyone else have that wedding cake weakness?
frederika at 9:16PM on 02/06/08
i made two cakes for my birthday last year {it was a milestone birthday and i deserved it.} pumpkin spice and a new york style cheesecake. this year i think i'll make banana.
cybercita at 12:07AM on 02/07/08
sustarz - here you go - there are no actual directions so I would recommend the traditional creaming, then adding dry and wet ingred alternately then folding in the whites at the end. It should make a 9x13 sheet cake or two 9" layers. 350 degrees for 30 min. (less if layers)
Graham Cracker Cake
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
2 cups fine graham cracker crumbs
2 T. flour
1/4 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
1 cup milk
1 t. vanilla
1/2 - 1 cup finely chopped nuts (usually walnut, but you could use pecans)
3 stiffly beaten egg whites
You can make life simple by dusting with powder sugar, ice with chocolate ganache or my all-time favorite for this cake is the fluffy 7 minute icing.
If you do the cooked icing, hook yourself up with some chocolate covererd caramels and melt them to drizzle over the top in beautiful big globs then throw some more chopped nuts on top and enjoy compliments of me and my mommie.
P.S. This is also easily doubled for large events. I can remember mom doing that and baking in a large broiler pan for parties.
frederika at 4:36PM on 02/07/08