I have tried and failed three times to bake a cake from scratch. This year, with the help of a little birthday magic, a stand mixer, and a kitchen scale, I finally pulled off making a birthday cake from scratch.

The cake is adapted from a NYT recipe for a loaf cake. I modified the recipe based on other people's comments, my own trial and error, and using a round springform cake pan instead of a loaf pan. The original calls for a sugar icing, but I added a special homemade cream cheese frosting, because it's my birthday so I get to use my favorite icing.

🐿️

If you have any trouble baking or any tweaks, please shoot me an email and I will update the recipe as soon as I can.