Ultimate Sundae Birthday Cake ~ Recipe | Queenslee Appétit (2024)

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This Ultimate Sundae Birthday Cake has layers of moist chocolate cake, vanilla sprinkle buttercream, chocolate buttercream, and caramel buttercream -then it’s covered in vanilla frosting and decorated with sprinkles, ganache, caramel, cherries and more! If you like sundaes, you’ll LOVE this fun and delicious version of one!

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Post Updated: 10/13/2019

Ultimate Sundae Birthday Cake

IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!!!! The day has finally come – the big 2-0. My teenage years are behind me, and now I’m officially an adult *shivers*.

Of course, you can’t have a birthday celebration without cake, and since I’m celebrating the start of my twenties – I had to go all out!

Chocolate Cake Layers

Alright, where do I start with this wonderfully wild cake?

Well, to begin, I made 4 layers of super moist and delicious chocolate cake. The recipe for the chocolate cake is very simple – just mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then mix them together. Can’t get any easier than that!

Update!

I just updated this recipe, this time using the same moist and fudgy chocolate cake I used for my Turtle Chocolate Layer Cake recipe!

This newer chocolate cake recipe requires a few more steps, but it’s still very simple! Since this is a tall cake, I wanted the layers to be more stable, because the last time I made this recipe, I had trouble stacking the layers without pieces of them breaking off.

To make the cake, we start by adding all of the dry ingredients to one bowl. Next, you’ll need to cream the butter and sugar. Do not skimp on this part! It should mix on medium-high speed for at least 4-5 minutes until it’s nice and pale.

Mix in the eggs, then sour cream, which will add lots of moisture and flavour. Speaking of flavour, to flavour this cake, I combined vanilla extract and instant coffee. The coffee is the KEY to getting that deep intense chocolate flavour!

Finally, mix in the dry ingredients and wet ingredients and the cakes ready for the oven! I made chocolate cake because it’s my favourite flavour, but you can use any flavour of cake you want. Maybe banana for a banana split sundae cake?

3 different frosting flavours!

Between these moist and fluffy chocolate cake layers are the top 3 sundae flavours – vanilla, chocolate and caramel! I started by making my Dreamy Vanilla Buttercream. The best part about this buttercream recipe is that it can be used as a base to create many different flavours simply by incorporating different additions!

The first layer is a vanilla sprinkle buttercream – which is simply vanilla buttercream with sprinkles mixed in.

The next layer is all about the love of my life – chocolate! I added a few tablespoons of cocoa powder to my vanilla buttercream to make a chocolate buttercream. I then drizzled on some chocolate sauce and sprinkled chopped peanuts on top, since those are 2 of my favourite ice-cream toppings. You can add any toppings you’d like, this is your personal sundae after all!

The final layer has caramel buttercream and caramel sauce drizzled on top, because you could never have too much caramel! I made my silky Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce and added some to my vanilla buttercream.

These three flavours combined are absolute heaven!

Colourful Sprinkle Frosting

I then frosted the cake in a teal vanilla buttercream with sprinkles mixed in to make it visually appealing. Again, with this cake being completely customizable, you could tint the frosting any colour you’d like. You can even keep it plain white or leave the sprinkles out, if you want to.

How to Decorate the ULTIMATE Sundae Cake

The decoration of the cake may look a bit complicated, but trust me, it’s really simple.

I started by pressing handfuls of sprinkles up the bottom of the cake. Then I made a simple ganache and let it drip down one half of the cake, and dripped caramel down the other side.

In the updated version of this cake, I took a page out of my Turtle Chocolate Cake recipe and alternated between ganache and caramel drips rather than separating them.

I get into more detail on how to do this in the recipe. Of course, if you’re not as extra as I am, you could use one or the other, rather than using both–but hey, this is MY birthday cake, so I can go as crazy as I want 🙂

Finally, for the topping, I piped pink rosettes around the border of the cake. After that, I piped a swirl of white frosting on top of the rosettes and placed a cherry on top of each to make this cake look more like a sundae. And because you can’t have enough sprinkles on a sundae, I sprinkled some more on top of the cake. Yum!!!!

I’m obsessed with this cake! Layer after layer of yumminess with an appearance that will make all of your party guests drool.

What a delicious way to start off my 20’s.

>>PIN THIS FOR LATER<<

More Birthday Recipes:

Birthday Cake Oreo Cake

Banana Split Cupcakes

Cotton Candy Cupcakes

Birthday Cake Oreo Fudge Brownies

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Let's get baking!

Yield: 14-16 servings

Prep Time: 50 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

This Ultimate Sundae Birthday Cake has layers of moist chocolate cake, vanilla sprinkle buttercream, chocolate buttercream, and caramel buttercream -then it's covered in vanilla frosting and decorated with sprinkles, ganache, caramel, cherries and more! If you like sundaes, you'll LOVE this fun and delicious version of one!

