Our favourite birthday cake recipes 🎂 perfect for your next celebration
From chocolate showstoppers, to easy one-bowl traybakes, we've got the perfect birthday cake recipe for your upcoming celebration.
It isn't a birthday without cake, and we've rounded up our favourite recipes to get your party started. Whether you're a novice baker, or looking to show-off with a multi-tiered masterpiece, we've got you covered with our best birthday cake recipes.
Whipped caramel chocolate cake
The whipped caramel ganache icing takes it to the next level.
Recipe: Whipped caramel chocolate cake
Rainbow Funfetti Loaf Cake
We’ve used a pinprick of purple food colouring to neutralise the yellow colour of the buttercream, making it appear whiter. The sprinkle selection is vital here to avoid clumping or bleeding, make sure to use a bake-stable variety (it will say so on the description).
Recipe: Rainbow Funfetti Loaf Cake
Toasted coconut cake
You don’t need any fancy equipment to assemble this easy cake.
Recipe: Toasted coconut cake
Jamaican ginger cake
We’ve taken the much loved spiced loaf and turned it into a showstopper cake.
Recipe: Jamaican ginger cake
Victoria sponge traybake
Victoria sponge cake is a classic bake for any big occasion, including a birthday celebration. This traybake version slices up into neat squares and goes further than a normal round cake.
Recipe: Victoria sponge traybake
Chocolate peanut butter and jam cake
We’ve taken this chocolate cake to the next level by topping it with peanut praline crumble and raspberries.
Recipe: Chocolate peanut butter and jam cake.
Chocolate marble cake
This showstopper chocolate marble cake is well worth the time and effort.
Recipe: Chocolate marble cake
Three-ingredient chocolate cake
This light cake is like a set mousse – you can even hear the bubbles pop as you slice it! We recommend using Green & Black’s chocolate, as it has the right percentage of cocoa solids.
Recipe: Three-ingredient chocolate cake
Chocolate fudge cake
Our easiest-ever fudge cake is made all in one pan.
Recipe: Chocolate fudge cake
Chocolate Cake Tray Bake
A chocolate traybake perfect for a birthday cake, celebration cake or something for a bake sale; it's a total crowd-pleaser!
Recipe: Chocolate Cake Tray Bake
Chocolate checkerboard cake
This showstopper of a cake is easier to master than you think.
Recipe: Chocolate checkerboard cake
Milk chocolate cake
This easy chocolate cake recipe is hard to resist and take just 35 minutes to prepare. A perfect cake recipe for birthdays or any special occasion.
Recipe: Milk chocolate cake
Chocolate and peanut butter poke cake
This is an easy tray bake cake - but it's also a poke cake, which means you poke holes into the sponge and top it with chocolate sauce to make it extra moist. Plus, it's topped with Reese's Cups, so what's not to like?
Black Forest gateau
Black Forest Gateau is a classic recipe from Germany made with kirsch, chocolate and cherries. It's a timeless cake that would be perfect for a birthday or any other special occasion.
Recipe: Black Forest gateau
Hot chocolate fudge cake
Decadent and chocolatey, this hot chocolate fudge cake has a boozy twist with an Irish cream drizzle.
Recipe: Hot chocolate fudge cake
Carrot cake
For some, carrot cake reigns above all other sponges. Here’s one of our favourite recipes for a carrot cake lover’s birthday.
Recipe: Carrot cake
Walnut whip cake
Perfect for a birthday or celebration, this walnut whip layer cake takes all the elements of a walnut whip and turns them into a delectable dessert.
Recipe: Walnut whip cake
Lemon and poppy seed buttermilk cake
A true afternoon-tea classic – buttermilk gives this cake extra body and moisture
Banoffee cake
For lovers of bannoffee pie, this is a birthday cake with their name written on it!
Recipe: Banoffee cake
Red Velvet Cake
Red velvet cake traditionally used boiled sweets or beetroot to dye the cake its red-brown colour, but we’ve used food colouring for speed and ease.
Recipe: Red Velvet Cake
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).Â
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