Brithday cakes

The stories of birthday cakes

This is an improvised birthday cake made of roasted pepitas (salted) in a glass. It's what was available in the hotel. It's one of my favorites.

I've always felt that birthday cakes have feelings. Maybe it comes from the enthusiasm that the cake creators put into them. I really feel sorry for special occasion cakes that don't get sold.

Once I was looking for a cake for my daughter's birthday in a supermarket bakery. The day was running late and this was a last minute thing. While looking over the few cakes left, the dejected cake-maker confided that the special one for 'Jerry' hadn't been picked up. A lot of cake-maker love had gone into the creation of this cake, so I had them scrape off 'Jerry' and put on my daughter's name on it. I felt good about the cake rescue.

Other cake stories were in my early birthday cake making years. A first attempt at making a birthday cake for my father resulted in dropping the whole egg into the revolving batter, grinding up the shell and all. I rushed the second cake attempt and the words (warmed colored butter, that's all I could think of to use) melted on the icing. The final cake I made that day was eaten by the dog where I had it cooling on the back porch. Our dog ate a lot of birthday cakes. I was ten.

Madeline, March 2005