Ingredients

1 recipe of my homemade salted caramel sauce, cooled completely

Chocolate Cake:

2 and ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 and ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 and ½ teaspoon salt
2 and ¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 and ½ cups unsalted butter, room temperature
2 and ¼ cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
¾ cup sour cream, room temperature
1 and ½ tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 and ½ tablespoon instant coffee granules
2 and ¼ cups buttermilk, room temperature

Vanilla Buttercream (Base):

1 and ½ cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 and ½ cups salted butter, room temperature
12 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup heavy whipping cream
Teal gel food colouring
Pink gel food colouring
½ cup rainbow sprinkles

Vanilla Sprinkle Buttercream:

1 and ¼ cup vanilla buttercream (recipe above)
⅓ cup rainbow sprinkles

Chocolate Buttercream:

1 and ¼ cup vanilla buttercream (recipe above)
2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Caramel Buttercream:

1 and ¼ cup vanilla buttercream (recipe above)
3 tablespoon salted caramel sauce (recipe above)

Ganache:

½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup Heavy whipping cream

Decoration

1 cup rainbow sprinkle mix
Rainbow nonpareils
Salted Caramel Sauce, for drizzling
Maraschino Cherries with stems

Instructions

For the Chocolate Cake:

Preheat oven to 350° F (177°C). Prepare four 8-inch round cake pans with parchment rounds, and grease the sides. Set aside.
In a large bowl, sift flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk to combine, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 4-6 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Lower the speed to medium-low and add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition until just combined. Scrape down he sides and bottom of the bowl.
In a small bowl, combine the vanilla and instant coffee granules. Add the sour cream to the batter along with the vanilla coffee mixture and beat on medium speed until combined.
Alternately add dry ingredients in thirds and buttermilk in 2 additions to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat each addition just until combined. Divide batter equally between the cake pans, a little over 2 cups per pan.
Bake two layers at a time for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and cake springs back when lightly touched.
Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then turn onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting. Or at this point, you can wrap all the cake layers tightly in plastic wrap and freeze or refrigerate until ready to assemble.

For the Vanilla Buttercream:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the butters on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 5-6 minutes).
Turn the mixer to low, and gradually add half of the sugar one cup at a time. Once incorporated, add heavy cream and vanilla and beat until combined.
Add the remaining powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix on low until combined.
Once the sugar is combined, increase mixer speed to high and whip until light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes.

For the Vanilla Sprinkle Buttercream:

Transfer 1 and ¼ cup buttercream to a separate bowl and fold in ⅓ cup sprinkles. Set aside.

For the Chocolate Buttercream:

Transfer 1 and ¼ cup buttercream to a separate bowl and mix in 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder. Set aside.

For the Caramel Buttercream:

Transfer 1 and ¼ cup buttercream to a separate bowl and mix in 2 Tablespoons of caramel sauce. Set aside.

For the Ganache:

Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan until it begins to simmer. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate. Cover bowl and let sit for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Set aside.

Assemble the Ultimate Sundae Layer Cake:

Spread vanilla sprinkle buttercream on top of the first cake layer. Place second layer on top and spread chocolate buttercream on top. Place third layer on top and spread caramel buttercream on top. Place final cake layer face down. Frost entire cake in a thin layer of untinted buttercream and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Transfer 1 cup of buttercream to one bowl and ¾ cup of buttercream to another. Tint the ¾ cup of buttercream pink, set aside. Leave the cup of buttercream white. Tint the remaining buttercream using sky blue gel food colouring. Fold in ¾ cup of rainbow jimmies.
Remove the cake from the fridge and frost the entire cake in a smooth layer of blue buttercream. Press sprinkles up the sides of the cake.
When the ganache is no longer warm, pour into a disposable piping bag. Snip off a small amount from the tip and draw a line in the middle of the cake. Drip the ganache off the edge of the cake.
Pour caramel sauce in another disposable bag and repeat, dripping the caramel in between the ganache drips. Put cake back in the refrigerator and chill for another 15 minutes.
Put the reserved pink and white buttercream in 2 separate piping bags fitted with a large star tip and use the pink buttercream to pipe a rosette on top of the cake. Use the white buttercream to pipe a swirl on top of each rosette. Sprinkle on rainbow nonpareils. Place a cherry on each swirl. Decorate the middle with more sprinkles.
Store cake in refrigerator for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before serving. Slice and Enjoy!

Notes

If you're not using salted butter in the frosting, add ½ teaspoon salt.
Cake layers can be made a few days ahead of time. Just tightly wrap the layers in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. Allow cake layers to thaw in the refrigerator 24 hours before you plan to decorate.

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BON APPÉTIT!

Love, Dedra

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