Birthday cake for two year old

[imnotgoinghomeyet]

I’m the family baker, I love it and love making cakes so it’s not a problem.

I’ve been asked to make a birthday cake for the baby of the family for this weekend. It’s meant to be a nice day and we’re having a BBQ. The problem is I just don’t know what to do? There will be more adults than children there who want the cake, so I’d like to try and balance it between a children’s cake and one adults can enjoy too.

She has asked for chocolate cake along with her sibling (well, I asked her if she wanted chocolate or vanilla and it sounded like she said chocolate 😂) but some of the adults going don’t like chocolate.

What do I make?! AIBU to want the adults to enjoy it too and I should just make it a kid’s cake?!

Could you perhaps do cupcakes in a couple of different flavours and arrange them in the shape of a number 2? Something a bit like this:

https://youtube.com/shorts/V8u5fzTJrrM?si=mQRlY1qjOkvdYOCe

I think they're called "pull apart cupcakes" or something!

Realistically I know this but it’s just so horrible 🥲

You asked the birthday kid what they want and they said chocolate, so it has to be chocolate! The idea of a second lemon cake sounds ideal to me though then you can enjoy that bake. Kid won’t care if the chocolate cake is your best or not, they’ll just love anything chocolatey

Chocolate Hedgehog cake - baked in a large pudding basin. Chocolate butter icing and covered in flakes. Eyes and nose are cherries and sultanas.

Do half and half? One half chocolate and one half vanilla?

My chocolate cake recipe is clearly too controversial! Anyway it's fine with vanilla buttercream.

for both my grandchildren's 2nd birthdays I have made a nice sponge with a layer of jam in it, suitable for adults to enjoy. Then I've bought an edible icing topper with their current favourite thing on - for the first GC it was Iggle Piggle from the Midnight Garden and for the second it was a Rainbow Unicorn (you can source these edible topper on-line; you can even upload a picture yourself).

Sorry - child has asked for chocolate cake. Just do as above with a chocolate sponge. If they have asked for chocolate cake they really should get a chocolate cake. Where I come from the 2 year-olds birthday cake isn't much to do with the eating, it is much more to do with the happy child.

Make a number 2, make the curve with vanilla and the tail with chocolate and do both with pink buttercream icing or something? My friend did this with a 1 cake. Main length in proper cake, bottom bit in sugar free baby cake. Worked really well.

Bake one tin of chocolate and one of vanilla, cut them both in half and place on top of each other, push together, so you have half and half. Put buttercream on the top, job done!

Do a two tier cake. Easy peasy as all you need are some dowels you can cut to size. I make the support base for the top tier out of cardboard wrapped in tinfoil.

Ice with a white chocolate ganache as that will also go with loads of other flavours you can use for the non choc cake.

If it's going to be a boiling hot day, do an Italian meringue buttercream as its much more stable and won't melt.

Make the cake the kids will enjoy! In my family it's a tradition; it's a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and the number e.g 2 spelt out in maltersers or chocolate buttons . It's simple. I am not a massive chocolate fan but my kids are so they always get chocolate cake

What kind of recipe are you using for a chocolate cake to always be dry? I asked chocolate cake all the time and it is never dry. Maybe look at some new recipes? You dont need to have chocolate icing. I have done normal vanilla butter cream, fudge, Italian meringue, caramel and peanut butter flavoured icing over the years.

What about a marble cake? I did my son’s at the weekend and used a ganache filling and crumb coat which was much more stable in the heat than buttercream. The cake wasn’t overpoweringly chocolatey so was a nice balance.

Back in the day for toddler birthdays I would make a round cake - cut the top off - cut that in half and then stick the pieces on top of the cake to look like cat ears - simpler times!

What kind of pissy immature adults do you hang out with that wouldn't a) recognise that a 2yo gets to choose their cake, b) decide whether or not they want some cake and deal with it if they don't want some?

Make some additional cake in whatever flavour you like, but this is a no brainer.

Split it and spread with raspberry jam and put it back together.

And change your recipe. There are plenty that won’t give you a dry cake.

Sounds like you have a terrible recipe. Good chocolate cakes are delicious, moist, and not remotely boring. You can also cover a chocolate cake with fondant and make the decorations anything you like, it's easy enough to do.

Agree with pp that it's not a question of what to do: the birthday person has asked for a chocolate cake, so make a chocolate cake. The preferences of the adults present are irrelevant.

I was wondering this! Happy to share a recipe if it helps.

Anyone who doesn't like chocolate cake is just wrong 😉

I’ve used multiple and they’re all dry and vile.

Old school swimming pool cake!
Chocolate sponge + buttercream, choc fingers round the sides, blue jelly on the top

God that looks delicious

Multiple recipes? If so you are either bad at baking, or I suspect the case is that you just don’t like chocolate cake, plenty of other people do though, including the birthday kid, so chocolate cake is will be fine. Use a supermarket box mix if you are that unsure

Nigella's old fashioned chocolate cake is always amazing and stable enough to ice. The garden decorations idea sounds lovely.

You are very kind, thank you ❤️