Milk Bar Birthday Cake (Printable)

Playful vanilla layer cake with creamy frosting, rainbow sprinkles, and buttery crumb topping for birthdays.

# What You Need:

→ Cake Components

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→ Birthday Cake Crumb

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→ Frosting

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→ Assembly

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# Directions:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line a quarter sheet pan (9x13 inches) with parchment paper.

02 - Whisk cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Beat butter, shortening, and sugars on medium-high until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. Reduce speed; add buttermilk, milk, and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in sprinkles.

03 - Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake 28-32 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in pan.

04 - Lower oven to 300°F. Combine flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, and sprinkles. Add melted butter and vanilla; mix with fork until clusters form. Spread on lined baking sheet and bake 15 minutes, stirring halfway. Cool completely.

05 - Beat butter, shortening, and cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla and salt. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until fluffy. Add milk as needed for spreadable consistency.

06 - Mix milk and vanilla in small bowl. Using 6-inch cake ring, cut two full circles and two half circles from cooled cake.

07 - Place cake round in lined 6-inch ring on cake board. Brush with vanilla milk. Spread 1/5 frosting, sprinkle 1/3 crumbs. Repeat: half-circles, milk soak, frosting, crumbs. Top with final round, soak, finish with frosting and remaining crumbs.

08 - Chill in ring at least 1 hour (up to overnight). Remove ring, transfer to platter, serve at room temperature.

# Expert Tips:

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Its everything you loved about childhood birthday cakes but sophisticated enough for adults
The combination of moist cake, creamy frosting, and that signature crumb creates textures you just cant get anywhere else

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The cake absolutely must be completely cool before assembly or the frosting will slide right off the layers
Classic jimmies sprinkles work best because nonpareils will bleed color into your batter and turn it gray
That vanilla milk soak seems unnecessary but its what makes every bite equally moist throughout

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Room temperature ingredients combine better and create a smoother batter, so plan ahead and leave everything out for an hour before starting
When folding in sprinkles, use just three or four gentle turns so you dont knock air out of the batter or break the sprinkles

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