Happy Birthday to Me!

If you follow me on twitter or Facebook, then I’m sure that you’re aware that my birthday was this past Sunday.

I mean, I wasn’t shy about talking about it.

I can’t help it; I am a firm believer that everyone should feel amazing and special and important and loved on their birthday.

I. Love. Birthdays. All birthdays. It doesn’t matter who’s special day it is, I love them!  Really, how can you not love birthdays??

There’s cake. Any day that has cake is bound to be a good one.

Then there’s presents. Hello? What day involving presents isn’t something to look forward to?!

If it’s my birthday, then bright colors, sparkly tiaras, and girliness also happen to abound. I  have zero qualms about throwing myself a par-tay.

My favorite thing every year is planning my birthday cake. I typically pick a theme (maybe based on a favorite thing of mine, or maybe based on something simple like a color combo) and go from there. Sometimes, my cake is elaborate and geektastic, and sometimes, there’s a surprise inside, but one thing you can usually always count on is that I want something sweet, fun, and girly.

This year, I wanted a simple and rustic cake, but I also wanted it to be completely festive and happy. I think my pretty chocolate layer cake, lavender frosting (vanilla buttercream), and lovely little ribbon banner gave me exactly what I hoped for.

This was one of those cakes that, when I was all done assembling it, I stepped back, tilted my head, stared for a second, then clapped my hands, did a hoppy little happy dance, and giggled like a toddler. I was completely smitten with my cake. Completely.

And the very best part was how simple and easy it was to achieve such a wonderful little cake. (Well, the very best part was that it was my birthday and I got pretty presents and chocolate cake, but still…)

I made a simple chocolate cake for my birthday this year. My favorite recipe is the one I use for my Salted Caramel Mocha Cupcakes, so I made three 6-inch layers. I always prefer small, happy little cakes to big, overwhelming ones.

In fact, each of my birthday cakes that I’ve posted on Bakingdom, so far, have been deceptively small. This one was no exception.

My cakes came out relatively domed, so I leveled the tops out quickly, using a bread knife.

It’s important to level any cake, but was particularly important here, since I wasn’t going to completely cover the cake in frosting.

When you assemble this style of cake, you can fill it however you like, but I wanted mine to look slightly frilly, so I used a large star tip to add a border to each layer and some filling in the middle.

Next, I spread the frosting in the center out to fill it in, but left the frilly edges as-is. When I stacked the layers, I was careful not to damage the piping, but once each layer was in place, I pressed it down ever so slightly.

For the top layer, after spreading the frosting, I used my small offset spatula to create a simple swirl design to give it a more finished look. Then I added a small rosette and my happy birthday banners.

The banners were super simple to make. All I did was glue strips of ribbon (about 2-inches long, each) onto bakers twine. Next, I tied the twine to long skewers. I prefer odd numbers, so I did a total of five skewers to be spaced around that cake. I think that it looked best, in the end; any more would have been far too busy, and less wouldn’t have achieved the same roundness that I got with five. Obviously, you could do more for a larger cake, but for my 6-inch round layer cake, five skewers were just right.

When adding the skewers, I tilted them out slightly to give the whole cake a fuller, more whimsical look. Finally, I finished everything of with some pretty yellow pearl sprinkles and tall, festive candles.

I say it every year, but I’m pretty sure this is my favorite cake I’ve ever made myself. From the tip of each skewer to the very bottom crumb, everything about this cake makes me happy, giddy, and smily. I felt so special getting to have this cake for my birthday, I don’t know how I’ll ever want a different kind of birthday cake ever again.

This cake truly made me feel as though all of my wishes will come true.

Tagged as: Birthday Banner, Birthday Cake, Cakes, Chocolate, Chocolate Cake, Frosting, Girly, Happy Birthday, Pretty, Simple Cake