12 Amazing Cake Recipes and the Weekly Block Party Link-Up

"How about cake? Everybody loves cake!" My husband says that in his best Donkey (Eddie Murphy in Shrek) voice anytime I say I'm hungry and I don't know what I want. He makes me laugh...and he makes me hungry for cake! I rounded up 12 delicious cake recipes from you guys and the hosts this week, hopefully you'll find something to curb your cake cravings!

Victoria Spice and Treacle Cake | World's Best Chocolate Cake

Hiking Cake | Amazing Chocolate Fudge Cake

Crockpot Lava Cake | Homemade Angel Food Cake | GF Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake | Milk Dud Cake Mix Bars

GF Vanilla Zucchini Cake | Mocha Cake Donuts | Glam Emoji Cake | Frozen Oreo Tiramisu

Hello there! Tiffany here again from Making the World Cuter! School is just about to start back up and I feel like I haven't had summer yet, so I could definitely use one or more these cake recipes about now! That, and three more months of summer! Ha! Happy to be hosting today and getting to see all of your fun ideas along with my friends Marissa, Kaysi and Polly! Now it’s time to show me what you’ve been up to! Link up your posts to the block party for your chance to be featured on all four of our blogs! 🙂

Time for the block party! Be sure to read over the guidelines…

• We’d love it if you pinned the image above of the 12 cake recipes
• Link to a specific post, not your home page.
• Don’t add links to promote giveaways, other link parties or your shops.
• Visit and comment on at least 2 other links in the party.
• Don’t link posts you’ve linked before.
• This party starts Sunday @ 6pm PST and ends Friday @ midnight.
• By entering a link, you give us permission to feature an image on our blogs. Proper credit and links will always be given.
• Please link back to whatever blog you are linking from and let your readers know you joined the block party and invite them to do the same!

Hagrid's Birthday Cake for Harry Potter

If you have a child who is in love with Harry Potter right now, this is a fun way to create that they can do themselves.  There really is NO way to mess up Hagrid's Birthday Cake for Harry...unless you don't make one.  Rebecca wanted to make a cake to celebrate Harry's birthday on July 31st, and I told her she could as long as she did it herself.  (This post contains affiliate links.  When you make a purchase through one of the links, a small percentage of your purchase goes to support by blog.)

At the beginning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry receives his first ever birthday cake from Hagrid.  As with many things Hagrid does, the cake is not elegant, but it is done with lots of heart.

We're told that it's pink with green frosting and that it got slightly squashed in Hagrid's coat during the journey.  It's also a bit mispelled, "HAPPEE BIRTHDAE HARRY."  All of these features make it the perfect project for a new cake artist to attempt on their own.

Golden Snitch Birthday Cake - Harry Potter Birthday Cake

This has been the year that Rebecca has fallen in love with Harry Potter...so of course she wanted a Harry Potter themed birthday cake.  Her favorite character goes back and forth between Ginny and Hermione...but Ginny started out as her firm favorite.  (I talk about that more Rebecca's connection to Ginny here.)  Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  When you make a purchase through an affiliate link, a small percentage of your purchase goes to support my blog.

So we decided to go with a cake that Ginny would love since she is such a super quidditch player, and sometimes plays the position of Seeker.  We figure this must be similar to the cake the Mrs. Weasley made for Harry's 17th birthday in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  We also made matching golden snitch cupcakes to take to her class at school (although almost none of the kids knew what they were...first grade is a bit early for Harry Potter literacy apparently.)

Becca's always been about the heroines in any book or movie.  It's been so fun to see her fall in love with books I love so much...and I think Ginny is a freaking awesome role model...as are most of the women in Harry Potter.

Hiking Cake: Tips and Tricks

It was Seth's birthday last week.  This was such a fun cake to make.  Seth loves being outdoors, and the outdoors love him.  He especially likes being out in the woods and having a path to follow where he can imagine he's the first person to explore it.

And of course when you're camping in the woods,  you have to have a campfire.  The "real" campfire on the cake was everybody's favorite feature.  And I have to say it was nice to have the candles really add to the charm of the cake, rather than being stuck in at the last minute because they don't really belong.

We decided a while ago that we will only "do birthday parties" at certain ages for the kids (kindergarten year, 8, 12, 16, etc).  The other years, I still make them a cake though.  I like to come up with some idea with them that represents something they're interested in...and is also in the do-able range.  

We went through several ideas for Seth's birthday cake, before settling on this one.  It turned out that Seth's birthmom Liz was able to come up for a visit just before Seth's birthday.  She happened to arrive the night that Eric had already scheduled with his brothers to take the cousins on an overnight hike.  (It's a year tradition that the school-aged kids go on an overnight hike sometime during the summer.)  Liz was getting in too late to go on the campout, but we didn't want her to miss out on time with Seth.  We decided that I'd drive her up first thing in the morning, so she could spend the day with Seth in the woods and hike back out with everyone.  (It's a mark of how happy Seth was to see Liz that he smiled so well for the picture.)

