Find easy and delicious kids birthday cake recipes for first birthdays and beyond to celebrate that most fun milestones. Try sheet cakes, layer cakes, and cupcake recipes even beginning bakers can confidently make!
Kids Birthday Cake Recipes
I love to have food traditions and to make the same recipes for events year after year so they become part of our family story. That means we make some of the recipes in this list a lot, and others for just special occasions. Whether you’re looking for a first birthday smash cake, cupcakes for a party, a layer cake to share, lower-sugar cake, chocolate, or something else all together, this post has all the options you need.
And there are two bonus recipes at the end that are fun to make on birthdays, too!
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First Birthday Smash Cake with Yogurt Frosting
This Vanilla Oat Smash Cake with Yogurt Frosting is an easy and super special first birthday cake. It’s moist, flavorful, and so yummy—and has the creamiest yogurt frosting. Find everything you need to make this smash cake, plus allergy-friendly and make-ahead options.
This First Birthday Smash Cake has a base of rolled oats and is simply decorated—so your little one can dig right into the deliciousness. You can start prepping the frosting the night before. This recipe is baked in mini cake pans to create a small, personally sized cake for your newly minted toddler.
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Blueberry Smash Cake
Made with fresh blueberries, this First Birthday Smash Cake recipe is easy, allergy-friendly, and made without added sugar. It has the most delish Blueberry Frosting, and you can bake the cakes a day ahead if needed.
This naturally sweetened birthday cake is delicious and easy to make ahead of time. Plan ahead to let 4 bananas ripen to have brown spots to ensure that the cake has plenty of natural sweetness.
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Easy Vanilla Cake (Vegan)
With simple pantry staples, a no-fuss method, and the most tender texture, this just-sweet-enough cake is simply delicious. It’s perfect for egg-free and dairy-free baking, and for anyone just looking for a reliable, delicious Vanilla Cake.
This Easy Vanilla Cake is egg-free, dairy-free, and SO darn delicious. It’s lower in sugar but delivers on classic vanilla cake flavor and texture you expect.
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Healthy Chocolate Cake
This super easy stir-together healthy Chocolate Cake is a cinch to make, and it has less sugar than traditional cakes. Maybe “healthier” is a better term, but whatever you call it, it’s so darn good! (PS: It happens to be egg-free and vegan, too.)
This Healthy Chocolate Cake is egg-free, dairy-free, and SO darn delicious. It’s lower in sugar, but delivers on classic chocolate cake flavor you expect. (I use two 6-inch cake pans to make this cake, which is a perfect size for a small gathering or even to use as a smash cake. See the Notes for how to make this as a 9-inch cake and as cupcakes.)
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Healthy Apple Cake with Yogurt Frosting
First birthdays are so fun and bittersweet to celebrate, and this Healthy Apple Cake is one of my very favorite birthday cakes for kids. It’s SO easy to make, can be made ahead, and has a tangy yogurt frosting. Plus, it’s great for other celebrations, too!
For a first birthday or a family celebration, this Apple Cake is easy and delicious. (Note: You’ll want to start the frosting the night before you plan to make the cake so it has time to thicken.)
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Sweet Potato Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
With an easy stir-together method and a naturally sweet flavor, this delicious Sweet Potato Cake is the perfect baby cake for a first birthday, a festive holiday dessert, or a treat to share on a day that needs it!
Plan to make the cake at least 2 hours (and up to 3 days) before you want to enjoy the cake so it has time to cool.
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Fresh Strawberry Sheet Cake
This fresh Strawberry Cake is absolutely bursting with fresh berries. And the sheet cake is my go-to dessert for a potluck or picnic since you can make it up to one day ahead and serve it straight out of the fridge.
The sheet cake is my go-to dessert for a potluck or picnic since you can make it up to one day ahead and serve it straight out of the fridge. The Strawberry Frosting seals the delicious deal.
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Easy Homemade Ice Cream Cake
Using just three ingredients, you can customize a homemade Ice Cream Cake for any birthday or holiday in the flavors you (or the kids!) want. It’s super affordable, very straightforward, and so fun to make!
Plan to start making this the day before you want to serve it so it has time to freeze.
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Easy Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Celebrate a special occasion (or just a random happy afternoon!), with this yummy Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake recipe. It’s basically a giant oatmeal chocolate chip cookie that bakes up so easily in a cake pan.
