Birthday Cake
My birthday was Tuesday and I'm not a big fan of Birthday Cake (or cake in general) nor am I a fan of pie - yet I have a crazy sweet tooth. I’m wondering if anyone else has an anti-birthday cake sentiment.
What is your favorite/ultimate Birthday cake/pie/treat?
One year I made brownies, bought ice cream and everyone made their own brownie, hot fudge, sundaes. This year I ended up with a lemon angel food cake with lemon drizzle icing - simple and light.
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38 Comments:
I don't like cake or pie either, in fact my sweet tooth is virtually non-existent. My firm insists on recognizing birthdays however, so a couple of years ago for my birthday, my secretary ordered a cake for everyone else to eat and she made me some spicy deviled eggs and put a candle in one!
Happy Belated Birf-day!
Southern_bella at 10:07AM on 05/29/08
WOW I can't even wrapp my mind around the idea of not liking cake....and or pie and my favorite cake chocolate and chocolate pecan pie
Markbb at 10:07AM on 05/29/08
I'm also not a big sweet tooth. A couple of years ago my husband took me out for bacon cheeseburgers and beer for my birthday. We put the candle in the burger bun and I made a wish. I'll take a good bacon cheeseburger over a slice of cake any day!
bitchincamero at 10:14AM on 05/29/08
Candles in a lasagna would make me happy.
Kerosena at 10:17AM on 05/29/08
How about a pizza pie? Meatloaf cooked in layer pans and frosted with buttery mashed potatoes (or truffled ones)?
lemons at 11:19AM on 05/29/08
I love cake and pie and virtually anything pastry. I love cake, and I love to bake my own. But if it has to come from the store, I'll take a pie over sheet cake with Crisco icing in a heartbeat. I'm not a huge fan of 99% of the chocolate cakes in this world, and I understand a little better now how difficult it is to make a good one. I don't like super dark chocolate for birthday cakes (not sure why, since I love them any other time, but I suppose it's a moment of regression).
I didn't understand the cake + ice cream idea until well into high school, though I love it now. Pie + ice cream is even better, and it's what I did at my mom's request for her last year.
If you like brownies, you could always bake them up into a round pan and stick your candle in it next time. It's the shortcut version of a brownie cake I made for my mom the year before that^, which was a very good chocolate cake.
I saw a neat cake in Martha Stewart's magazine once that was Rice Krispie treats (I think Fruity Pebbles were included for color).
The office where I worked was fond of those cookie cakes from the mall for birthday parties. I have to say I don't miss those, but I think that's about the quality of ingredients/execution and not the concept. Toll House baked in a pan is amazing.
What's your favorite desert, then (do I understand correctly that you said you have a crazy sweet tooth, just not for cakes?)?
Happy birthday, btw.
renzata at 11:50AM on 05/29/08
Happy belated bday!
I am not a fan of sweets, and I am really picky about my cakes and pies.
You might like cassata cake. Yeah, it's a cake, but it's more than just a cake to choke on. It isn't dry. It has several small layers of cake; a layer separated by a strawberries and a layer separated by custard (similar to bavarian cream)...and strawberries on top.
Tiramisu is great too, if you like coffee and some are made with brandy in it.
For office birthday parties, I usually buy a half sheet between the two (above) and carrot cake.
Oddly, I love carrot cake, but I am not as fond of spice cake...
Cassaendra at 1:04PM on 05/29/08
Happy Birthday!! :)
Here are a few examples I came up with (not really knowing how adverse you are to cake in general)
HUGE cookie of your choosing (kind of like Mrs. Fields if you know what I am talking about)
Muffins (like Coffee Cake, Apple Cinnamon, etc)
Coffee Cake
Strawberry Shortcake
Ice Cream Cake
Ice Cream Bar
Chocolate Fondue (with all the fixings)
Bread Pudding
Cheesecake
Triffle
Cannoli
Fruit in Season with Whipped Cream on top or with a Fruit Dip
Mousse
My fave though (so hard) Boston Cream Pie, Brownies, Cookies, Cheesecake...
