Healthy Birthday Cake Recipes

This is the easiest and best-tasting sponge cake you can imagine. It keeps well in the refrigerator or freezer. Spread a thin layer of raspberry preserves between the layers and a light dusting of confectioners' sugar over the top and you'll have a perfect cake for an impromptu tea party.

This no-bake cherry cheesecake is an easy summertime treat. This no-bake cheesecake recipe has omega-3-rich walnuts in the graham cracker crust and uses nonfat Greek yogurt and reduced-fat cream cheese in the filling to keep saturated fat in check. If you want a bright red topping, use sour cherries. Sweet cherries give it a more purple hue. To make gluten-free no-bake cherry cheesecake, use gluten-free graham crackers.

For a sweet and easy diabetes-friendly dessert, enjoy this lemony ice cream cake with blueberries.

This is your go-to yellow cake recipe. Top it with your favorite frosting and sprinkles for a birthday cake! To lower the sugar, swap out the sugar for sugar substitute blend.

Shredded apple replaces some of the oil and keeps the cake moist in these cinnamon-spiked cupcakes. There is a generous amount of fluffy marshmallow frosting to mound or pipe on top for a festive look. Be sure to frost them right after you make the frosting--it stiffens as it stands and becomes more difficult to spread.

Buttermilk and apple butter contribute to the moistness of this simple, one-bowl cake.

You can fit this luscious take on an all-time favorite carrot cake dessert recipe into a diabetic meal plan.

Sparkling white wine is tossed with fresh melon and served with a light irresistible cake in this special dessert.

This delicious fruit-topped vanilla cake with coconut-cream frosting is perfect for a birthday or holiday party.

This wonderful rich, sweet lemon pound cake is downright zingy and the candied lemon slices are a beautiful bittersweet topping that's better than frosting. The best part, though: when you taste it you won't miss all the butter we cut out compared with a traditional pound cake recipe.

This moist cake flavored with cinammon and bananas is the answer to your dessert cravings. Drizzled in Chocolate Ganache, this cake is diabetic-friendly and sure to satisfy any sweet tooth.

Linzer Tart (or Linzer Torte) is an Austrian specialty: an almond pastry topped with raspberry jam. Here it is reinvented as an American cake: almond-rich layers divided by raspberry jam. It's even better when prepared a day in advance, giving the jam time to soak into the cake. If you like, buck tradition by using strawberry jam and garnishing with fresh strawberries.

Baking homemade graham crackers with a touch of brown sugar and honey makes this cheesecake recipe an extra-special dessert.

Topped with fresh raspberries and lemon zest, this cake is a beautiful dessert you'll be proud to serve at special meals.

Nonfat plain yogurt stands in for sour cream to add moisture and tenderness to this lightened-up pineapple coffee cake. Best of all, you can mix the batter and have this wholesome breakfast treat in the oven in under 15 minutes--that's healthy in a hurry.

These light, low-calorie cupcakes are frosted with lemon-flavored whipped topping.

These buttermilk cupcakes look like the ones you can now buy at fancy cupcake shops, but are easily made at home. The cream cheese frosting is decadently delicious, and so are the cupcakes--take a bite and you'll find a surprise filling of strawberries and orange marmalade inside each one!

Some molten-cake recipes call for simply underbaking the batter so the middles stay lava-like, but mini cakes get done so quickly it's best to give them a filling that won't set up. These rich, mocha-flavored morsels are guaranteed to stay moist and gooey, owing to a simple mocha ganache in the middle. Serve the cakes with a scoop of low-fat coffee ice cream and garnish with a chocolate-covered espresso bean, if desired. Recipe by Nancy Baggett for EatingWell.

This rich, chocolaty Southern favorite has its own culinary mythology: a couple at the Waldorf-Astoria, a shared slice of bright red chocolate cake, a request for the recipe, and the surprise of later finding a $100 charge on their room bill. Maybe all desserts this good deserve a legend.

The flavor of this spiced orange compote improves with time so make it a day ahead or the morning of your party. Serve chilled in a clear bowl so the colors show through.

Flavored with orange, lemon and lime, this big, beautiful cake is a fitting ending to a celebration. Just three egg yolks give the cake a golden hue and a texture richer than angel food.

Espresso coffee powder and bittersweet chocolate make this dense cake an extra-rich dessert.

Ah, the maligned fruitcake. Many store-bought varieties, stuffed with unrecognizable candied bits, deserve their bad reputation--but not these wonderful cakes, made with a generous serving of dried fruit and candied orange peel in a light batter. There's only one trick: buy the best-quality, moist dried and candied fruit you can afford.

Reminiscent of carrot cake, this healthy treat features grated sweet potato baked into a spiced batter and topped with cream-cheese frosting. The whole-wheat pastry flour gives the cake a very light texture. If you can't find it, substitute half all-purpose flour and half white whole-wheat flour.