My birthday cake!
My 2022 birthday cake: an epic funfetti!
Flashback to early January 2020, we didn’t really know what a pandemic was, we had no idea what would be in store for us all… it was definitely a simpler time. I was trying to decide which restaurant to go to for my birthday. Usually, since I would always want to go out to eat for dinner -I wouldn’t get a birthday cake. For some reason, this was the year I wanted a birthday cake.
I generally don’t bake for myself but I came up with the idea that I would bake something super elaborate for my birthday. Something I would never in a million years bake for myself. And a new tradition was born! The first year, I made Mary Berg’s Tiramisu crepe cake from her book, Kitchen Party. It’s a total winner!
In January 2021, I made a chocoflan which is a super decadent chocolate cake with a dulce de leche flan baked on top. It is a magical experience because you pour the flan on top of the cake. While it is baking, the flan sinks to the bottom of the pan (the top of the cake). Also super fun and special!
Now January 2022, a second birthday where I couldn’t gather with friends and family. I wanted something that would be colourful and happy. A sprinkle cake that would reign supreme over all other sprinkle cakes. AN EPIC FUNFETTI CAKE!! Or as my wonderful mum called it… a fun-ghetti cake, lol!
I adore Molly Yeh and she has a great recipe for a funfetti birthday cake with vanilla buttercream. But I wanted to up the ante, so I added the birthday cake crumble that is a well-known part of Christina Tosi’s birthday cake at Milk Bar. It was a fun mashup of the two recipes. Did I use an entire container of sprinkles? Sure did. With zero remorse. Both recipes call for the clear artificial vanilla to get that super nostalgic taste. I buy mine at Branche D’Olivier. And I left out the almond extract in the Molly Yeh recipe because I didn’t have any handy and it was freaking cold on my birthday (brr!).
Sooooo, I cannot take credit for these recipes but I will link to them here so you can attempt to make this cake on your own!
A gateau & a gateau superstar