Birthday Cake Blondies

Warning: Image heavy post, because these turned out so darn cute!

My husband is a big old child. His favorite flavors are cotton candy, bubble gum and birthday cake. Whenever we go out for ice cream or snow cones, you best believe that he’s getting one of those flavors (or all three!) for himself. Among these artificial flavors, birthday cake is his favorite. It’s actually a favorite of mine too. It brings back memories of when I used boxed cake mixes when I started to learn how to bake. I would make them for family members and friends for birthdays. They were never pretty, but they always tasted like delicious. 

For a long time, I couldn’t figure out how to get the same birthday cake flavor from my childhood in my desserts. I tried various mixtures of almond, vanilla and butter extracts and it was not working. Then I came across Christina Tosi’s cookbook, Milk Bar Life, and it changed my life. She uses clear imitation vanilla extract in her famous birthday cake to get that nostalgic funfetti flavor. It makes sense, doesn’t it? What’s more artificial than boxed cake mix? I’m not hating, I LOVE the stuff, but this simple artificial ingredient brings that old birthday cake smell and flavor to life.

The blondies come out chewy and delicious! Also my home smelled like heaven for hours, a nice alternative to the poopy diaper smell that has been likely emanating from my home lately. My cake-batter-loving husband gave the blondies 2 thumbs up. Success!

Also this is the first time I’ve dabbled in adding videos to my blog. Here is a quick video I made. Not the highest quality, but I’ll get there with practice! Do you like having videos with recipes or step-by-step pictures? Let me know!

Birthday Cake Blondies

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• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: one 8x8 pan 1x

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Ingredients

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• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp clear imitation vanilla extract**
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 4 tbsp sprinkles, divided

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Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour a 8×8 pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth. Add egg and clear imitation vanilla extract and whisk well.
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4. Add flour, salt and 3 tablespoons of sprinkles. Mix together until well combined.
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7. Evenly spread batter in the greased pan and sprinkle the rest of the sprinkles on top.
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9. Bake for 20-25 minutes. You want the edges to be golden brown and middle to be a little gooey since it will continue cooking in the hot pan when it is cooling. Cool completely and enjoy!
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Notes

**this is a MUST for an authentic birthday cake flavor! plain old vanilla extract just won’t do sadly

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes

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