I love me a good birthday cake. I’m also a sucker for sprinkles.

Seriously – have you ever just tried adding sprinkles to your ice cream creation at Marble Slab? Or perhaps toss some sprinkles in pancakes? They have a strange ability to make decently tasty things even more incredible. So this year, when my lovely friend Chelsey told me her favourite cake was anything chocolate or ‘birthday cake’, I obviously jumped at the idea of more sprinkles!

Enter the Ultimate Birthday Cake from ‘Baked Occasions’. This thing is LOADED with sprinkles and my heart couldn’t be happier. After a quick read through the ingredients, I decided it was doable. I set off to the grocery store after work (which, I had to work late so this cake-baking escapade had me strolling into the grocery store at 7:30 pm to raid the shelves and get what I needed).

I made a pitstop at the liquor store to grab a bottle of the good old white wine that Kara had gotten me hooked on, grabbed about a kilo of sprinkles from Bulk Barn, and headed home.

I have to admit, I don’t often sift flour for baking, nor had I ever made basically a meringue for a cake batter mix, but this cake mix, as weird as the steps were to me, was absolutely to die for raw. It looked incredible and somehow tasted better. I popped my cakes in the oven, and figured I’d get a few rounds of Fortnite in while they baked. Nope. Wrong. The frosting required 15 minutes boiling on the stove (what?) followed by another 7-9 cooling the mixture off in a mixer before adding some butter to it. I told you – instructions – weird.

Needless to say, I pressed on. This cake was going to be the dang best ‘birthday cake’ birthday cakes I ever did make. And let me tell you, it really was one of the best cakes. Chelsey and the boys loved it too!

I will say though, the icing did not turn out as intended. I think I went wrong in the boiling the milk and cream step. Despite it being on medium, and my whisking, it was starting to burn. I think I ended up taking it off the heat before it was thickened enough. It was kind of a happy accident though. Aside from the brown goop of liquid that had collected on the edge of the cake board from the liquid mixing with the sprinkles, the icing ended up kind of melting into the cake in the middle layers and infusing it with a sweet delicious moisture.

Overall, it was a huge win.

Oh, and the best part, even though I didn’t intend for cakes to make up the majority of my ‘trying new recipes’ for my 28×29 list, this one checks that off too! Boom.

What’s your favourite type of birthday cake? Share your pictures or recipes with me!