it's my birthday and i'll recap if i want to

Significant events of the next 4 days:

• I have two performances on Sunday (just like Saturday).
• My parents are in town for the day on Monday (my only day off).
• We’re moving on Tuesday/Wednesday (mornings before I go to work).
• There are also shows on Tuesday/Wednesday evenings (plus the rest of the week).
• It’s my birthday (yup).

With the combination of aforementioned factors, I’m not baking myself a cake this year. My parents are taking me out for lunch and dessert the day after which is just fine with me. Then we have to finish packing!

While I would love to have enough time and wit to put together a thoughtful post about my year ahead (and behind), I don’t have it in me. Instead, here are some previous cakes I’ve made for birthdays and other festive occasions! My cake style is about flavor, not form, so they may not be as glamorous as some, but they all taste great.

It’s my gift to you.

Lemon Yogurt Cake with Berries

This cake may be simple to make, but I would have a happy birthday with it. I bet you would, too! My own mother has made this cake at least twice since I posted it. It’s versatile and can be easily modified for seasonal of preferred flavors.

It’s also great for any frosting-haters in your life. Or people who love liquor-soaked fruit (ahem, Mom).

Upside-Down Cake

The photo and recipe are for a rhubarb version, but the basic cake is so darn good that it would be great with many different types of fruit, or even as a basic vanilla cake with frosting or glaze.

It still makes me hungry to look at the photos of this cake, that’s how good it was.

Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake

This is not your fluffy white cake with colored icing. This is my husband’s birthday cake. It might not be the prettiest cake, but it’s the one he asks for every year. Eventually I will perfect it, but even my mediocre attempts have been tasty. The hearty, spicy cake with broiled brown sugar coconut-pecan frosting is especially great for fall.

I think my husband is great in all seasons, though. 😉

Caramel Cake with Salted Browned Buttercream Frosting

The trouble with this recipe is that it contains a few layers of recipes-within-the-recipe. Once the time-consuming parts are done (make the caramel syrup in advance) it actually isn’t that complicated to make. The flavors of caramel, browned butter, and epic deliciousness converge here. I’ve made both cake and cupcake versions and loved each one.

Ronnie also made this recipe and took much better photos.

Lemon Meringue Cake

And then there is last year’s cake. A project of epic proportions, summarized succinctly as a lemon meringue cake. More accurately, it is a 4-layer lemon chiffon cake with caramel and lemon cream fillings, slathered with a thick layer of Swiss meringue which is then torched before serving.

That cake was so good. I’m pretty sure the multiple days of baking made it taste even better after all the anticipation!

My mom’s birthday cake (in June) is angel food cake with fresh strawberries. My dad’s birthday cake is a chocolate bundt cake with white mountain frosting. My default birthday cake for co-workers is a two-layer yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I’ll take my camera with me on Monday and see what I get this year.

What’s your birthday cake?