10 Delicious Cake Ideas For January Birthdays

January is the birthday of the new year, after all, so it should properly be celebrated with the quintessential birthday cake: Funfetti. The more rainbow sprinkles, the better! This fabulous cake goes all-out party with funfetti-fied vanilla cake dolled up with purple frosting and a mix of rainbow and star-shaped sprinkles for maximum edible bling. But you can choose whichever colors seem the most celebratory to you — and even dye your vanilla cake to match.

Frosty the Snowman was a jolly happy cake... With pretzel arms and a carrot nose and two eyes made out of Junior Mints... Well, maybe this song doesn’t scan so well as the original, but this adorable 3D snowman cake is sure to make any birthday jollier and happier.

Did you know that pecan pie was January-born Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite food? And did you also know that you can make pecan pie into cake?! If you love pecan pie as much as MLK (and most people!) do, but want a real cake for your January birthday, here’s a delicious compromise, featuring brown sugar cake and filling that tastes like actual pecan pie.

January is a month for lots of indoor play, when Legos reign supreme. Give your master builder a Lego themed birthday cake with colored fondant blocks on the outside and blocks of rainbow colored cake inside. You can even combine dessert with gifts and top the cake with new minifigs ... as long as no one eats them.

Nothing says “eat me” like an Alice in Wonderland cake. Get a little whimsical with your party refreshments in honor of Lewis Carroll’s January birthday. This teacup-topped, teetering cake will have you grinning like the Cheshire Cat (who forms its bottom layer).

This month’s National Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day (January 3) is a sadly under-observed Hallmark holiday. If you love the combination of tart cherries and sweet sweet chocolate, join the celebration with this very pink chocolate-cherry cake. It combines chocolate cake with a cherry ganache filling, covered in bright pink cherry frosting and drizzled with gooey chocolate ganache. Actual chocolate-covered cherries are ripe for picking off the top of the cake.

Whether you’re a Frozen fan, or just love the magic of a wintry snowfall, a snowflake cake is a fitting centerpiece for a January birthday party. Cover your favorite flavor of cake with a shimmering blue marbled fondant and frost it (pun intended!) with edible snowflakes and icicles. We haven’t tested whether eating snowflake cake can bring on a snow day, so you’ll still need to wear your pajamas inside out and flush an ice cube down the toilet.

January-born A.A. Milne gave the world an amazing gift when he invented Winnie the Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Woods. The beloved characters have topped many a birthday cake, including some first-birthday smash cakes. Your birthday bear might request chocolate or white cake, but if you want to be true to Pooh, look for a recipe that works in a little taste of “hunny.”

If chilly January had a signature drink, we bet it would be hot chocolate, topped with melty marshmallows. Turn that tummy-warming beverage into a solid dessert with a hot chocolate birthday cake. Bake a cake using unsweetened hot cocoa, layer it with marshmallow-flavored frosting made from hot chocolate mix, and top it with ooey-gooey marshmallows drizzled in chocolate. Bonus points if your birthday is January 31, National Hot Chocolate Day.

If your Capricorn thinks penguins are the GOAT, this penguin cake will make her day. The 3D penguin is actually four layers of cake, covered with fondant and outfitted with sugar-cookie ear muffs. You might want to make some extra cupcakes to put candles in, so you don’t have candles rising out of the penguin’s head. Just be prepared for a few tears when it’s time to slice the cake.