Birthday cake recipes?

June 22, 2021 5:39 AM

I need to make a cake for a friend. I'm looking for interesting/historical/non-American cake recipes. Some preferences below.

Preferences (not set in stone):

- no or minimal chocolate
- taste is more important than visual aesthetics/construction, if it comes down to it.
- complex/unusual flavors are welcome
- maybe a historical recipe? (e.g. war cake, sambocade or one of Emily Dickinson's cakes)
- or, a non-american recipe


and for my own sanity, it shouldn't take too much effort/time to produce - not more than a day (preferably just an afternoon?).

Please share any recipes or ideas that you think might fit!

posted by aielen to Food & Drink (24 answers total)

Non-American (at least, I think it's a specifically British thing), no chocolate, taste is excellent, low effort: lemon drizzle cake? Lends itself to variations, e.g. raspberry lemon drizzle cake.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 5:54 AM on June 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

This lavender lemon cake is somewhat unusual in flavor - and delicious. I made it as one of several cakes for my daughter's wedding (at her specific request). Don't know that it's historical but it is quite lovely and easy to make.
posted by leslies at 5:54 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

If they like clementines, I love nigella's clementine cake, and as a bonus your home smells amazing when boiling the clementines.
posted by TheAdamist at 5:59 AM on June 22, 2021 [9 favorites]

You could make a Marie Antoinette cake. It's rose and pistachio flavored (no chocolate at all), inspired by history and Paris, and shouldn't take more than an afternoon to bake and assemble. Bonus: it's beautiful and sounds super tasty to me.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 6:00 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

This cardamom cream cake by Melissa Clark (NY Times, or non-paywalled at the Seattle Times) was a huge hit at a friend's birthday a few years back.
posted by minervous at 6:01 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Spekkoek (lapis legit) is delicious; it's a bit work-intensive but shouldn't take more than an afternoon to make.
posted by neushoorn at 6:04 AM on June 22, 2021

There are a variety of interesting and tasty recipes in Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They are all based on Depression-era recipes where dairy was less available so baking soda and vinegar formed the rising agent, and they come out fluffy (not angel food cake fluffy, but not the bricks lots of people associate with vegan baking - just regular cake consistency) and tasty. You can pour the batter into a cake pan to bake instead of into a cupcake pan. You can also un-veganify them by using dairy milk if you or your grocery budget so desire. (Do use apple cider vinegar as directed rather than substituting out for a different vinegar, though - the tang doesn't show up in a directly noticeable way in the end product, but is crucial for the overall flavor balance.) The best part: some of them can get fancy with the frosting, but the batter itself take 5-10 minutes to mix in all cases, and baking takes 20-30 minutes. So they won't take all afternoon!
posted by eviemath at 6:22 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

This take on the German bee sting cake (bienenstich) is delicious. It's a yeasted cake filled with pastry cream and topped with a honey almond crunch.
posted by twelve cent archie at 6:52 AM on June 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

From Sweden, Prinsesstårta or Princess Cake, a delicious dome of white cake, custard, whipped cream, and raspberry jam, all covered with marzipan!
posted by QuakerMel at 7:09 AM on June 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

Speaking of German, how about blitz torte? Although my mother, whose grandfather and grandmother emmigrated from Sweden and whose childhood was very much among Swedes and Swedish-Americans, thought that it was Swedish.

I've made bakewell tarts and they've gone over well.

If you interpret "cake" a bit loosely (and if it's summer where you are) a summer pudding or individual pavlovas might be nice on a hot day.
posted by Frowner at 7:13 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

My search for a recipe for Princess Cake led me to this Wikipedia article, which is a fairly comprehensive list of cakes sortable by country of origin and distinctive ingredients.
posted by QuakerMel at 7:17 AM on June 22, 2021

In Denmark, one almost always has a Lagkage -- layered cake for birthdays. Lagkage kan be what you want it to be. I prefer a light and fresh version, with lots of fresh strawberries or whatever fruit is in season, and with no sugar in the whipped cream.
posted by mumimor at 7:18 AM on June 22, 2021

I haven't tried this version of Lithuanian honey cake (mine is in an old paperback cookbook), but it's a thing. (I was told mine is a lot like Jewish honey cake, so there's another search term for you).
posted by FencingGal at 7:20 AM on June 22, 2021

What about another Swedish cake--a savory Sandwich Cake? I want to make a smörgåstårta the next time I'm able to host an open house.
posted by QuakerMel at 7:24 AM on June 22, 2021

Pavlova, named after the dancer and popular in Australia and New Zealand. Layers of meringue, whipped cream and fresh fruit.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 7:29 AM on June 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

If someone were making me a special cake for my birthday, I think I'd ask for a vegan dacquoise. Dacquoise are also generally gluten-free.
posted by QuakerMel at 7:39 AM on June 22, 2021

My vote is totally for tres leches. Unless of course they're relatively common in your day-to-day.
posted by stormyteal at 8:01 AM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Some cakes beloved in Canada - the Queen Elizabeth Cake, Jeanne Cake (cake created for the Queen when she visited Winnipeg) and maybe Pouding Chomeur (which is like a weird cake / bread pudding hybrid).
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:17 AM on June 22, 2021

If they like clementines, I love nigella's clementine cake, and as a bonus your home smells amazing when boiling the clementines.

If the historical/cultural aspect is something you’re looking for, it’s worth noting that this kind of orange and almond cake is a Sephardi Jewish thing, part of the Jewish tradition of flourless nut cakes which are suitable for Passover. And indeed the tradition of dairy-free cakes which are helpful for keeping kosher.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 9:31 AM on June 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

Nthing the clementine cake (which I’ve also made with lemons and is always a hit). Also, even without the amazing name, I’m a big fan of this Persian Love Cake
posted by Mchelly at 12:15 PM on June 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

I recently made Gâteau Invisible from this Serious Eats recipe, and was absolutely delighted by it. It's a tiny bit fiddly (you want to layer all the apple slices in the correct orientation, plus there's a caramel sauce to make), but the actual make time - like, time you're not baking or cooling - is only about an hour. The flavor of the cake is sort of savory and dessert-y at the same time, and the miso caramel is to die for.
posted by girlstyle at 12:45 PM on June 22, 2021

Kate’s Apple caramel cake from the great British baking show
posted by Neekee at 12:56 PM on June 22, 2021

Kunefe, if you're able to locally obtain or order the kadayıf, is so good and really different from American style cakes or pastry.
posted by Lyn Never at 12:59 PM on June 22, 2021

I've made a sans rival cake (Filipino) and a simnel cake (traditional English, made at Easter).

The sans rival was very fun to make. There are lots of recipes online. Traditionally they're made with cashews, but I used pecans. I flavored the French buttercream with coffee and it was delicious. (Use the Serious Eats recipe for French buttercream because it's much easier. You don't have to mess around with drizzling hot syrup into eggs and hope they're cooked, you just cook them outright with your sugar and mind the temperature.)

The simnel cake was like a very expensive inconveniently large brick and I overblowtorched a bunch of the marzipan balls on top. Probably will not attempt this cake again.

I've made that Nigella cake a bunch of times. It's very good and you can't mess it up; it's great.
posted by Don Pepino at 6:09 PM on June 22, 2021