Butrflygirly at 1:08PM on 05/29/08
Happy belated birthday!
I can certainly understand you. While I have a gigantic sweet tooth, I don't care for either cakes or pies all that much. I am unlikely to take a bite of a cake unless it's mousse-y (such as, tri-chocolate mousse cake), with minimal to none cake-y part. And so far, I've discovered only two dessert pies that I truly enjoy: lemon meringue and key lime (no cooked fruit for me, please), although if there are other pies with similar (smooth) filling, I may be open to them. So my favourite dessert, birthday or otherwise, would be something like creme brulee or creme caramel, tiramisu, panna cotta, even cheesecake (I actually chose white chocolate & raspberry cheesecake as my wedding cake).
Then there are ice cream cakes. And while I love ice cream, I don't care for ice cream cakes at all. Perhaps it's because I am yet to see one comprised entirely of my favourite flavours, I don't know.
brooke29 at 1:10PM on 05/29/08
@Brooke: It seems like ice cream cakes are not ice cream + cake. It's like a whole other food product that isn't the sum of its parts. I'm not saying they're bad, just...different. :) It's as if the recipe of each has to be compromised so that they can coexist, or something.
Cassaendra at 2:04PM on 05/29/08
@Cassaendra - I think you're right...and perhaps this is precisely why I don't care for ice cream cakes:-) The cassata cake you described upthread, on the other hand, sounds like something I would try.
brooke29 at 2:33PM on 05/29/08
Happy Birthday! Here's your very own cake with candles: |iii|
I love any type of baked good. I love birthday cakes, fruit pies and when they're edible, even wedding cakes.
If you are ever ambitious and would like to make an "anti-cake" that is incredible and delicious, my friend Rosie got her Baklava Ice Cream Cake published in Gourmet. It's definitely a project but it's worth every second you put into it.
Bottom line is - you celebrate your birthday the way you want. You can stick a candle in a bar of Toblerone - as long as it's a Happy Birthday for you, that's all that matters.
chiff0nade at 2:51PM on 05/29/08
Happy belated!!
I am SUCH a chocolate chocolate birthday cake fan. I always have either that or an Italian rum cake (with whipped cream frosting and raspberry filling...heaven) and sometimes both :)
Also, weirdly, I like when wax from the candles drips on the cake, I like the crunchiness.
My mom loves angel food cakes with pink 7-minute frosting but I really don't like them...she made me for years before I had the heart to tell her.
How do you feel about ice cream cakes? If you don't want to make them, Coldstone has AMAZING ones
embolini9 at 3:00PM on 05/29/08
Cheesecake! :)
I also do this really rich, buttery shortbread that gets layered with almond paste in a springform pan and baked. I top it with fresh glazed fruits and shaved white chocolate or fresh coconut. My sis-in-law who does not really like cake either LOVES this.
@chiff0nade--thanks for the baklava cake recipe....will be making that often and soon!!
sadiepix at 3:16PM on 05/29/08
Oh my god, birthday cake? Barf. If you really love me, make me some birthday bruschetta.
ReneeRobinson at 5:12PM on 05/29/08
Enough cake hate at Serious Eats! When my birthday comes 'round I want to be a princess for a day! Pink icing flowers! Chocolate crunchies in the ice cream cake! Buttercream! Chocolate cake or frosting! No one made me anything last year which sucked :( The absent cake is the saddest cake of all.
HeartofGlass at 6:19PM on 05/29/08
@HeartofGlass - tell me when your birthday is, and I'll bake a cake for you! With pink icing flowers, I promise!
brooke29 at 6:52PM on 05/29/08
A Very Happy Belated!
I do not have one iota of a sweet tooth. For my last birthday we celebrated with a huge veggie tray and lots of thick blue cheese dressing. Yum!
izatryt at 6:57PM on 05/29/08
Definitely have that sweet tooth, but I agree--I can pass up the cake anyday. However, this past birthday I did Ice cream cake is awesome, which is always tasty (yes, especially the ones from DQ. I love that crunchy inside layer!)
