A classic yellow cake with rich chocolate frosting is a rewarding birthday treat.

This deep, rich confection topped with fudgy frosting is ideal for special occasions.

Layers of airy cake bring new life to an old favorite.

This decadent dessert is made even better when topped with our creamy seven-minute frosting.

Beneath this towering yet unpretentious appearance lies multiple layers of moist, midly spiced cake that are flecked with carrots and pecans and enveloped by a generous coating of cream cheese frosting.

This all-time favorite recipe includes an interesting way to make chocolate frosting.

Sweetened, shredded coconut sprinkled on the frosting balances the tartness of the lemon curd filling and gives the cake a whimsical flourish.

This recipe starts with a crunchy chocolate wafer cookie crust and finishes with a smooth cream-cheese filling to create a dessert that everyone will love.

This kid-pleasing marshmallow-and-crisp-rice cereal confection has a sweet secret: chocolate-marshmallow icing inside.

Instead of cake and ice cream, try a birthday party dessert inspired by both. This gooey trifle overflows with layers of vanilla cake, vanilla pudding, whipped cream, bananas, and drippy chocolate sauce.

Fluffy light-blue frosting creates scalloped waves around the sides of this chocolate cake.

Vanilla ice-cream is used to cover layers of fresh strawberries and spongy cake for a unique frozen dessert.

Cheerful colored candies spring up from a garden of lightly-tinted buttercream.

Fancy buttercream flourishes topped with nonpareil gumdrops make this dainty cake look grand.

The recipient of this showstopping cake will be over the moon with delight!

Bright-colored balls of tinted buttercream "bounce" cheerily around this pretty cake.

This light-as-air cake is just perfect for a beach-themed birthday bash!

This cake sets the stage for a movie-premiere birthday party.

This icebox cake, made with homemade chocolate wafers, is perfect for a first birthday.

Why settle on just one cake when you can have a dozen or more? It's as easy as ABC to make cupcakes using the initial of the birthday child.

Perfect for any kid's birthday party is this colorful cake filled with sweet orange marmalade and decorated in red, orange, yellow, turquoise, and royal-blue gel-paste food colors.

Molasses infused cookies transform the mundane peanut butter and jelly sandwich into a sumptuous kid-friendly dessert.

Inspired by ruffled tap pants, this cake is covered with frilly rows of white and pink frosting piped from a single bag. Three tender lemon layers make this birthday cake tall enough to show off the ribbon-candy effect of the frosting and ensure there is plenty for everyone.

This festive, delicious cake was conceived by John Baricelli, the manager of the prep kitchen at the television studio, for Martha's birthday.

This frozen treat is the perfect pick for any coffee-lover's birthday celebration.

Dried apples are plumped in warm cider then tucked between layers of clove and ginger-spiced molasses cake to create this luscious dessert perfect for a fall or winter birthday.

Sweet caramel drizzled over rich frosting makes a dessert worthy of celebration.

Adding fresh raspberries to the classic angel food cake uplifts this airy dessert.

This cake has all the necessary components for a decadent celebration: excitement (a crackly meringue top), unexpected twists (chocolate chunks and hazelnuts hidden inside), and a feel-good ending (the moist chocolate cake).

For the party's big moment, frost a cake any way you like. Center a number printout on top of the cake, and poke holes through it with a pin to site candles.

This classic Italian cake, similar to the British trifle, was made by Martha Stewart Living prep kitchen manager John Barricelli for Martha's mother's birthday.

We made this impressive dessert with the magazine's 20th anniversary in mind. Use our templates to cut numbers from sheet cakes. Fill and coat them with buttercream, and then add an orderly procession of candies. Up the dotty effect with confetti and paper plates stamped with food coloring. 

Five pastel layers form this colorful creation. You can also use the batter to make four dozen cupcakes or a two- or three-layer cake.

More Birthday Party Ideas

• Birthday Parties by Color
• Monogram Birthday Party
• Picture-Themed Birthday Party