Once we got birthday cake crumbs down, we moved on to our larger quest of making a funfetti cake, canned frosting and all, from scratch. Turns out that looking on the side of the cake mix box at the monster ingredient list was really helpful in getting the “secret” stuff we couldn’t figure out by taste.
Baking is a science. It's about ratios and chemical reactions and, over the years, I have learned where variations can be made and how best to modify a recipe to achieve my ideal. But I've also learned that sometimes a recipe is just too good to modify. There is a lot to be said for exercising restraint and knowing when a recipe wouldn't be improved with your fingerprints all over it. Rose Levy Beranbaum's Downy Butter Yellow Cake and White Velvet Cake are two such recipes. They are the foundations for the two most iconic works of art in this book, and I am happy to admit that I couldn't have invented a better recipe to use in these desserts.
Wayne Thiebaud's painted cakes are classic, nostalgic, and all-American. They're not challenging in flavor—they're just simple cakes, like the type your mother might've made for your birthday. Rose's Downy Yellow Butter cake is the perfect recipe with which to create cakes commemorating Wayne Thiebaud.
Happy birthday, Dave Chang! That’s what the kitchen screamed when we first made this cake. Marian was in charge of making boss man a birthday cake. She told me she channeled her innermost version of me, sprinkled chocolate chips into a vanilla cake batter we were going to use as a coconut cake, and layered it with liquid cheesecake and anything else she could find in the fridge; in other words, she followed to a tee our standard operating procedure for any birthday cake in our kitchen. Now even the Momofuku savory cooks know this cake by heart. It is a snack attack waiting to happen, so you may want to consider making a double batch of batter and baking the cake in a half sheet pan.
A smidge of almond extract delivers a boost of flavor to our best vanilla cake recipe, and the cream cheese buttercream frosting takes it over the top.
Sugar artist Ana Parzych joins Bon Appétit for this episode of Handcrafted to demonstrate every step of filling, stacking, and decorating a 5-tier wedding cake in her impeccable style. From building layers of buttercream and applying fondant, to crafting intricate decorative molding and realistic sugar flowers, take an up-close look at the craftsmanship behind the world’s most luxurious wedding cakes.
Join Chris Morocco in the Bon Appétit Test Kitchen as he makes easy chocolate cake. If you've got a bowl, a cheap hand mixer, and a couple of measuring cups, you can make this rich, chocolatey cake. You can pre-mix batches of the dry ingredients together, store them in airtight containers for up to three months, and be ready to celebrate at a moments notice with your own DIY cake mix.
Check out the recipe here: https://slim-weight.today/recipe/easiest-chocolate-birthday-cake%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv class="StackedRatingsCardWrapper-RIFgn jsPKbl SummaryCollectionGridSummaryItem-ilztYA cpHIzM search_result_item-6a96ad7db3a5fd8cc8758fdb">
Pastry chef Caroline Schiff joins Bon Appétit to make her perfect chocolate cake: an ultra-moist, four-layer showstopper with silky chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream and a glossy chocolate sauce soak. From using oil and sour cream for a soft, tender crumb to balancing dark and milk chocolate with flaky sea salt, Caroline shares her best baking tricks for creating a rich yet surprisingly light chocolate cake from scratch.
For more recipes like this one, preorder Caroline’s cookbook Daily Dessert, out 10/13/26: https://www.pastryschiff.com/cookbook/
