This Easy Macaron Birthday Cake is also perfect for celebrating Valentine's Day! Fresh macarons are baked into a seriously simple white cake batter to create the most incredible texture and flavor in this fun spin on a classic birthday cake.

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Some of my favorite people in my life are obsessed with French macarons, and so I created this cake for them! Regular macarons are baked into each cake layer to create this interesting flavor and texture which cannot be replicated. I then topped the cake with more small macarons and big macarons. I will confess, since Super Bowl Sunday is also the day before Valentine's Day this year, I made a few shortcuts in this cake, which I am very okay with!

Instead of beating egg whites and fussing over macaron recipes, I bought some delicious macarons in vanilla and strawberry flavors. The cake layers were actually store bought white cake mix with funfetti! The icing was the most incredible homemade easy salted buttercream frosting. All of these different flavors come together to make an incredible cake that you will thoroughly enjoy - trust me!

The other thing I love about this cake is how simple it is to make, yet looks like it was a much fancier and labor intensive project to create. You will be able to impress your loved ones with minimal effort. Personally, I think is the best way to impress since you can pull it off so nonchalantly!

What Do I Need to Prepare This Easy Macaron Birthday Cake?

While the full recipe ingredient list is available below, here are some tips on what you will need to make the best macaron cake. I promise, you will not be able to only have a small piece of this cake!

For the Cake:

• Betty Crocker super moist rainbow bit cake mix
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 large eggs
• 10 macarons, plus additional for cake topping

For the Icing:

• 1 cup salted butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 4-6 tbsp coffee cream or heavy cream
• 3 tsp pure vanilla extract

One thing I love about this recipe is that there are great alternative flavors you can play with! If you prefer to use a chocolate cake mix, you could use a salted caramel macaron with it! The possibilities are truly endless and you can create a whole new recipe with each iteration!

How to Make the Best Macaron Cake

While the full recipe instructions are available below, here are some tips on how to prepare this amazing cake!

• Preheat your oven to 350F. Spray the bottom and sides of two six inch springform pans and place them on prepared baking sheets with pieces of parchment paper under the cake pans. Set aside until your cake batter is ready.
• In a large bowl with an electric mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add your dry ingredients (the cake mix) as well as the milk, olive oil, and eggs. Mix together at high or medium speed until the ingredients are well combined. This should take approximately two minutes.
• Pour half of the cake batter into each springform pan. Add your macarons to the batter, and ensure they are sufficiently covered in batter by gently pushing them down with the end of a wooden spoon. Make sure not to break the macarons when you do this!  Place the prepared pan with the cake pans in the middle oven rack and bake for approximately thirty to thirty five minutes. Until a bamboo skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Let your cake layers cool on a wire rack for ten minutes before removing the spring form sides. Let the cake layers cool completely before removing the bottom piece of the cake pan.
• While you wait for the cake layers to cool, we will make our buttercream! In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, or a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the butter until it is fluffy. Add half of the confectioner's sugar and beat until well combined. Add the remaining icing sugar and repeat. Push any excess butter and sugar mixture down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula. Now mix in your cream one tablespoon at a time, until you reach your desired consistency. Finally, add the vanilla and beat until well combined.
• Now, let's decorate! Place your first cake layer onto your cake stand with the flat side facing up. Spread your buttercream icing generously over the top and sides of the cake. Place your second cake layer and repeat spreading the buttercream over the top and sides of the cake - I find this easiest to do with an angled spatula. Now, we will smooth out our icing to make it nice and pretty. Slowly turn the cake on the cake stand in a circular motion. Using a stainless steel bench scraper, lightly apply pressure evenly to the side of the cake to smooth out the icing along the sides. Repeat this for the top of the cake. I often have a hard time with this step, so really rely on my bench scraper tool - I love it! Finally, we will top our assembled cake with an assortment of macarons in the same flavor as we added to the inside of our cake.

This iteration of this cake, I used strawberry and vanilla and added fresh strawberries to everyone's plate. However, I could easily see many different flavors working in this cake! A coffee macaron cake sounds absolutely divine! You could also play around with the fillings you add between the cake layers. A white chocolate ganache or simple whipped cream would be incredible between the layers in this cake!

Other Simple Sweet Recipes You Will Love

If you loved this simple method for preparing a delicious dessert, check out these quick links to other simple sweets you will love!

• Easy Classic Canadian Butter Tarts
• Autumn Apple Galette
• Mini Egg Bisquick Cookies
• Copycat Starbucks Vanilla Bean Scones
• Salted Dulce de Leche Brownies