Pink Cake Easy From Scratch Recipe

A baking enthusiast who a) loves any excuse for cake, b) can be a bit particular about said cake, and c) happens to post cake recipes online, I love sharing a new sweet treat with you every May. It’s as if we are virtual elementary school classmates and it’s my turn to bring birthday treats! Well, maybe not elementary school. I completely soaked this year’s Pink Cake in an orange and rosé wine syrup. Oops. Want to come over for a virtual grown-up birthday cake potluck instead?

While pink cake mix would have been the fastest route, I wanted to make my pink cake recipe from scratch, so I turned to two pink ingredients I’m always happy to find in my refrigerator. One: Rosé wine. Bring me all the sips. Two: Beets. Wait, don’t go! I promise you this Pink Cake is delicious. Think of it as carrot cake’s second cousin (the fun one). Carrot cake, especially this healthy carrot cake recipe, is one of my longstanding top desserts. I adore zucchini cake and Pumpkin Sheet Cake too, so I’m not sure why it took me so long to try a similar approach with beets. Like carrots (and pumpkin and zucchini and even apples), beets are naturally sweet and add incredible moisture to baked goods.

This Pink Cake is pleasantly sweet with a dense (though certainly not dry or heavy) crumb that’s similar to pound cake. It’s lovely on its own right out of the Bundt pan with a cup of coffee…or a matching glass of rosé wine. THAT SAID, when the option to soak the Pink Cake with a butter-laden, booze-infused orange syrup presented itself, I couldn’t resist finding out what it would taste like.

Oh. My. Heavens. This is one of my favorite cakes I’ve baked in a long time. The orange is an ideal complement to the beets, and the soaking approach makes the cake even more moist and gratifyingly complete. It doesn’t need frosting. It doesn’t even need a scoop of ice cream (but go ahead if you must). Even if you aren’t a big beet fan, this Pink Cake is worth trying. The beet flavor is subtle, and the orange syrup transforms it. Evidence: the sworn beet hater amongst my group of girlfriends finished her slice.

A Pink Cake Recipe—And a Birthday Somewhere In Between

Sooooo, I’m 32. It feels just right.

Trying not to laugh while Shawn teaches me to channel my inner Instagram girl in LA. In certain ways, I consider myself “old.” I started using eye cream. I subscribe to NPR. My favorite show is still The West Wing. I willingly put vegetables in my own birthday cake. In other ways, not so much. I still take gummy vitamins. I never got over my crush on Justin Timberlake. I question what I’m doing with my life on a regular basis. And, perhaps the most convincing evidence that 32 might not be so old after all…

I picked a bright pink birthday cake!

Birthday Cakes From Other Years

33rd birthday: Coconut Flour Cake 31st birthday: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake 30th birthday: Lemon Layer Cake (one of my all-time most popular recipes!) 29th birthday: Mocha Cake 28th birthday: Almond Joy Cake 27th birthday: Banana Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting