Unicorn Fairy Mermaid Birthday Cake

I’ve always been a big birthday fan. When I was a kid, I used to count down the days to my birthday starting about six weeks before the big day. I can vividly remember the birthday cakes that my mom would make. Delicious chocolate rolls with raspberry jam. White cake with ballerinas whose skirts were made of more cake and gorgeously decorated frosting. Go big or go home, right?

unicorn fairy mermaid cake

Birthdays provide the opportunity to celebrate the day my kids were born and marvel at all the time that has passed since that day. My kids love to hear the stories about the day they were born, and I love to retell it! Birthdays absolutely deserve special attention in my book, and it delights me to pass that tradition on to my kids.

When my youngest daughter said she wanted a unicorn fairy mermaid birthday cake for her upcoming 6th birthday, I was excited! Daunted, sure. But excited. She told me what she wanted just about 6 weeks before her birthday… yep, this kid is a direct descendent! Unusually, she couldn’t decide whether she wanted a vanilla cake or a chocolate cake. So I decided to make a striped cake! I ordered a bunch of awesome cake props from Amazon, and set to work to master a layer cake that didn’t require separate layers. I wanted a cake striped with chocolate and vanilla, but baked in one pan. Less cleanup! This took time and patience, and quite frankly, though I’ve now made this many times, the layers still don’t come out perfectly every time. This is real life.

That said, having solid recipes for both the white cake and the chocolate cake are absolutely essential. No matter what the stripes look like, it should taste great! I used this tried and true white cake recipe for the vanilla cake. It’s my go-to for white cake and it has never, ever failed me. Trust me when I say you’ll want to bookmark that one. I’ve included the recipe for my chocolate cake below, as well as the instructions to make a striped cake.

I hope you give this a try! If you make this and post it on Instagram, please tag @lalalunchbox and #lalalunchbox so I’m sure to see it!

Chocolate Birthday Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour 

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 large egg

• 1/2 cup buttermilk

• 1/4 cup avocado or neutral oil

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1/2 c coffee

Prepare the Chocolate Cake

1. Mix flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl.

2. Add in egg, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla and mix on low until fully incorporated.

3. Add coffee and gently stir. The batter will be very thin.

make sure layers are nearly cooked before adding more batter

Make a striped cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an springform cake pan with parchment paper and spray sides and bottom.

2. Pour a heaping 1/2 cup of white cake batter into springform pan, and tilt the pan until it covers the entirety of the bottom. Bake for 6-7 minutes, or until the cake seems not quite fully cooked. Remove from the oven.

3. Pour a heaping 1/2 cup of chocolate cake batter on top of the first layer, again making sure to completely cover the white cake layer. Bake for another 6-7 minutes, following the same guidance on the previous layer.

4. With each successive layer, the cake may need an additional minute or two in the oven (not more). You’ll need to keep a careful eye on the cake during the cooking process.

5. Repeat the process until the batter is finished. When the final layer is poured on top, bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

6. Cool the cake for at least 30 minutes.

7. After that resting time, I like to pop the cake in the freezer while I’m making frosting. A cold cake makes the frosting process much easier.

Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 6 ounces cream cheese

• 6 ounces of unsalted butter, room temperature

• 6 ounces marshmallow fluff

• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar

• 1-2 teaspoons plant based, natural food coloring (optional)

Method

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix on medium high until you have a uniformly smooth, creamy frosting.

2. Use a spatula to spread evenly on cake. You’ll likely have extra frosting. Enjoy it on whatever you’d like!

3. Decorate as intricately as you’d like!

Dulce de Leche Birthday Cake

I like to bake. I like to cook. The two things are not the same for me, though. When I cook, I don't usually follow recipes to the T. To me, that's part of the fun. Cooking is an art that improves over time. Baking is different. Baking is a science, with measurements that need to be exact. I happen to like both, but I cook much more frequently than I bake. 

One thing I love to bake is birthday cake. Who doesn't love birthdays?! I don't usually love cake (why eat cake when you can eat cookies?) but I love celebrating. So when I was asked to make a Dulce de Leche cake by my friends' sweet son for his 12th birthday, I was happy to oblige. 

