How do you make a birthday cake?

Make a birthday cake by combining cake ingredients, baking and cooling the cake and then decorating it. Bake the cake from scratch, or use a cake mix with canned frosting.

1. Choose a recipe and assemble ingredients

   Choose a cake recipe, and gather the essential ingredients. Most cake recipes call for flour, oil, eggs and flavoring. Cake mixes from boxes require eggs, water, and oil or butter.

2. Mix and bake the cake

   Mix the ingredients according to the recipe. Cake recipes typically require mixing the ingredients until moistened, then beating them with a mixer on medium speed for two minutes. Pour the batter into a greased pan, and bake the pan in a preheated oven for as long as specified.

3. Cool the cake

   Once the cake is done, remove the pan from the oven, and let it cool on a wire rack. After 10 to 15 minutes, flip the cake directly onto the wire rack to finish cooling. Cool the cake for at least two hours before icing.

4. Ice and decorate the cake

   Prepare icing from scratch or from a can, then apply the icing to the cake. For a layer cake, spread a thick layer of icing on the bottom layer before stacking the other layers on top. Add candy or decorations if desired.