Wow, has it really been a whole year already? Feels like just a few weeks have passed since I posted that very first story about overhauling that vintage, cast iron bread slicer.

Well, thank you for keeping up with all my babble for the last year. Grab a piece of birthday cake and let’s celebrate.

Birthday Cake was a huge surprise for me, btw. A few years back, I talked to a friend and she mentioned having to make a Birthday Cake for her kid. I asked “what kind?” and she answered “Birthday Cake”. Here in Germany, a birthday cake is just a cake for a birthday and it can be anything, from an elaborate Black Forest Cherry Cake to a simple sheet cake. I had no idea that in the US, Birthday Cake was a flavor! 🤯

It isn’t anything complicated, just a vanilla sponge with sprinkles. While my friend’s cake looked fun, it was made from a box mix and loaded with shady ingredients, which aren’t exactly my thing. I wanted to celebrate with a fun cake, so let’s celebrate, but properly. With a homemade from scratch Birthday Cake.

For a 20cm / 7.5 – 8 inch cake you need:

• 200g cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100g sugar
• 100g soft butter
• pinch of salt
• 150g egg (3 medium)
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 50g sprinkles

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C / 340F (fan off!). Prep your cake pan, either with parchment or a spraying of non-stick.

Throw all the ingredients except the sprinkles into a bowl and mix them into a smooth batter. Fold in the sprinkles, fill the batter into the cake pan and bake your cake for about 30 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the cake should come out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan, then take it out and slice it twice horizontally.

For the cream filling you need:

• 200g milk
• 200g whipping cream
• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar
• a bit of vanilla
• 1 heaped tsp guar gum (if you can’t get guar gum, use 400g cream instead of the milk and cream mix and add 1 Tbsp cornstarch as stabilizer)

• another 50g sprinkles for decoration

Mix the sugar with the guar gum or cornstarch, then mix the dairy with the vanilla. Start whipping the cream mix, then add the sugar mix and keep whipping until you get soft peaks.

Cover the bottom layer of the cake with the cream filling, place the middle cake layer on top, then repeat with cream, the last layer of cake and more cream. Make sure to leave some cream and cover the outside of the cake with the rest. The whole cake should be covered.

Sprinkle the sprinkles all over the cake and place it in the fridge for an hour. The guar gum will firm up the cream filling further and stabilize it, keep it from getting runny.

And then, enjoy a slice with friends and coffee!