Birthday Cake recipe needed :)

Hi all, does anyone have a really fab recipe for a birthday cake? My little guy is turning 1 on the 18th and Im making a cake this Saturday for his grandparents because they're going out of town. Any and all kinds and flavor ideas welcome!

All you experienced mamas...Nobody has a cake recipe? common ladies!!

[emmalouise]

I made this one for M about a month ago - it was approved of by both adults and kids.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/fo...ROSTING-109131 - I followed the advice of the reviewer who used dark chocolate for the frosting and then beat in less butter and thickened it with confectioner's sugar instead.

I also made this frosting, so I could colour it green:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/fo...ERCREAM-109049 - I made this with far less butter than the recipe called for as well, but only put that on the rehearsal cake in the end - I think the cake tastes great with either frosting.

It ended up being a LOT of butter, altogether - even when I made substantial cuts (maybe 1/3 less for each frosting?). So I made the slices pretty thin!!

thanks! that sounds great!! i like the green frosting idea our nickname for Josiah when he was in the womb was, Turtle (my dd thought thats what the picture looked like!) so maybe I can do the green cake and find a little plastic turtle to put on top! mmmm, thanks for the idea!

[emmalouise]

No worries! I made green frosting because M wanted an "earthquake cake" with a big crack in the middle of a field, with a road running though the field, with sheep and cars falling into the crack.

[crunchymum]

Originally Posted by Mumof2Wee1s

All you experienced mamas...Nobody has a cake recipe? common ladies!!

lol, my recipe is called "duncan hines any flavor you want" i asked all my professional baker friends and they all say you can't really improve on the box mixes, unless you want a heavier cake. the butter recipe kind are my favorite. and they turn out perfect every time.

now, the frosting.... my FAVORITE ever is a swiss buttercream frosting. thank you martha stewart. but it takes like 2 lbs of butter to frost 1 cake. i love it though because it is easy for me to work with and is not too sweet. i also like italian buttercream. but in a pinch i just use a regular buttercream butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. i don't use a recipe, though. i just start with a stick of butter and add the milk and sugar in little bits alternating until it's the right amount and consistency. oh, and my MIL makes an amazing frosting with butter, cream cheese, and crisco added to the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. it's soooooo yummy!

[nadezhda]

I've made many, many types of b-day cakes, but I think my family's favorite is a white Texas sheet cake recipe made in a 9X13 pan.  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/White-T...ail.aspx  It's easy enough to alter to suit your tastes (I usually use vanilla instead of almond & make a buttercream frosting for b-days).  Just bake it a bit longer at a slightly lower temp when using the 9x13 pan.

ETA: You already had the party! How'd it go? Did your little guy like his cake?

Crunchymum - I dont mind a bit of butter (or a couple of pounds!!) for special occasions!

nadezha - LOL no worries...the cake I did turned out fine...it was a banana cake with banana cream frosting ( you see the theme here?? )

Thanks for responding ladies...

[crunchymum]

sounds yummy!!!!

[nadezhda]

Mmmm, banana cake....