6 Cakes for Any Occasion

Welcome to Kelly’s Kitchen.  It’s birthday week for us here in Athens.  Yesterday, Beth celebrated her 64th, and tomorrow my husband celebrates his 38th.  To celebrate, I thought I’d round up 6 cakes for any special occasion.

I’ve made each cake over the past year for different celebrations—Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, birthdays—and more.  There’s a wide variety, so I’m pretty sure you’ll find one that you like.  And if you have a sweet tooth like me, you’ll probably want to try them all.

The Summary

  Kelly is sharing 6 cakes for any special occasion

  You can get the full recipe card for a dish by clicking the link at the end of each section

6 Cakes for Any Special Occasion

1. Lemon Cake w/ Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Hello and welcome! Every so often we do a sweet treat here on Djalali Cooks and today I wanted to share with you this Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. I think it’s a perfect Mother’s Day dessert. But you don’t have to get fancy with it! I recently purchased a couple 6-inch cake tins that I wanted to try out, so I though this would be the perfect time for it. This cake recipe makes enough batter for a 13×9-inch baking pan. You can make it sheet cake-style, cut the sheet cake in half to make a layer cake, or you can do what I did and make a small layer cake, and then make cupcakes with the remaining batter. Are you ready? Let’s do it!

[GET THE RECIPE CARD HERE]

2. White Cake w/ Malted Milk Chocolate Frosting

Perhaps you need an amazingly simple, yet utterly delicious cake for a potluck, birthday party or other festivity. Hello, sheet cake. While this white cake is tender, moist and wonderful with any frosting you choose, the Malted Milk Chocolate frosting really makes this cake special. The meringue buttercream is silky smooth and the malted milk flavor is an unexpected twist. Let’s do it – White Cake with Malted Milk Chocolate Frosting.

[GET THE RECIPE CARD HERE]

3. The Best Buttermilk Pound Cake Ever

My sweet tooth has been reactivated. I have been craving dessert after dinner lately. And while a glass of wine usually accounted for this, I thought a simple cake would satisfy the craving. So today, we have The Best Buttermilk Pound Cake Ever, with a rich dark chocolate glaze. Let’s do it!

[GET THE RECIPE CARD HERE]

4. A Carrot Cake for All Seasons

Hello and Welcome! Is there any time of year when a Carrot Cake isn’t welcome? Its warm spice is as perfectly at home in the fall and winter as it is in the spring, when we all have Easter on our minds. When I lived in Alaska, every birthday party I went to had a Carrot Cake. Why was this cake so ubiquitous? Is it because somehow if it has a vegetable in it, it feels like less of an indulgence? It’s still cake y’all! Frosting, sugar…still cake. Anywho, it’s Alex’s favorite cake and he doesn’t like pie, so if you’re in that camp too, why not make a Carrot Cake for Thanksgiving dessert? Let’s do it!

[GET THE RECIPE CARD HERE]

5. Campari Olive Oil Cake

Hello Friends! I have a sweet treat for today’s post. If you’re a subscriber, you may have noticed that I have often included recipes for Campari-based cocktails in the emails – it’s no secret, it’s my favorite apéritif! I came across this recipe for Campari Olive Oil Cake, by Melissa Clark. I was so intrigued, I had to try it! So today, we are making this citrusy cake with an easy whipped crème fraîche to top.

[GET THE RECIPE CARD HERE]

6. The Rebel Thanksgiving Cheesecake

Hello Everyone! Today is all about dessert. I am excited to share this one with you because I had never made a cheesecake before! Its reputation for being difficult has always deterred me. But for Thanksgiving this year, I want to do one dessert that was unexpected. We will have Pecan Pie, and Beth is bringing a pumpkin dessert, so this cheesecake will be the outlier. The rebel Thanksgiving cheesecake! This isn’t a pumpkin cheesecake, or anything Thanksgiving-y like that. Today we are talking about the classic Cheesecake. (But, I do have one little twist…)

[GET THE RECIPE CARD HERE]

In Case You Missed It

To celebrate her birthday, Beth picked her favorite Summer outfits and cocktails.  If you missed the post, make sure to click the title or image below to read the article.

My Favorite Casual Outfits

About The Author

Kelly Djalali

Kelly is our 40s+ fashion & food contributor. She posts a Daily Look on Tuesdays, writes about Fashion on Thursdays, joins Beth for Fridays with Oscar and shares a new recipe on Sunday.

She’s 48, 5’0, and a petite 0/XS.

Kelly also has a food blog called Djalali Cooks, which you can find by clicking the world icon below.

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