How To Make The Best Birthday Cake

Tender sweet and festival festive .

This birthday cake is our go to and we have a few tricks to make it perfect .

Maybe you've made this from the box before .

But today if you want to up your game , you have come to the right place and after many tests and tons of sprinkles .

Oh my gosh .

So many sprinkles .

We've come up with the ultimate birthday cake for this recipe .

We want to bring all our ingredients up to room temperature to ensure we get a uniform batter , skipping the spark can cause your batter to break .

You could also end up with gummy spots and holes in your cake .

The yikes , if you press for time , you can speed up this process with a couple of tricks .

Cover the eggs with lukewarm water , make sure the water is not hot .

We do not want to cook them for milk .

You can micro it for 30 seconds and for the butter , you can fill a heatproof glass with hot water , pour it out and place the glass over the butter .

We do not recommend you to microwave your butter .

While our ingredients come to room temperature , we can prep our baking pans .

The most accurate way to do this is to place an eight inch cake pan on a parchment paper , trace circles , then cut it out .

You can also do the folding method featured in our chocolate cake video .

Check out the link in the description , it's really whatever you prefer .

Then spray your pan with cooking spray at the parchment circles and spray again .

This is going to ensure your cake comes out in one perfect piece .

Our pants are ready .

So let's make the batter .

We tested so many versions of this recipe and figured out three secrets to get our amazing birthday cake .

Our first trick is choose the right fat .

We landed on a combination of whole milk butter and sour cream .

This dynamite combo gives us a perfectly balanced tender rich and moist cake .

We'll add our sour cream , eggs and egg whites into a bowl , mix these then add vanilla extract and the milk .

A lot of white cake recipes to use egg white , but we're using whole eggs to add an extra layer of richness .

Our second trick was choosing the right flour .

We tested both all purpose flour and cake flour .

All purpose flour definitely works , but we like cake flour best because of its lighter and finer texture which gives us a more tender crumb .

And our last trick is the reverse creamy method .

We will add sugar to a bowl then sipped in our flour with the remaining dry ingredients .

This is important because it breaks up lumps of flour and adds air .

Always sift your flour and your lener together .

Place this on a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and give them a quick mix .

Slowly .

Add cubes of butter with the mixer running on .

Though typically , recipes will have you clean your butter and sugar together before adding other ingredients .

But we like this method because it helps us prevent gluten from forming , which ensures we get the tender cream we want , we'll do this until it resembles a dry , coarse sand like this .

Now we'll add in our wet ingredients slowly .

It's gonna take a bit of time but don't rush it .

And finally , it's time for sprinkles .

There are so many sizes , shapes and colors to choose from .

But when making a birthday cake , you gotta go with rainbow sprinkles gently fold in your sprinkles .

We like to do this by hand .

So we don't over mix our batter .

It's so beautiful .

It's like a party in your batter .

Pour the batter and your prepare baking pans and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 to 30 minutes or until an inserted tooth spit comes out clean .

Next , we're gonna set the cakes on a wire rack and let them cool completely .

It usually takes about an hour .

It has to be completely cooled before frosting or you'll have a melty mess on your hands while our cakes are cooling .

Let's make our frosting .

We tested cream cheese that felt it was overpowering .

We also tested Swiss Marine Butter Cream but found it to be too heavy .

Our favorite by far was the American buttercream .

It's light so it's easy to spread and it doesn't overpower the flavor of the cake with buttercream frosting .

It's really important to have your butter at room temperature .

Whip your butter until it turns creamy .

Then slowly add your powder sugar .

So it doesn't go everywhere .

It might get messy .

Here .

I like to add about a cup of powder sugar at a time .

Once that's fully incorporated .

Add in your cream vanilla extract salt and continue whipping .

This is called whipped butter cream .

Heavy cream makes the frosting lighter and fluffier than the traditional buttercream salt enhances the flavor .

Our butter cream looks so delicious .

Now , we can assemble our cake .

We're slice off the domed tops to make our cakes ready for stacking .

It's best to use a serrated knife air .

Now , for the icing on the cake , we'll add the icing on the cake first , add a thin layer of frosting onto the cake board to stabilize the first layer of the cake .

You can skip the cake board .

We just like it for an easier transportation .

Now , we'll add the first layer of cake and two scoops of frosting on top .

We like to use an ice cream scoop for an even layer of frosting .

And when in doubt add more frosting than you think .

It doesn't have to be perfect .

We're also using a cake wheel .

These are great because they spin and make your life so much easier .

When decorating a cake , we want to get a really smooth surface on the top .

So we like to place the third layer upside down .

Once the top layer is placed , we apply a crumb coat , which is basically a thin layer of icing that goes on top and around the side of the cake to seal in any crumbs .

This just primes the cake for an easier and cleaner decoration .

Let your cake chill in the fridge for 15 minutes and then we'll move on to my favorite part of decorating .

When it comes to frosting a cake , we like to start at the top and work our way down to the sides .

An offset spatula is your best friend here .

This is how you're going to set yourself up for success .

If decorating is not your strong suit , you can give your cake a revenge edge , use the tip of an offset spatula to run it up the side of the cake while spinning the cake wheel .

Do the same thing on the top .

Yeah , this works .

This , this looks nice , but we're not doing that .

We really want a smooth edge , a tip for this is dipping your spatula in hot water , then drying it with a towel and running it around your cake .

This helps melt the butter cream a little bit , which helps create a smooth finish .

If you're fancy and have a bench scraper , even better use it to finish smoothing the edges just like this .

Getting a perfectly smooth cake takes time and patience .

Just keep practicing .

And if you're extra like us , just pipe more frosting on the top because you can never have enough , you can really customize it however you want .

This is your work of art .

We like to keep the festivities going .

So we're adding some more sprinkles on the outside , on the sides and on the top .

Now it's time to party and eat .

If you want a perfect slice .

We recommend heating your knife or dipping it in hot water before slicing your cake .

You like to think this recipe takes the cake .

My birthday is July 5th in case anybody wants to make me a cake , you can find this recipe and many more on tasty dot co .

Oh , yes .