We spend a lot of time talking about family dinners, school lunches, and easy breakfast ideas, but we have to navigate similarly around the special foods we make in between our daily cooking routines. They bring us joy and also cause stress, require planning and also have to be done on the fly (because life). Both Stacie and Meghan have kids celebrating birthdays this week, so it felt like the perfect time to talk about the most enduring of all special foods: birthday cake. We’re sharing our family traditions, recipes, and tips for baking celebration cakes from elaborate to simple but special.

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Cake is Cake is Cake

Finally, Meghan is the extra one in this episode! While she makes a strong argument that everyday cakes can double as celebration cakes too (keep it easy!), she also thinks everyday cakes should be baked, well, every day. As you can imagine, Stacie’s less down with the idea of baking on the daily, though in the end, they both hope you’ll bake more. Because you only live once.

These are the recipes mentioned in this episode: 

• The Root Beer Float Pie that Stacie made for Oliver’s birthday one year (here’s the pic of her version)

• Owl Cupcakes for Oliver’s Birthday

• Stacie’s Sheet Pan S’mores 

• Marshmallow Fondant Recipe (aka Edible Play dough)

• Homemade Maraschino Cherries

• 1-2-3-4 White Cake

• Hershey’s Chocolate Cake

• Yellow Cake Recipe

• Meghan’s Yellow Cake 

• Meghan’s One Bowl Vanilla Cake 

• Meghan’s Haunted Cookie House

• Meghan’s Surprise Inside Cake

• Stacie’s Deep Chocolate Layer Cake (or Cupcakes)

Other DIJFY Episodes You’ll Love

If you loved this episode, we think you’ll also love these past episode. Binge listen, activate!

• Reclaiming Chicken Nuggets From the Kids Menu

• Easy Classroom Treats

• How to Bake For The Holidays Without Losing Your Mind

• How to Make Crave-Worthy Treats with Natural Sugars

• Getting Messy In the Kitchen with Kids

• The Real Reason we Cook and Bake with Our Kids

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Flavor Faves

These are some of our favorite products for cake baking and decorating mentioned in this episode:

• Enjoy Life Vegan Chocolate Chips 

• Dandies Marshmallows 

• Snacking Cakes by Yossi Arefi

• King Arthur Flour Black Cocoa

• Kind Arthur Flour Double Dutch Dark Cocoa

• Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa

• Swan’s Down Cake Flour

• King Arthur Flour Espresso Powder

• Imitation Butter 

• Wilton’s Plastic Turntable

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Get Social With Us

Be sure to join our private Listener’s Group on Facebook (our favorite cocktail is WHISKEY — you’ll understand when you try to join). This week, we’ll be hearing more about how you celebrate: Cake? No cake? Elaborate? Simple? Spill it!

And of course, don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss a thing.

You can also find us at @didntijustfeed you on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. And if you happen to love us as much as we love you (because y’all are very real), you can find Meghan as @meghan_splawn and Stacie as @staciebillis on Instagram.

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