For all the baking that I do, there is one art I have never quite mastered, and that is the humble cake.

A good friend of mine has floated the theory that perhaps it’s because — prepare yourself for this one — I don’t like cake.

I know!

I just don’t think it’s a particularly good food. I never want to eat birthday cake. I hate being socially obligated to eat a piece of it. It just does nothing for me.

Why can’t it just be brownies?

But as my kids have gotten older, I’ve had to admit there is an undeniable magic in the humble art of baking a homemade birthday cake. And here’s the thing: it doesn’t have to be perfect.

It doesn’t have to be Pinterest-worthy. It doesn’t have to be professional-level. It certainly doesn’t need to be one of those sculpted masterpieces with seventeen different shades of buttercream.

In fact, I would argue that birthday cakes are better when they’re a little bit wonky. A little bit lopsided. A little bit off.

Fully and completely made with love.

the smartie cake

The tradition in my house growing up was a boxed white cake mix, white icing and the entire outer surface studded with multicoloured Smarties.

Candles. Boom. Classic birthday cake.

Over the years, I’ve tried to make fancier cakes for my own kids. Some have turned out reasonably well. Some have been considerably less successful.

Lately, I’ve found myself testing recipes that require a little bit less from me. Recipes that are forgiving. Recipes where I’m not going to spend the entire afternoon in the kitchen worrying about whether the cake is going to look like the cake I saw in my head.

Because honestly, if I’m stressing about the quality of the birthday cake, I’m missing the point.

the timbit cake

On the first day of school this year, I wanted to make a little after-school treat for my kids.

I had a recipe I’d been meaning to try for ages: a glazed chocolate Bundt cake that tastes remarkably like one gigantic chocolate Timbit. I figured it would make a nice little treat after a long first day.

More than half the cake disappeared in the first ten minutes between my kids and a few neighbourhood kids who showed up at my house looking for snacks.

You can always tell a recipe is a winner when it disappears that fast. The remainder was gone in 24 hours.

For my son’s birthday party, when I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, his immediate response was, "Oh, the Timbit cake. Obviously."

the point of the cake

I think this is what I’m learning about homemade birthday cakes. The point isn’t the professionalism of the cake. The point is making something for someone.

One day, my kids will be grown-ups, and I hope they remember these things. Sometimes you can feel a core memory developing in real time and this cake feels like one of them.

I wonder if they will remember it. Me always in the kitchen making something. The smell of a chocolate cake fresh from the oven.

We know the final product doesn't matter as much as the nostalgic feeling of someone you love making you your favourite cake on your birthday.

the recipe: chocolate glazed timbit bundt cake

for the cake

• 220 g (1¾ cups) all-purpose flour
• 300 g (1½ cups) granulated sugar
• 100 g (½ cup, packed) brown sugar
• 85 g (1 cup) Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 300 g (1¼ cups) milk
• 110 g (½ cup) vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 240 g (1 cup) boiling water

for the glaze

• 240 g (2 cups) powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

method

1. Prepare the pan.
   Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Generously spray a Bundt pan or grease it thoroughly with butter.
2. Mix the dry ingredients.
   Whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Mix the wet ingredients.
   In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla.
4. Combine.
   Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula just until combined.
5. Add the boiling water.
   Slowly pour the boiling water into the batter while whisking. The batter will become very thin and fluid. This is exactly what you want.
6. Bake.
   Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for 36–40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
7. Cool.
   Let the cake cool almost completely in the pan on a wire rack. It should pull away slightly from the sides as it cools.
8. Glaze.
   Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Turn the cooled cake out onto a serving plate and drizzle generously with the glaze. I repeated this process a few times for a thicker glaze and used a fan to help it dry!
   

Recipe modified from the original by The Busy Baker.