Basketball Cake -- A Celebration Cake for the People You'd Do Anything For

Gloria's seventieth birthday party was Saturday and it was exactly right. Miss Leona and Miss Bertie arrived at noon and the five of us sat around Gloria's table all afternoon and ate and talked and looked at old photographs and laughed at things I did not always understand the context for but loved the sound of.

I made the fried chicken and the potato salad and the butter beans and the rolls and the coconut layer cake and the banana pudding because James asked quietly at the last minute if there would be banana pudding and I could not say no to that man on his wife's birthday.

The coconut cake was the best version I have made. The toasted coconut in the cream filling held its texture perfectly and the layers were even and the cream cheese frosting was smooth and the whole thing looked like a proper celebration cake. Gloria looked at it for a long time, the way she looked at the last one, and then she said it is getting better every year. I said I hope so. She said that is the right answer. Miss Leona said it tasted like her grandmother's house. I did not know Miss Leona's grandmother but I took that as the highest possible compliment.

After dinner Gloria sat in the middle of the table with her friends and James beside her, seventy years old and beautiful in the way that means something more than appearance, and I washed the dishes in the kitchen and thought about what it means to have been given this, to have been let into this life. Some people do not understand what a gift ordinary Sundays can be when you grew up without them. I understand it every single week.

I made the coconut layer cake for Gloria because it is hers, the one she expects now, the one that is getting better every year — but what I keep thinking about, a few days later, is just what it means to put a real cake on a table for someone you love. If you are looking for a celebration cake that announces itself the moment you carry it into the room, this basketball cake is the one I’d point you toward: it is joyful and generous and the kind of thing that makes people look the way Gloria looked at hers. It is worthy of a seventieth birthday, or any birthday, for anyone who deserves to feel seen at their own table.

Basketball Cake

Prep Time: 35 minutes | Cook Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes (includes cooling) | Servings: 14

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole buttermilk, room temperature
• For the orange buttercream frosting:
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 3–4 tbsp heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Orange gel food coloring (start with 1/4 tsp, adjust to reach a deep basketball orange)
• Black decorating gel or black royal icing, for the seam lines

Instructions

1. Preheat and prepare. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment, and grease the parchment. Dust lightly with flour and tap out the excess.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 4–5 minutes until very light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed.
4. Add eggs and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix until combined.
5. Alternate dry ingredients and buttermilk. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk in two additions (flour, buttermilk, flour, buttermilk, flour). Begin and end with flour. Mix just until no dry streaks remain — do not overmix.
6. Bake. Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake 32–36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops spring back lightly when pressed. Cool in pans for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely before frosting, at least 1 hour.
7. Make the orange buttercream. Beat softened butter on medium speed for 2 minutes until creamy. Add sifted powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing on low to combine. Add vanilla and 3 tbsp heavy cream; increase speed to medium-high and beat 3 minutes until light. Add orange gel food coloring a little at a time, mixing and checking the color until you reach a vivid basketball orange. Add the last tablespoon of cream if the frosting feels too stiff.
8. Level and fill. If needed, use a serrated knife to level the domed tops of the cake layers. Place one layer cut-side-up on your cake board or plate. Spread about 3/4 cup of orange buttercream evenly across the top. Place the second layer on top, cut-side-down.
9. Crumb coat and chill. Apply a thin layer of frosting all over the outside of the cake to seal in the crumbs. Refrigerate 20 minutes until the crumb coat is firm.
10. Final frost. Apply a thick, smooth final coat of orange buttercream to the top and sides of the cake. Use an offset spatula or bench scraper to smooth the surface as evenly as you can.
11. Draw the basketball seams. Using black decorating gel or a piping bag fitted with a small round tip and filled with black royal icing, draw the curved seam lines characteristic of a basketball: one horizontal line around the full circumference of the cake and two curved vertical lines from top to bottom on opposite sides, meeting at the center top and bottom. Practice the curve on parchment first if needed. Allow the lines to set for 15 minutes before serving.
12. Serve. Slice with a clean, sharp knife, wiping between cuts for clean layers. Leftover cake keeps covered at room temperature for 1 day or refrigerated for up to 4 days — bring to room temperature before serving for the best texture.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 530 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 26g | Carbs: 71g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 195mg