If you prefer, you can use mini chocolate chips and skip the step of chopping the chocolate.
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Healthy Banana Cake
Mix up a simple batter bursting with banana, whole grains, and flavor for a healthy Banana Cake to celebrate a kid’s birthday or special event. Bonus: The whipped cream cheese frosting is so easy and the whole thing can be made ahead!
This lightly sweetened cake is perfect for a first or second birthday—or just any day where you’re craving some cake to share!
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If you have a kiddo who’s obsessed with sports or want to celebrate a big game, this Football Cake is a fun way to celebrate! It’s easy to make—no special pans needed—and full of chocolaty goodness!
The only thing to keep in mind when making this is that when you make either frosting, you’ll want to set aside a small amount of it before you add the cocoa powder so you have frosting to make the white laces.
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Favorite Rainbow Cake
Learn how to make a fun Rainbow Cake that actually looks like a rainbow with this method anyone can do—even novice bakers! This method is a super fun way to make a kid’s birthday cake to delight everyone—especially the rainbow-lovers.
This recipe delivers a cake that actually looks like a rainbow, which will delight kids and adults on birthdays or for a special occasion. This cake is best on the day it’s made.
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Mini Carrot Cake Cupcakes
My family is a big fan of all things carrot cake, and these mini cupcakes are one of our favorite desserts. The cake part is packed with fresh carrots, cinnamon, and golden raisins, and they’re topped with a swirl of Cream Cheese Frosting.
Perfectly moist mini Carrot Cake Cupcakes (with easy Cream Cheese Frosting) are a delicious dessert to share with the kids—whether for a spring holiday, Easter, a kid’s birthday, or any special occasion!
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Healthy Vanilla Cupcakes
This cupcake recipe is one of the staples in our repertoire for kids birthday parties and holidays, and it is exactly what you want from a cupcake—fluffy, loaded with vanilla flavor, and sweet enough that no one will mistake it for a muffin.
These Healthy Vanilla Cupcakes are light, fluffy, and moist. They’re also less sweet than most conventional cupcakes, both in the cake and in the pretty pink frosting, but they are still SO delicious!
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Easy Chocolate Cupcakes
This Easy Chocolate Cupcake recipe is a lower-sugar take on a classic dessert—but it’s filled with chocolaty flavor and creamy frosting that the kids will totally love. And: They are so easy to make!
This Easy Chocolate Cupcake recipe is a lower sugar take on a classic dessert—but it’s filled with chocolatey flavor and creamy frosting that the kids will totally love. (This recipe makes a dozen modest-sized cupcakes or 9 more standard cupcakes.)
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Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
I am always searching for recipes that are simple, don’t need hard-to-find ingredients, and are easy enough to vary so more families can enjoy them. And these vegan cupcakes? Oh gosh, they are just so good.
Made with pantry staples and without eggs or dairy, these are literally the easiest cupcakes—and the best vegan Chocolate Cupcakes I’ve ever had. Top with a frosting of your choosing.
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Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes
With a simple stir-together method, these easy Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are a perfect fall dessert to share with the kids! They have less sugar than similar cupcakes yet deliver big time on both texture and flavor.
I like to frost these soon before serving. You can make the frosting ahead, transfer it to a zip top bag, and store in the fridge until ready to add to the cupcakes.
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Favorite Banana Cupcakes
These Banana Cupcakes boast seriously sweet banana flavor and a deliciously creamy Cream Cheese Frosting. And they are so easy to bake up (even a day ahead!). They’re perfect for a first birthday—or any special occasion.
This naturally sweet cupcake is perfect for a first birthday—or any birthday there after. See the Notes section under the recipe for allergy-friendly variations. We love this with Cream Cheese Frosting.
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Favorite Birthday Cake Muffins
These Birthday Cake Muffins combine ease, nutrition, and FUN for a total win of a kid’s breakfast or snack. Plus: They store well for days and are made with basic pantry staples.
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Funfetti Pancakes (Birthday Cake)
Perfectly fluffy pancakes, made more fun? These Funfetti Pancakes are exactly that—and they are just so yummy. They’re perfect to celebrate a holiday, birthday, or special day—or just as a way to make breakfast more fun for the kids.
Perfectly fluffy pancakes, made more fun? These Funfetti Pancakes are exactly that—and they are just so yummy. They’re perfect to celebrate a holiday, birthday, or special day … or just as a way to make breakfast more fun for the kids.
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