Is there anything better than birthday cake? I don’t know about you, but to me, bday cake always means yellow cake and chocolate frosting. This vanilla-scented cake bakes up extremely light and tender, but still has the unmistakable richness and color of a yolky batter, while the super-easy frosting gets balance and tang from cream cheese and unsweetened chocolate. Claire gives lots of pointers for layer cake construction, like what to do if you’re trying to frost it in a 90-degree kitchen (hint: it involves an AC window unit).

• Claire Saffitz

• Claire Saffitz