May 15, 2022

This year, Kev and I celebrated our birthdays with a spin on a classic birthday treat. Birthdays are synonymous with colorful cakes and sprinkles. The typical traditional birthday celebratory dessert I remember eating year after year for birthdays is a sprinkle cake also known as confetti or funfetti cake. These cakes come in many varieties and often seem to be the go-to cake for celebrations. Instead of a traditional layered confetti cake, I decided to bake up a confetti sponge roll packed with colorful sprinkles. The sponge cake is rolled and filled with a lightly sweetened cream of course! Although I could have added more sprinkles to the filling to make it even more festive, I decided to top each slice with additional sprinkles right before serving. Sponge cakes are one of my family’s favorite treats. They absolutely love swinging by the local Asian bakeries in Brooklyn to get their fix of sponge cakes. It didn’t matter the time of day – they would enjoy a slice for breakfast, lunch, and even a pre or post dinner treat. The springy light texture of the cake leavened with eggs paired perfectly with a slightly sweet cream filling. Sponge cakes always made for an easy yet delicious treat to close out a meal. Throughout my childhood, my parents almost always defaulted to a version of sponge cake to celebrate birthdays. It was either a sponge cake or a chiffon cake, depending on bakery availability and mood. Occasionally, they would opt for a Carvel ice cream cake, one of my absolute favorite cakes. I always seem to go for the ice cream cake with a cone topping (usually in the decoration of a clown). The more chocolate crunchies packed into the center of the ice cream cake the better – that’s a story for another day though. Since my parents are staying with Kev and I over the next few weeks to help us prepare for the arrival of our little one, it was only fit to thank them through homemade treats. My confetti sponge roll cake was the perfect treat to thank my parents and celebrate both Kev and my birthday. I usually make a slightly more decadent version of a sponge roll cake during the holidays. Two years ago, I opted for a matcha chocolate sponge roll featuring alternating layers of regular and chocolate cream and designed to look like a holiday log with a festive touch. For a birthday version, I omitted the matcha and chocolate and tossed in colorful sprinkles into the batter right before baking. I tried to evenly distribute the colorful sprinkles throughout the cake and bake it for just a few minutes in a high temperature oven. I would then set the cake aside to cool slightly before pre-rolling the cake, letting it completely cool, and filling it with a super easy lightly sweetened cream. Right before serving, I would slice up pieces of the cake and top it with more sprinkles for the special birthday touch. To make the birthday celebration even sweeter, I brewed up some birthday tea from Harney & Sons and served the tea alongside slices of the confetti cake. This simple dessert was the perfect nostalgic birthday treat (with a twist) to celebrate our birthdays with my parents.