I thought that Eric had said it was an easy 1/2 mile hike...so I figured that since Seth LOVES the woods, and since Liz and the cousins were going to be there, then why not bring his birthday cake up....and so the hiking cake was concieved.  

It turned out that the hike was a 1 AND 1/2 miles, most of it uphill.  (There are three separate legs that are each 1/2 mile, so that must be where the communication broke down.)  Liz was a rock star, though, and carried Seth's cake all the way in.

Anyway, I didn't take step-by-step pictures for a tutorial, but I will give some tips, so you can make one yourself.  

Supplies Needed:  Frosting (I made a double batch to be safe, but single probably would be enough.), food coloring, Chocolate Rocks, Chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreas), Graham Crackers, Melting chocolate, ziploc baggies, parchment or wax paper, birthday candles

Optional Supplies: Piping bags and tips, leaf tip, bake even strips.

 

I baked the cake in an 8 by 3-inch pan {affiliate link} using bake even strips to keep the middle from doming too much.  Then I cut it in half, and added some filling.

Directions: 

Easy Brown Bear, Brown Bear Birthday Cake

Our little Anson turned 2 last week!  Two is a really fun and easy birthday to celebrate because kids have no expectations, so they're happy and excited with whatever I come up with.

For some birthdays, we know months ahead of time what cake/theme we're going to use.  I wasn't feeling particularly inspired this time around.  I knew I wanted to do something book themed since Anson really didn't care what kind of cake he had, and that way it would go with our For the LOVE of BOOKS theme. 

A few days before Anson's birthday I thought of doing a Brown Bear, Brown Bear Cake, and it was a big hit.

Anson loves animals, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Eric Carle is always one of the first books our kids learn to "read" in the pre-reading stage because it's got so much repetition and great picture clues.  Anson's not "reading" it yet, but I'm sure he will be soon.

Easy Polka Dot Cake

I've been doing so many quilting posts lately, I thought it was time to switch things up a bit and show you this cake.

It was such a fun one to put together and really easy.

I volunteered at the last minute to make my niece a cake for her 7th birthday.  She loves polka dots.  I may or may not be a little proud of the fact that she loves polka dots because it all goes back to the burp cloths I made for her when she was a baby...but that's a story for another time.  There she is in her polka dot dress.

All-Boy Art Birthday Party

  Note: If you're looking for the You Keep Me in Stitches Giveaway click here.

I can't believe my boy turned 6 this week!

Seth is in LOVE with art lately.  He and Becca go in his room and "do art" for hours at a little table we have in there.  I can't remember who suggested it, but when an art party came up as a theme for his party, he jumped at it. 

And I was super happy to have a theme with so many creative possibilities and that it was something we want to encourage him in.   We've told our kids they just get parties on certain birthdays (6, 8, 12, etc).  They get a cake and little family celebration (as in dessert right after dinner) every year, but not a lot.  So it's fun to put some extra effort into the parties we do have.

Overall the kids loved it.  And despite the title of the post, we did have girls at the party and they enjoyed the projects too, we just especially found projects that would appeal to boys.  It took a little planning ahead to make sure we had the art supplies on hand, but other than buying the supplies we really did pretty much everything for the party the day before.  (And remember I have my husband home during the summers, so I had him to help out getting ready and helping during the party.)

I'm really not a fan of party favors...at least not the kind where you buy cheap toys so the guests go home with something.  I am a big fan of party favors that serve as entertainment and/or props to the party itself, so the kids got to take home some fun art projects.  I wanted to do some kinds of art projects that used materials and techniques they might not learn at school (where they pretty much stick to paper, crayons, and occasionally tempera paint).

Here's what we did:

Easy Monster Cake

Anson turned 1!  (Well, he turned 1 a month and a half ago, but I'm just getting around to sharing his cake now.)

We try to keep birthday for infants and toddlers pretty simple around here.

Super Easy I-Spy Birthday Cake

Becca comes up with some pretty creative cake ideas.  So far she's asked for a cat cake, a Ms. Frizzle book cake, and this year she came up with her best yet.  She asked for an I-Spy Cake.

Becca has loved all things I-Spy since she was tiny.  Over two years ago I posted about Seek-and-Find books being some of her favorites...and they still are.  (I love these board book versions for little ones.)

She came up with the idea a month or two before her birthday, so whenever I found little trinkets or toys the right size, I put them aside.  (You know those little toys that always seem to be underfoot and never have a good place to be put away anyway...this kept them out of the way for a while too.)  When the time came, I had enough for 4 or 5 I-Spy cakes, so I decided to stick to objects that had some connection to the #4, since Becca turned 4.

Golden Snitch Cupcakes for Quidditch or Harry Potter Fan

Hopefully a few of my readers are Harry Potter fans because now that Katie's Harry Potter Birthday Party is over, there are going to be quite a few Harry Potter themed posts.  I really should start with a recap of the whole party (You can now see a recap of the whole Harry Potter party here.) ...but I don't feel up to sorting through all the pictures...so I'm starting with something easy...the Golden Snitch Cupcakes.  They look impressive, but were surprisingly easy to make.

