Taking The Cake: A Retrospective

Note: This was originally written as part of an Ancestral Dish blogaround. For 2020, I’ve given it some tweaks — but it still is a nice ride down Cake Memory Lane.

What other food screams family ritual like cake?

As a child, I lived for July and August — the Birthday Big Time with two birthdays each month. When my oldest decided to arrive in August too, it seemed like a gift from the cake gods.

When they were little, my kids loved Cupcake Wars and Cake Boss. Today, we lose ourselves in the Great British Baking Show. Still, those TV cakes can look so unapproachable. Fondant is gorgeous, but nobody can lick the bowl afterward. Family cakes are all about buttercream — whether they’re for birthdays, First Communions, graduations, weddings, baptisms, anniversaries. Beyond that, there are three basic rules for family cakes:

1) Have them.

2) Take a picture of them.

3: Sneak downstairs in the dead of night and grab the last slice from under the cake dome. Eat silently, with a tall glass of ice-cold milk on the side.

Here’s a baker’s half-dozen of cake memories.

Cake No. 1: Early 1950s Bridal Shower

This shower was given for my mother by her future sisters-in-law. Dad is looking quite debonair, I think. Mom’s corsage was mandatory, along with the cake. I love that wide circular party cake. We never see big circles anymore, just rectangle after rectangle.

Cake 2: Beginner Birthday Baker

I collaborated on my eleventh-birthday cake with my older sister. We neglected to get the Cake Snapshot before the family devoured it. Note those glass milk bottles on the table, kids. 20th-century authenticity.

Cake 3: Somewhat Scary Baby Cake

This one was for a baby shower my co-workers gave me when I was pregnant with my oldest. It was a lovely party, but I have to confess, the baby figure on the cake had issues.

Cake 4: Choo Choo Birthday Time

Life shifted into a series of cakes that reflected kids’ obsessions. This train cake was for the oldest kid, a Thomas the Tank Engine fan. Confession: It’s not really a cake per se, but an arrangement of cookies, wafers, licorice and frosting. Beats baking.

Cake 5: An American in Paris (not exactly)

At age six, my daughter fell in love with la belle France and decided upon a Parisian-themed birthday party, despite the fact that neither of us really knew French (and still don’t). I served pommes frites and jambon sandwiches, along with the gâteau.

Cake 6: Devil Dog homage

One year I was determined to make myself a Devil Dog cake. For some people, “Devil Dog” is a Marine nickname. In my Jersey childhood, Devil Dogs were a snack cake sold by Drake’s Cakes — the Platonic ideal of kid cake bliss.  This supersized version was not elegant, but it had two deep devil’s-food layers and a big fluffy pile of marshmallow frosting. Elegance is overrated.

—

So there you go — six cake memories. May all your family cakes be delicious, down to the last crumb.

---