Birthday Cake Cheesecake with Sweet Almond Buttercream & Sprinkles

Cheesecake is Shepy Ray’s favorite dessert. So, as his 9th ((wow — seems like he should be 4, sniff)) birthday approached, I started making cheesecake plans. Shepy wanted Sour Cherry Topped Homemade Vanilla Cheesecake. However, I had something more birthday-ish” in mind. Something sprinkl-ey and layered with buttercream. Yes, I went there! I combined the perfect buttercream cake & the perfect cheesecake into one dessert. And I liked it.

Before making this cheesecake, I made my favorite ((simple)) sheet cake recipe! The “White Texas Sheet Cake” is a wonderful twist on the famous chocolate version of a Texas Sheet cake. If you aren’t familiar with this type of sheet cake, you are deprived and need to get busy in the kitchen QUICK. The white version is a sweet almond cake — heavenly.

I started by just making the cake & pressing the empty cheesecake form into the baked sheet cake. It works as the perfect template for the cake layer. Just be sure to cut inside the circle not outside the circle.

Now, let me pause and confess, I really messed this cake up. For some strange reason, I added baking powder instead of baking soda & left out an entire cup of flour. Once I realized my mistake, I honestly had no desire to fix it. It tasted good ((just ask the little birdies that ate the cake remnants)) and I was running out of time. I would recommend NOT making those mistakes if you can at all help it, wink.

I covered the trimmed cake and set it aside to be layered with the cheesecake after the cheesecake had refrigerated for 8 hours.

Now on to the cheesecake.

I followed this simple, no-fail Vanilla Bean Cheesecake recipe and made just a few minor adjustments.

This time, instead of using a blend on gingersnaps and graham crackers for the crust, I used 3 sleeves of shortbread cookies ((minus the 4 or 5 that were eaten)).

The shortbread cookies complemented the almond cake & sweet almond buttercream, making a lovely buttery, crisp crust. Additionally, I used vanilla extract rather than vanilla bean paste ((these two are interchangeable only giving a slightly different vanilla flavor depending which type is used)).

Once the crust was baked, the cheesecake poured, baked, cooled and refrigerated, I moved on to the buttercream.

I used the Warm Almond Buttercream from this recipe. It made just enough to top both the cheesecake and the cake. Wow. Buttercream on top of cheesecake, topped with a layer of cake — then topped with buttercream?? If that doesn’t tighten your pants, I don’t know what will!