The problem was, I had never made a dulce de leche cake. And I don't actually love dulce de leche, as it's usually too sweet for me. Still, I perused recipes. I reached out to folks on Instagram. And I tested several recipes. Would dulce de leche go better with a white cake or a chocolate cake? I had to find out. Ultimately I decided to go with white cake, and I used a tried and true recipe that my mother shared with me ages ago. (recipe below)

As for the dulce de leche, I made my own. Dulce de Leche is a creamy caramel sauce made from milk and sugar. You can speed up the process (which takes 7 hours!) by using sweetened, condensed milk and heating it for a long time until it caramelizes. Several recipes suggested that I boil the can - the whole can, unopened - for 2-3 hours. Boiling the can sounded weird to me. Is that even safe? I didn't know, but I saw the same instructions in so many places, so I gave it a try. The outcome was great. A uniform caramel color with a creamy sweet deliciousness. Still, the idea didn't sit well with me. I didn’t feel safe about it  

I wondered if I could get the same result by slow cooking condensed milk without using the can. I found several sources that suggested I could pour sweetened condensed milk into an 8x8 pan and put that dish inside of a 9x13 pan filled 3/4 of the way up with water. I placed it into an oven preheated to 400 degrees and cooked it for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it became dulce de leche. When the cooking process was done, I whisked vigorously. The outcome wasn't uniformly colored, and there were some bits of condensed milk that became small clumps. At first I was disheartened by this. But ultimately I realized it's these small bits that make the texture interesting. They give life to the dulce de leche. So I went with it. 

I used the dulce de leche as the glue that held the two cake layers together, and also in the frosting. Instead of going with a buttercream frosting or anything that required confectioners sugar, I went with a whipped cream frosting. (recipe below) The results were fabulous! This cake went over so well, and frankly, I was relieved. I will absolutely make this again!

White Cake (makes two layers) 

• 1 cup butter
• 1-1/2 cups sugar (divided)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/4 cups milk
• 5 large egg whites

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease the sides and bottom of two 9 inch cake pans. In a large bowl or an electric mixer beat the butter and 1-1/4 cups of the sugar until the mixture is smooth and creamy. If your butter is already at room temperature, you can do this by hand. Add the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in parts, alternating with the milk and gently mixing after each addition. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they stand in soft peaks. Still beating, gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until the mixture stands in stiff peaks. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tins. Bake about 32-34 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool completely before taking out of the pan. Use a very sharp long knife to flatten the tops of each layer. Spread the dulce de leche generously on top of one layer and then place the second layer on top of that. Frost with spiced whipped cream and enjoy! Serve with extra dulce de leche on the side (optional) 

Spiced Whipped Cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup dulce de leche
pinch of salt

Using the whisk attachment of your standing mixer or a hand mixer, whisk the heavy cream on high until it begins to change form into whipped cream. Once you see that change, add the cinnamon, dulce de leche and salt and continue mixing until desired consistency. I prefer it well whipped, as I think it spreads best onto cakes. 

Birthday Brownies

The year that I sent my daughter to school with strawberry shortcakes on her birthday will probably go down as the worst.

She's always been a strawberry girl, drawn to both the fresh-picked, tiny sweet ones and the large, often less flavorful ones we find at the market. Ages ago, she came across a fun fact that strawberries were the only fruit that had seeds on the outside, and it became one of her favorite stories to tell for a while. She's also huge fan of all things bready, and biscuits fit beautifully in that category. And fresh whipped cream? It's got her name all over it. My mother made strawberry shortcakes for her one day and she was smitten. 

So that year for her 5th birthday, I made strawberry shortcakes - at her request - for her in-school celebration. The kids hated them! Okay, hate is definitely too strong, but I learned that kids have expectations for classroom birthdays and strawberry shortcakes didn't make the cut. That's a whole other topic, and I'd love to discuss it but I'm all about the birthday dessert today. Anyway, we had a lot left over that year, which no one here complained about. 

Brownies are universally beloved. 

From then on, my kids have requested more traditional things for school, like cupcakes or cookies. Works for me. At some point, they'll stop asking for homemade desserts for school birthdays, so I'm happy to comply annually until then. This year, my newly minted 12 year old asked if I could please make brownies for school. Brownies were definitely not going to be panned. Who doesn't love brownies? I *love* them. An extra batch of brownies doesn't stay around for long, and making them is easy and fun. 

