Birthday Cakes

And you thought that boxed yellow cake mix and canned chocolate frosting you inhaled as a kid was good. This version may make you rethink your childhood.

A campfire classic elevated to proper dessert status. The parts you know and love are here, but now they’re covering a lush brown sugar cake. And no mosquitos!

A chocolate lover’s dream come true, in the form of a lightly textured, dark chocolate mousse. Not too sweet, not too rich—just right.

Trust us when we tell you this cake is about as unfussy as it gets. An hour from start to finish, no tricky ingredients and a taste reminiscent of an old-school boxed cake mix.

One of the best darned chocolate cakes we’ve ever experienced. Seriously. (Would we tease about a topic as life-altering as this?!)

Just like the much-ballyhooed chocolate blackout cake from Ebinger’s in Brooklyn, this one has the same pudding-like filling, the same tender chocolate crumb, and the same rich, rich frosting.

Sometimes simpler is better. Proof? This classic chocolate frosting from the back of the tin of Hershey’s cocoa. We dare you to not just eat it straight from the spoon.

Cream cheese frosting is adored for both its creaminess and cream cheesiness. This lighter-textured version even doubles up on the cheese factor. Get ready to lick that bowl.

Layers of vanilla cake take turns with oodles of coconut filling and the whole shebang is slathered with fluffy white icing. Uh, yes please!

These simple yet superlative little cakes are quite mind-blowing in their poundcake-like loveliness. Go on. See for yourself.