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16 Delicious Birthday Cakes for Adults

August 17, 2020

Everyone loves a great birthday cake! Kids might be focused on getting as much icing as they can, but most adults crave a little more substance. Here are 16 delicious birthday cakes for adults!

a photo collage showing 4 different types of cakes

Guess what day it is?!?!?! It’s my birthday! And for the most part, when you’re an adult, a birthday is just another day. A reminder of the constant march of time, that you aren’t getting any younger. As if I need a birthday to remind me of that…I have plenty of gray hairs to remind me of that on the daily! Is there a difference between birthday cakes for kids and birthday cakes for adults? I think so. Most kids are just after as much frosting as possible…and while I definitely don’t hate a delicious frosting, I want my birthday cake to have a little something more. I have a standing request for cupcakes from Federal Bake Shop for every birthday, but I would gladly take any of these birthday cakes that anyone would like to bake for me!

Sheet Cakes

If I’m going to bake a cake, I’m going for simplicity. I can’t remember the last time I baked a layer cake. I prefer a bundt, a bar, or, my favorite, a simple sheet cake. I am the queen of taking a cake that is traditionally made as a layer cake and reimagining it as a sheet cake. Here are some of my favorites!

Classic Yellow Cake

You can’t go wrong with a classic yellow cake with chocolate icing! This one is like the boxed mix from your childhood…only not.

Check out this recipe

Italian Cream Sheet Cake

Tender white cake, cream cheese icing, coconut, and pecans? Italian cream cake has it all!

Check out this recipe
Italian cream sheet cake is a classic Southern cake made simple in a sheet pan. With cream cheese icing, pecans, and coconut, it's perfect! #cakes #baking #sheetcake #italiancreamcake #southernfood | Recipe from Chattavore.com

Hummingbird Sheet Cake

This classic Southern cake is usually a stacked-high layer cake, but I simplify it by pouring the batter into a sheet pan. So delicious!

Check out this recipe
Hummingbird sheet cake transforms a slightly fussy classic Southern cake into something easy and portable yet still SO delicious - and pretty. | recipe from Chattavore.com

Banana Pudding Cake

This poke cake has vanilla pudding, bananas, and whipped cream, just like the classic Southern dessert!

Check out this recipe
Banana pudding cake is a from-scratch poke cake with all the ingredients of a classic banana pudding. It's an amazing, flavorful addition to your Easter baking! | recipe from Chattavore.com

Pumpkin Tres Leches Cake

It doesn’t have to be fall to eat pumpkin cake! This one is SOOOOO creamy and delicious!

Check out this recipe
Pumpkin tres leches cake has the traditional flavors of the season-pumpkin and spices-with all the gooey goodness of a tres leches cake! | chattavore.com

Biscoff Cookie Butter Cake

I love cookie butter, and around here Biscoff brand is the easiest one to find. I love to make this cake with cookie butter, crushed Biscoff cookies, and just a hint of coffee flavor!

Check out this recipe
This Biscoff cake with cookie butter frosting is an easy, moist, and fabulously tasty dessert! | recipe from chattavore.com

Caramel Sheet Cake

If you are a frosting lover, this is the cake for you. Look at that layer of caramel frosting!!!

Check out this recipe
caramel cake | chattavore

Bundt Cakes, Tube Pan Cakes, and Other Single Pan Cakes

I love an angel food cake, a good bundt cake, or any other cake that I can make in a single pan. The pans may not be portable like a sheet pan is, but these cakes are still dead simple and incredibly tasty!

Chocolate Stout Cake

My husband owns a beer store, so there’s no shortage of new beers to bake and cook with. A great stout pairs perfectly with deep, rich chocolate in this simple but decadent cake!

Check out this recipe
chocolate stout cake| chattavore

Pumpkin Angel Food Cake

Pumpkin, again! It’s hard to find a recipe for pumpkin angel food cake from scratch…most of them involve boxed mixes. This one is easy, light, and airy. Pumpkin perfection!

Check out this recipe
pumpkin angel food cake from scratch // chattavore

Spiced Apple Cake

This easy cake is packed full of apples with lots of warm spices. It’s an amazing cake!

Check out this recipe
apple cake // chattavore

French Yogurt Cake

Yogurt cake is often one of the first things that French children learn to bake, and it’s easy to see why. Just a few simple ingredients measured in equal parts, and it yields a yummy, citrusy cake!

Check out this recipe

Bars

They may not be traditional, but who would turn up their nose at a delicious bar cookie? I certainly wouldn’t!

Wedding Cake Bars

These cake mix bars are thickly flavored with almond and frosted with a layer of almond-flavored icing, and I could easily eat them every. single. day.

Check out this recipe

Red Wine Brownies with Cheesecake Swirl

I mean, read the name of the recipe.

Check out this recipe
red wine cheesecake brownies | chattavore

Mint Cookie Cheesecake Bars

These bars are made with a simple cheesecake batter and mint Oreos, and I wish someone would bring me some right now!

Check out this recipe
Mint cookie cheesecake bars are mint Oreo cheesecake heaven in a bar cookie! | chattavore.com

Apple-Walnut Blondies

Finished with a salted caramel whiskey sauce, these bars are decadent, delicious, and basically autumn in bar cookie form!

Check out this recipe
apple-walnut blondies | chattavore

Salted Caramel Brownies

A perfect finish…chewy, fudgy brownies topped with smooth salted caramel…perfection!

Check out this recipe
Salted caramel brownies are gooey, sweet, a little salty...and worth every.single.calorie. | chattavore.com

What are your favorite birthday cakes for adults?

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Filed Under: By Course, Dessert, Easy Baking, Easy Recipes, Recipes Tagged With: baking, cakes, dessert By Mary // Chattavore Leave a Comment

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About Chattavore

Hi, I'm Mary! Welcome to Chattavore, a destination for people who want to feed themselves and their families well every day! Life can be crazy, which means that getting dinner on the table can be a challenge (more often than not!) and my mission is to take all your favorite recipes and figure out how to serve them on a Tuesday.

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