If you do a search on Pinterest for Harry Potter Cupcakes you'll come up with some amazing ideas that take at least 10 different colors of fondant that were way out of my league for trying to replicate.  If you search for Harry Potter Cakes, you'll come up with hundreds of absolutely astounding cakes that I'm sure took a professional baker days to make (you really should check them out...they're amazing)...so I looked through the ideas until I found some I thought I could manage and settled on some golden snitches.  It's a nice bonus that Katie's favorite thing about the first Harry Potter movie is the quidditch match scene.

Katie also got Quidditch through the Ages as one of several books she got for her birthday, so it went along nicely.

You start by...

Easy Construction Cake

Seth had his birthday last month.  He turned 5 just in time to start kindergarten this year.

Easy Book Cake

Our Sweet Becca turned 3 last week!  She requested an orange Ms. Frizzle Book Cake for the big day.

As my sister said, "A request like that is what you get for not raising your kids on Disney Princesses."

But seriously, what book-loving parent can refuse a request for a book cake.

So I baked a rectangular cake, wrapped some marshmallow fondant around it, frosted the three open sides, and scanned and printed out the picture from the cover of her favorite Magic School Bus book and laid it on top.  That's right...I'm no cake decorating purist.  I don't insist on everything being edible.

Anyway, she was thrilled with the cake.

And the fondant was easy enough to make that I just might attempt it again.  (This was my first time.)

And as an added little side note...when she went with Daddy to the store earlier in the day, they ran into some of his high school students.  One of them looked a Becca in the Sweetie Pi shirt she's wearing and said, "Doc, it figures that you'd put your kid in a shirt like that."

Easy Constellation Cupcakes - Space Party Treats

Last week, I shared the Star Cut-Out Cupcakes that I made for Firecracker's class for her birthday.  Normally I would have made the same ones for her birthday party (She asked for a Space theme.)...but I thought of these Constellation cupcakes first and loved the idea.  Firecracker had originally asked for a planets/solar system themed cake and the thought of trying to make all those colors of frosting and swirls made me feel tired.  (I pinned quite a few different solar system cakes/cupcakes on my Cakes and Parties Pinterest Board if you're interested, though.) Then when I thought of these constellation cupcakes, they'd be a perfect (and easy!) fit for her party.   (I'll be sharing the rest of the party snacks in a few days, so be sure to check back.)

When I thought of the Star Cut-Out Cupcakes later, I wanted to try both.  (You know I have a hard time turning down an easy cupcake idea.)

Anyway, since I was able to use the same frosting for both sets of cupcakes, it really wasn't any harder to decorate these a little differently.  In truth, these were actually faster per cupcake to frost...but there are several reasons why I think those Star Cut-Out Cupcakes are especially good for a group of school kids...you'll have to go to that post to see why.

Anyway...I didn't take process pictures of these because it was already sometime around 1 am...and I needed to get to bed.  It's super simple though, so I'll talk you through it.

Easy Star Cut-Out Cupcakes - A Tutorial

I love finding ideas for super cute cupcakes...as long as they're easy.  Because seriously, kid's love them if they're cute, but they'll be just as happy with a plain cupcake too.

I saw these really cute Valentine Cupcakes from Glorious Treats a couple weeks ago and loved the simplicity.  As I was trying to decide what kind of cupcakes to bring for Firecracker's class on her birthday, I decided to try out some stars...since she'd asked for an outer-space party (that we had after school...more details from that one later.).

It turns out, I've decided these cupcakes are perfect for taking to a class party or church activity or whatever...

• First off, since the frosting is mostly inside the cupcake, the kids don't get as much on their faces.  Their teacher will thank you.  
• Secondly, since the frosting is mostly inside the cupcake, they're really easy to cover and transport (and keep in the fridge) if you're like me and don't have a fancy cupcake carrier.  
• Third...the kids hardly need more sugar and these keep the frosting to a minimum.
• Last...the kids in Firecracker's class thought the cut-outs were really cool and had fun eating them.  

Firecracker's Chocolate Cake-Pudding-Cream Cheese-Chocolate Chip-Coconut Trifle

Okay, this is maybe a bit of a stretch to call this "Firecracker's" Recipe.  It was certainly inspired by her though.  We have a tradition in our house that Mom and Dad's birthday cakes are decorated by the kids.  I figure why put all the work into making a "pretty" or "themed" cake for me or Hubby when we don't really care a whole lot about a cake one way or the other...and the kids LOVE getting to decorate it.

Firecracker has become a pretty good cook.  She's mastered the cake-mix cake and has even moved on to making cookies from scratch...so for my birthday this year, we told her she was in charge of baking it.  It took her a few extra days to get around to it, but she baked it yesterday afternoon with Daddy supervising while I took a nap.  Then for some reason...who knows why kids come up with this...she decided to tear it up with a tooth pick, so by the time I saw the cake, it looked like this.

We could have made our typical 7-Minute Frosting and I'm sure it would have frosted just fine...7-Minute Frosting actually does a pretty good job of NOT stirring up crumbs...but the ripped up cake made me think of trifle...so we decided to make trifle.