Choosing the Perfect Birthday Cake

Choosing the Perfect Birthday Cake

The birthday cake is, quite rightly, the star of any birthday celebration meal and nowadays we look to really capture the personality of the person celebrating the birthday in cake form.  The nature of the cake is usually kept as a surprise for the recipient and great thought has been put into its design.

To ensure that you get the perfect birthday cake the first question you need to ask is how many people the birthday cake needs to feed?  This of course depends on whether you are throwing a huge party for a 21^st birthday or are just having a quiet family celebration for a handful of people.

Secondly, the flavour of the cake needs to be addressed.  Whilst chocolate tends to be the favourite for most people, birthday cakes can also be made as vanilla sponge or fruit cakes and there is also the choice of fillings and different toppings and icings to consider. 

Last, but by no means least, the birthday cake should reflect the person receiving it.  Whether it be a simple design, iced in their favourite colours, having a birthday cake with their name and age on it, to having a novelty birthday cake that is as individual as the person themselves.

Very often for toddlers and small children the birthday cake will resemble a character from a favourite TV program or film, such as the ever-popular Peppa Pig or Buzz Lightyear, or perhaps a number cake depicting their new age. 

For older children, tweens and teens, popular birthday cakes include electronic devices such as iPods and games consoles as well as music influenced cakes like guitars, stereos and even drum kits.

Adult birthday cakes could show the persons favourite alcoholic tipple, football club badge, handbag or favourite vintage car.

For the single man-about-town a more tongue-in-cheek, adult themed cake would be guaranteed to make them smile and create a talking point at the party.

For special birthdays such as 18^th, 21^st, 30^th, 40^th etc. the numbered birthday cakes remain ever popular, although many people are now choosing square or round birthday cakes with pictures that show the birthday girl or boys favourite pastimes.  Sporting cakes, such as football shirts or rugby balls featuring the age are also popular.

The birthday cakes tend to get a little bit more traditional as a person gets older, with many choosing square or round birthday cakes with decorative icing however, hobby cakes showing a wide range of interests from Scrabble to fishing are becoming more and more popular.

Whatever you decide you can be sure that we at Leigh Cakes can design and create a perfect birthday cake for you.

History of the Birthday Cake

History of the Birthday Cake

Always the highlight of any birthday party, the origins of the birthday cake date back to Ancient Roman times where flat rounds made with flour, nuts, yeast and sweetened honey were served up at special birthday celebrations.  

The ritual spread throughout Europe and in the 15^th Century bakeries in Germany began making one-layer cakes for birthdays and weddings.  Moving into the 17^th Century and the birthday cake began to look much as it does today with multiple layers, filling, icing  and decorations, although they were generally only eaten by the wealthy.  18^th Century America added the tradition of birthday candles on top of the cake to symbolise the person’s age and by the 19^th Century the birthday cake was integral part of a birthday celebration for most Western cultures along with the singing of ‘Happy Birthday’.

The adding of candles to the birthday cake originated in Ancient Greece, where the candles were thought to represent the glow of the moon, the Greeks used to take cakes with candles to the temple of the Goddess of the Moon, Artemis.  It was thought at the time that the smoke from the candles carried their wishes and prayers to the Gods.

Nowadays, the custom is to make a wish before blowing out the candles on the cake, with the wish coming true if all the candles are blown out all at once.

Birthday cake is served up whilst singing “Happy Birthday to You” in most English speaking countries, and indeed most other countries have their own version of this song.  Once the singing has finished the person celebrating their birthday will blow out the candles and then serve up the cake to everyone.

Today’s birthday cakes have moved on again, with fancy designs, colours and even individual cupcakes being the trend.  The highlight of many children’s birthday parties is the revealing of the cake, which is often a themed cake based upon their favourite TV or film character or a hobby they have.  Older children may prefer cakes with a sporting or fashion theme.  Advancements in cake design mean that any design is possible and cakes are getting more and more elaborate. The flavours have tended to stay the same however, as chocolate or vanilla sponge tend to be the most popular types of birthday cake with ganache, buttercream, fondant icing or glacé icing on top, depending on how the cake has been decorated.