Happy 100th, Chuck Williams!

Williams-Sonoma’s founder Chuck Williams turns 100 today! In honor of this memorable milestone, we asked some of our favorite people in the food world, from bakers to authors to social media influencers, to bake something. What follows are crepe cakes, gilded layer cakes, doughnuts, crumbles, and more — all baked and savored with his life’s purpose in mind: to share with others the pleasure of cooking.

 

Come back later today to get the recipe for the special cake we baked in his honor. Happy 100, Chuck!

 

 

Tieghan Gerard of Half Baked Harvest made this showstopper — a pumpkin-nutella crepe cake — as a nod to one of Chuck’s original finds, a crepe pan.

 

 

In honor of the pineapple decal that Chuck Williams has made famous, Melissa Coleman of The Fauxmartha baked him hummingbird cake, a classic Southern dessert made with chunks of pineapple, pecans, bananas, and a cream cheese frosting.

 

 

Molly Yeh of My Name Is Yeh honored Chuck with a chocolate cake topped with The Violet Bakery’s coconut frosting.

 

 

Michelle Lopez of Hummingbird High baked a lemon celebration cake with vanilla-chamomile glaze.

 

 

Graphic designer and baker Holly Fox iced an array of cookies for Chuck, from cupcake-and-sprinkles designs to classic layer cakes of every stripe.

 

 

Bridget Edwards from Bake at 350 made a marbled chocolate and sprinkle bundt cake. “Where would we be without Chuck?” she wrote. We couldn’t agree more!

 

 

Kim Militello of the food blog Lovin’ From the Oven decided to go the doughnut route with baked doughnuts with a crumb topping, coffee-cake style.

 

 

Patti Paige, the self-proclaimed “royal icing queen” of Baked Ideas, a custom cookie and cake studio, created this adorable iced cookie spread featuring some of Chuck’s original kitchenware finds, from Le Creuset pots to KitchenAid stand mixers.

 

Stephanie Le of iamafoodblog celebrated the 100 milestone with a classic chocolate cake topped with fudgy star frosting.

 

 

Love and Lemons’ Jeanine Donofrio went a different route to celebrate with apple crisps filled in personal-sized mini copper cocottes.

 

 

Teri Lyn Fisher and Jenny Park of Spoon Fork Bacon proved that you don’t need a cake for 100th candles.

 

 

Sarah Kieffer of The Vanilla Bean Blog baked a cake that proved fluffy frosting is always in style.

 

Dessert for Two creator Christina Lane went all out for Chuck with individual baked Alaskas.

 

 

For the Love of the South’s Amber Wilson rang in Chuck’s 100th with a pumpkin pecan bundt cake.

 

Yossy Arefi of Apt 2B Baking Co. shared glazed cake doughnuts with sprinkles and shared one of her memories of Chuck’s influence: “When I first moved to NYC, I would go to the Williams-Sonoma in Columbus Circle and dream about filling my tiny apartment kitchen with copper pots and Le Creuset Dutch ovens,” she wrote.

 

 

Judy Kim of The Judy Lab gave Chuck a birthday nod with this flower-studed layer cake.

 

 

Gaby Dalkin of What’s Gaby Cooking was after Chuck’s heart with caramel brownie ice cream sundaes.

 

 

Allie Roomberg of Baking a Moment rang in the day with one-bowl vanilla bean cupcakes.

 

 

Kelly Egan from A Side of Sweet celebrated Chuck’s birthday with her favorite cupcake recipes, including chocolate cupcakes with caramelized white chocolate buttercream and dulce de leche.