Cisco | Willow
I come from the land of wonky situations.
Honestly is probably the best policy. Like: "Hey. I'm sorry this is a weird situation. But I'd really like to make you a cake for your bday. Is that okay? What kinda flavors do you dig? If you're not interested, that is also okay just lmk." I think you just gotta push through the awkward but if this person knows you, they probably like you and want you to get to know them. If one of my friends did some weird shit with the timeline (it can happen) and we suddenly didn't know each other as well as we should, I'd try to work through it and make new memories and connections.
You're doing a good thing, dude. Most people like cake. And it's not like... idk it's not so wildly intimate that it's creepy or anything. Most people have cake, you're just helping them out by making one so they don't have to buy one. This person will probably be okay with it, and if not, you just gotta handle that like a champ and take their no at face value. But that's probably not going to happen.