A decorated birthday cake with colorful candles and playful rainbow decorations, celebrating a child's special day.

6 Best Birthday Cake Recipes for Kids

Our list of the best birthday cake recipes for kids has ideas that range from quick and easy to completely extravagant! No matter how much time you choose to spend, making your own cake is a great way to reduce birthday party expenses, and will give a sweet touch to the special day.

What birthday cake recipes have been a hit at your kids birthday parties? Share a link to the recipe below with any tips for how you make or decorate it.

If your family isn't necessarily set on cake, check out our list of non-cake birthday desserts, too.

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    Confetti Party Cake

    This simple yet elegant confetti birthday cake calls for a handful of rainbow sprinkles to be mixed into the batter. It's a fun and easy recipe to make with kids - get the siblings involved to help!

    Birthday Sheet Cake

    Alexandra F.:  I love every recipe I've ever made by Ina Garten, and fortunately, everyone in our family agrees! This is a simple and delicious sheet cake perfect for a kid's birthday party. I love the subtle flavor added by the lemon zest, and the chocolate frosting is amazing. Keeping the cake in the pan makes it easy to decorate without worrying about breaking the cake while transferring it to another plate, and my kids love to help add m&ms to finish up the decoration!

    Chocolate Brownie Cake

    Kristy Pepping:  If you have a birthday child who doesn't like cake, then try this brownie-inspired chocolate cake. None of my kids like traditional cake so we like this twist for a birthday dessert option. It uses fairly easy to find ingredients and you can use different types of chocolate depending on how sweet you like it. The end result is a denser dessert much like a traditional brownie versus a fluffy cake.

    Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

    This giant chewy chocolate chip cookie decorated with a smidge of frosting and a dusting of sprinkles is every bit as delicious and festive as a traditional birthday cake. Or top the slices with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

    Harry Potter Layer Cake

    Shila:  This Harry Potter birthday cake recipe provides helpful instruction on how to dye your cake scarlet and gold (Hogwarts House colors of Gryffindor) using Americolor food coloring. If inspired, you can also substitute your own greens for Slytherin, blues for Ravenclaw, or yellows for Hufflepuff.

    Momofuku Milk Bar Cake

    Sarah C.:  If you don't want to spend a crazy amount buying the famous Momofuko Cake, use this recipe. Time consuming but delicious and oh so worth it!

Primary photo:   Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

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