Upscale Birthday Cake Hacks
These are a couple of upscale birthday cake hacks I’ve learned over the last ten years. We don’t have a large budget for birthdays and baking the cake myself makes more room for presents. I could just dump it in a 9×13 and it would do just fine, but taking a little time to add a couple of touches makes a big difference.
Pick your shape
To me, a round birthday cake feels more polished, but I don’t want a massive cake since we always just gather with a couple of friends or grandparents. This is the type of pan I bake in… and can I recommend just buying two from the get go? I bought one 5 years ago, because I didn’t know if I would get it again. Every year I think I’ll buy another one, and every year I bake it in two rounds and wish for two pans.
Pick Your Flavor
I always use the Betty Crocker Super Moist brand has never failed me. My personal favorite is always the Cherry Chip, but the boys all like chocolate, so that’s usually what we end up with! My sister is often hired to make gorgeous cakes, and she says the place to spend time isn’t making a cake from scratch. So I’ve felt full freedom to serve boxcakes for every party!
The Magic Sauce
Once you’ve baked your cakes, paint them with vanilla simple syrup. Here’s the recipe I use:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 beans from my homemade vanilla (if you don’t have that just add a teaspoon of vanilla)
Heat until it comes to a boil and doubles in the pan. Letting it really get hot makes it thick, but if you over do it then it turns into hard candy.
Let it rest before frosting.
My cakes always do best if I bake the day before I decorate. This makes sure I don’t rush the cooling step. I can’t tell you the number of cakes I’ve messed up because I’m trying to put frosting on a partially warm cake. It’s embarrassing. It’s also nice not to have to do all the steps of a project on one day!
Once you have painted them with simple syrup. Wrap them tightly in saran wrap and put them in the fridge to cool!
Keys to frosting
I use a tool like this to frost. Put a layer between the two layers of cake. When I make chocolate frosting this is the recipe I’ve had good luck with. My sister-in-law introduced me to it and it’s the one I had been waiting for!
(tips: The key is to Mix sugar and cocoa first, then whip those together BEFORE adding the milk. Finally, whip it for quite a long time after it’s all mixed. The more you whip it the fluffier it gets, and the fluffier it is the easier it goes on.)
- 1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
- 2/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
A Word on Decorating
For a few years I tried to make pretty cakes. It was a ton of fun, but I’ve learned the kids love it best if they get to decorate them rather than being constantly asked to leave the kitchen. They get to open the bag, break the eggs, and dump in the water. They get to paint the cakes, an then I usually do the base layer of frosting and let them put on sprinkles and all kinds of craziness.