Half Birthday Cakes

I think it was when my daughter was three and a half years old, we decided to start celebrating half birthdays. By that point, she was making sure everyone knew she was two and a half versus three versus three AND A HALF. So, we decided to start a family tradition of marking the occasion.  We make a half cake and sing "Happy Half Birthday to you..." and blow out # and a half candles.  No presents. As much as my daughter begs, we don't give gifts.


First of all, I usually make a whole cake and then just cut it in half.  And for the candles, we just shove one of them farther down into the cake.

So, here are a few of the half birthday cakes I have made over the years for my son and daughter.

The Giant Cupcake has made several appearances over the years on half birthdays. 

I have also made a round or square layer cake and then cut it in half and stacked it up to make a half cake that is twice as tall.  My son likes sprinkles.  Can you tell?

My daughter requested a cheesecake one year.

And the Giant Chocolate Donut is always popular.

Giant Cupcake!

This year, for my daughter's half birthday, she choose to have half of a giant cupcake (just like last year). So, the first thing we had to do was bake a whole giant cupcake so that we could later cut it in half.The first thing you will need is a Giant Cupcake pan. Mine is from Wilton.  

You will also need two boxes of cake mix and all of the corresponding ingredients or the ingredients to make your cake batter from scratch.  You won't use all of the batter.  There should be some left for a few normal size cupcakes or whatever you want.

Hannah chose Devil's Food for the bottom half and Strawberry for the top.  Mix up the batter so it was ready to go.  And preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  (Wilton shares instructions for this process on their webpage, so you might want to skim their's also.)

Now to prep your pan.  I highly recommend Baker's Joy spray.  This whole process is entirely dependent on the cake coming cleanly out of the pan.  And this pan has a lot of small areas for cakes to get stuck.  You can just do the "grease and flour" thing, but I find the spray much easier.

For now, just spray the side of the pan that makes the bottom of the giant cupcake.  Get it really coated.  Don't leave any dry spots.  Then fill with your "bottom batter".  For our cake, that was the Devil's Food.  Fill it up about 2/3 of the way.  I think Wilton recommends 3 1/2 cups, but I really hate measuring prepared batter so I eyeball it to about 2/3 full.

Now this is where I stray from the official instructions.  I put mine in the oven at this point - with the "top" section still empty and unsprayed.  Bake for 10-15 minutes.  (You are going to bake for an hour total, so either set the timer for an hour at this point and set a second timer for 10 minutes, or set it for 10 now and 50 later.  Up to you.)

Remove the pan from the oven.  Spray the heck out of the empty section.  

Then fill about 2/3 full with the other batter.  (Wilton says 2 1/2 cups.)  We did Strawberry and I filled it up to about where the swirl lines start.  

And then get it back in the oven to bake for the remaining 50 minutes.  

Baking in progress!

After that, do your toothpick test to see if it is done.  Ours was.  (Then bake your cupcakes according to package directions.

Let it cool about 15 minutes in the pan. Then dump it out.  If you sprayed yours successfully, it should pretty much fall out when you turn your pan over.


Now, let the cake cool completely.  Then level off the baked top of each piece.  I used a massive serrated knife.

Please ignore my cluttered counter!  And my almost 6.5 YO is the photographer on some of these, if you couldn't tell.

Spread some icing on the cut side of the bottom and carefully place the top on...umm...top.  Handle it gently so it doesn't crack.

Now decorate it as you see fit.  We left the bottom un-iced.  Hannah coated the top in cherry icing.  
Not sure how all of this is going to taste together, but she picked it all out.  I hope she likes it.  And then she did a lovely rainbow design with sprinkles.

Then, we will end up cutting the whole thing in half, because she only gets half of a birthday cake on her half birthday.  (The other half usually ends up going to work with me.)

Sing "Happy Half Birthday to you...", blow out the 6 1/2 candles, and enjoy!

One extra tip - Before putting away your Baker's Joy, turn the can upside down over your sink and spray it until it is just spraying clear.  Then run the sprayer tip under hot water for a few seconds.  This should keep it from clogging up between uses.

Giant Chocolate Donut Cake

This was much easier than it looks and turned out much better than I expected. It wasn't until I saw the finished product that I decided it was post-worthy and then it was too late for in-process photos. Maybe I'll have to make another one and take more pictures.


The key to the whole thing is the pan. My husband bought it for me for Christmas. He got it at Big Lots for $5 apparently, but I am guessing you can get them online or in other stores.

It is silicone, there are two identical pan pieces, one for the top half, one for the bottom.

I preheated the oven as directed on the box cake mix. I prepared the batter according to the box directions. Then spray the pans thoroughly with Baker's Joy to ensure easy cake removal. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Mine have max fill lines inside them.


The instructions that came with the pans gave recommended bake time, I think it was about 30 minutes. You can do the toothpick test to check. Let them cool in the pans for a bit then cool completely on a rack.


Flip them back over and use a cake leveler to get a nice even surface on each. I used standard store-bought icing to put a layer across the cut surface of the bottom cake. Then carefully flip the other cake over on top of the first, being careful not to break the cake and line up the edges as best you can.


Next step is icing. I scooped more out of the same container as before and put it in a microwaveable bowl. I warmed it up for 10-15 seconds - enough to make it soft, but not too runny. (If you make it too runny, like I did the first time, add another spoonful of room temp icing and stir.) Pour the warm icing over the top of the donut/cake and let it drizzle down the sides a bit. Once you've got the icing good, top with chocolate sprinkles.


Serve to a delighted birthday boy (or whoever you feel is deserving of a delicious cake, maybe even yourself).

Of course, you can make any combination of cake flavor and icing and decorations you want. You could even hollow out a "trough" and put a filling in before putting the top cake on.


Enjoy! And let me know how it goes.