The recipe that I've been loving lately is adapted from Smitten Kitchen. The brownies are dark, rich, chocolatey and not too sweet, and definitely not cakey. I made four batches in two days, sending off three to school and saving one for us. I've replaced the AP flour with oat flour, making these gluten free, and I've reduced both the sugar and the cocoa powder. I also found that they needed a bit more time to cook, so I've reflected that in this recipe (scroll down). 

Here's how easy they are to make (as opposed to strawberry shortcakes, which took me way longer, and were much more labor intensive). It's just 7 ingredients and 6 steps --- take a look:  

Brownie ingredients: 7

1. First mix the butter and sugar.

butter + sugar

2. Add cocoa powder and stir to combine. 

3. Add salt. 

4. Add eggs and vanilla. 

5. Add oat flour and give it one final stir. 

6. Ready to bake! Place in a parchment lined pan in a preheated 325 degree oven for 25-28 minutes.

Birthday Brownies

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
• heaping 1/4 teaspoon flaked salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, cold
• 1/2 cup oat flour

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or grease with avocado oil or butter.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add cocoa powder and salt and stir until all lumps are gone. Stir in vanilla, eggs and oat flour and mix with a wooden spoon until the batter is smooth and thick. Spread evenly into the pan. 

Bake for approximately 25-28 minutes or until the brownies have set and a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool completely on a rack. Cut into 16 or 25 squares and watch them disappear. 

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

I made four cakes for my daughter's 4th birthday party. Sounds a little extreme, I realize, but I had fun doing it, and wanted to be sure that everyone had cake. We had 12 kids and 20 adults. There were several allergies to accommodate - my daughter's cow dairy and strawberry allergy and a sweet friend's gluten, cow dairy and chicken egg allergy. Cake can absolutely still be delicious without any of those ingredients! 

I consulted Jenny Rosenstrach's new book How to Celebrate Everything and found her chocolate cake recipe and adapted for our needs. This was a hit! It's a deep, cocoa flavor with the right amount of sweetness. It's a two layer cake and I added blueberry jam in between the layers (hers calls for mint chocolate chip ice cream), plus a dairy free frosting and gluten free gummy bears on top. 

Gluten Free Chocolate Layer Cake with Blueberry Jam
1 1/4 gluten free flour (I used King Arthur brand) 
2 cups of granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs (I used duck eggs to accommodate a chicken egg allergy)
3/4 cup room temperature of brewed, strong black coffee
1 cup of goat milk (original recipe calls for buttermilk, but I avoided cow dairy here)
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used avocado oil) 
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup blueberry jam

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9 inch springform pan with vegetable oil. Pour the goat milk into a bowl and add the lemon juice. Let this sit for about 10 minutes. The milk will look like it's a bit curdled - it's a great way to make your own buttermilk substitute! 
In a separate bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients. Add eggs, coffee, goat/lemon mixture, oil and vanilla and stir until everything is well combined. 
Pour into the pan and bake for approximately 35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. 
Allow the cake to cool completely. Using a sharp, long knife, split the cake in half and use a plate to remove the top half from the bottom. Smear the bottom half with blueberry jam and place the top half back on. 

Dairy Free Blueberry Frosting
1 cup coconut yogurt (I used Anita's) 
5 tablespoons confectioners sugar
2/3 cup blueberry jam
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Be sure to keep refrigerated, as this is a thin frosting. Spread evenly on top of the cake. 

Gluten Free Wacky Cake

Wacky Cake has long been a favorite in my house. It's super easy to whip up when friends come over and you want something sweet. It's great for those occasions when you need a cake but don't have enough eggs or milk. Admittedly this has happened to me more often than I am comfortable with, but frankly, with the Wacky Cake recipe practically committed to memory, I don't stress about this anymore. 

It's been the cake of choice at some of our birthday parties too. This year, I've altered the recipe slightly to accommodate some allergies and it's still a no-fail dessert! 

Gluten Free Wacky Cake

1 1/2 cups gluten free flour (I prefer the King Arthur brand, but also tested a recipe with Enjoy Life brand) 
1 cup of granulated sugar
1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon of white vinegar
1 cup of water
6 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used avocado oil)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup dairy free mini chocolate chips (optional. I used Enjoy Life brand)

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix all of the dry ingredients together and sift them to prevent the cocoa from getting clumpy. Add vinegar, water, oil and vanilla extract and stir until thoroughly combined.  Add chocolate chips. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper or grease with more of the vegetable oil. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.