It’s a party as long as there’s cake.

Birthday Cake 2021 is an Olive Oil Layer Cake with Dulce de Leche Filling and Chocolate Frosting. A mouthful, indeed, and a twist on a classic.

I turned 40 this month, and in a pandemic-free world, I would’ve had a big party celebrating my and Matt’s birthdays (only two days apart!) and invited our friends and families. But in-person celebrations will have to wait. Instead, I spent my birthday at home, with video calls, our favorite food delivered, and so much sweets. All day long I was showered with love and surprise desserts: a basque cheesecake from Matt, a Milk Bar cake from my team, some French pastries dropped off by one of my closest friends, quarts of small-batch ice cream from another friend, and this homemade birthday cake.
I love making layer cakes for birthdays. The classic birthday cake is typically a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. My cakes usually have some sort of chocolate or dulce de leche (or both). Matt loves vanilla cake and olive oil cake, really any kind of bouncy cake, and I knew I can combine all of those in a celebration cake.

I made this olive oil snack cake, but used lemon instead of orange, and made it in two round pans instead of a long rectangular one. I used canned dulce de leche because why not" And I whipped up a super-simple milk chocolate sour cream frosting (only 4 ingredients) that lent a creamy tanginess to the bouncy cake and decadent filling....