Birthday Cake, Part 2: Best. Cake. Ever. Edition

To be honest, I don't really like cake. There are a few exceptions to this rule, namely cakes of the ice cream variety, but for the most part, I prefer pie. But there is one cake that I will happily eat at any time, and that is the cake that has been our family's birthday cake for two generations. This cake is from a cookbook from the 1950s, so it's as unhealthy as it is delicious. But I figure that if you are going to pick a day to eat something unhealthy, that day should probably be your birthday, and this cake is well worth the calories.

1-2-3-4 Cake with Almond Buttercream Frosting

What You'll Need:

-For the cake:

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour (cake flour works best; this cake can be dry)

4 eggs (Have you figured out how they came up with the name yet?)

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 tsp almond extract

-For the frosting:

4 tbsp butter

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

Note: You normally have to double this recipe to yield enough frosting to cover a 13x9x2-inch cake. If you double the amount of milk, however, the frosting will be very thin. When I doubled the recipe, I only used four tbsp of milk instead of six, or just enough milk to achieve frosting consistency.

What To Do:

Preheat your oven to 350F if you are baking a 13x9x2-inch cake or 375F if you are baking two round cakes. Grease and flour your cake pan(s).

As you can see, I chose to use the waxed paper method I used when I made the chocolate cake since that cake came out of the pan so nicely.

Cream the butter and sugar together before beating in the eggs. Sift and add the dry ingredients to the batter, alternating the dry mixture with the milk and almond flavoring.

I will admit that I definitely did not sift the ingredients out of laziness, and the cake came out fine, so I don't think this is a vital step, although it would probably make the cake less dense.

Lastly, the recipe instructs you to pour the batter into the cake pan(s) and bake the 13x9x2-inch cake for 45 minutes or the two round cakes for 25 minutes. Since this cake can be dry, my goal was to get it out of the oven just as it was ready so that it wouldn't overcook, so I set the oven timer for 35 minutes instead of 45. By 30 minutes, the cake smelled done, and when I took it out of the oven at 35 minutes, it was definitely ready to come out of the oven and might have been slightly overdone. For that reason, I would definitely recommend that you keep a close eye on this cake when it is baking. This recipe is from my grandmother so I can't vouch for cooking times or temperatures -- 375F seems high and we literally always make a 13x9x2-inch cake, so I've never tested her directions for round cakes -- but I don't think there has ever been such a disparity before, so it might just be that my oven runs hot.

My definitely finished and possibly slightly overdone cake.

Anyway, once the cake is out of oven, you can start making the frosting while you wait for it to cool. If you are doubling the recipe like I did (and really, why wouldn't you, since there is no such thing as too much frosting), start by creaming the butter and gradually adding two cups of the powdered sugar.

Mmmm, sugary butter.

Next, beat in the flavoring. Once those ingredients have been combined, gradually add the rest of the sugar and the milk until the mixture reaches frosting consistency.

Admit it, you totally want some of that in your belly.

In order to add some extra whimsy to our birthdays and holidays, my mom and I usually dye the frosting a very bright color when we make this cake. I had Halloween-related plans, so I decided to dye my frosting a green that resembled grass. However, I soon discovered that this would take way more time and food coloring than I expected (I lost count at twelve drops of food coloring) so I gave up when the shade was sort of close to what I wanted.

More like clover green, and clover is kind of like grass, so yes, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I INTENDED ALL ALONG.

I wanted the frosting to resemble grass because I wanted to use candy pumpkins to make the cake resemble a pumpkin patch! I asked my very wise and former art major sister to help me with this, and she promptly took the pumpkins from me and dumped the bag on top of the cake. While I initially cringed, the cake came out great. Behold!

This is truly the perfect cake for someone with a fall birthday, if I do say so myself! My baking time must have been close to perfect because this cake was light and moist. In fact, it was so good that it could have been eaten without any frosting at all. The combination of cake and frosting is wonderful, though, because the frosting enhances the almond flavor of the cake and adds a bit more sweetness to the dessert. This cake has become a favorite of every friend I have introduced it to, and I'm sure you'll love it too. The next time someone you know has a birthday, let them eat 1-2-3-4 cake!