My boyfriend and his family have a cookie cake tradition for birthdays--There is a PHENOMENAL fro yo shop that makes the BEST cookie cakes--thick, buttery, sweet, topped with chocolate fudge icing, and horrible for you but so worth the calories. He's got me hooked on the tradition, and now I'd much rather have it than regular ole' cake.
luswim06 at 7:21PM on 05/29/08
@luswim06 - A "fro yo shop"??? Help a sista out with that one.
izatryt at 7:25PM on 05/29/08
My husband requested creme brulee for his brithday one year.
beth1 at 8:30PM on 05/29/08
I'm not a cake/pastry fan either but I do love sweets... For my birthday my family/friends usually make some kind of crisp. As long as there is fruit and that crumbly topping I'm not that picky. This year my roommate made a delicious pear and candied ginger crisp. It was delicious!
oregonpinot at 10:26PM on 05/29/08
if you really want to get creative, gulab jamun are balls of deep fried dough soaked in cardamom laced syrup (I promise you, it's paula deen free).
nothing beats warm gulab jamun over cold vanilla ice cream.
browntown at 10:38PM on 05/29/08
Happy belated birthday.
I don't celebrate my birthday. They weren't a big deal when I was a child so why bother.
For a party, my favourite is an ice cream cake or a homemade chewy-marshmallowy rice krispy treat.
paris221966 at 10:48PM on 05/29/08
I do not really like cake, cookies, or bar treats. I do enjoy a variety of pies. However, I LOVE ice cream. I always get ice cream on my birthday (as well as every night). I'm from RI, and the Ice Cream Machine in Cumberland, RI makes the best peanut butter ice cream. I get three scoops of pb ice cream and chocolate jimmies on a waffle cone for my birthday~ YUM!
MeMeg at 10:55PM on 05/29/08
The cake is a lie! HAHAHA People who do not eat cake I don't understand. also would be wary of them. My SIL never hardly eats a thing but when I make cake or pie she has 2 pieces. Her only saving grace.
JerzeeTomato at 10:57PM on 05/29/08
Wow. I can barely imagine not loving cakes, pies, tortes -- all kinds of pastry. I'm known among friends and family for the cakes I make. For my dad's last birthday I made a dark chocolate mocha fudge cake, an orange-chocolate chunk cake, and an almond torte with lime cream icing.
My last birthday brought a slew of cakes baked by friends for a party I threw for myself -- Dorie Greenspan's chocolate gingerbread (recipe posted on this site), a pistachio nougat cake and chocolate Trianon cake, as well as a lemon icebox cake I made myself, and another bakery-bought chocolate raspberry cake. I'm getting hungry just thinking of all those cakes...
Julie at 11:24PM on 05/29/08
Thanks brooke29--and nice to hear from Julie above some cake love.
Funny thing about cake, all grown-ups claim to hate it, yet every party I go to it goes awfully fast ;)
HeartofGlass at 5:52AM on 05/30/08
I believe "fro yo" means frozen yogurt.
lemons at 9:07AM on 05/30/08
@Julie: Yes, icebox cake! It's a good idea for the person who is wary of cakes, since it's not tooth-achingly sweet. My birthday's in the middle of July, so when I was growing up, my parents and I would often make a classic icebox cake (i.e.: Nabisco chocolate wafers and lightly sweetened whipped cream). I loved it, and my parents loved it too because they didn't have to turn on the oven!
emmab at 9:57AM on 05/30/08
i like cake but not frosting, so i don't always love birthday cakes. that's why classic icebox cakes are THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. i've been making them ever since i was little.
delicious touch: frangelico in the whipped cream. yum.
thursdaynightsmackdown at 10:47AM on 05/30/08
I'm not a big cake fan, but Gourmet magazine published a recipe 5-6 months ago for a ruby red grapefruit cake, and when I baked it, it was AMAZING! The tart of the grapefruit zest took the edge off the sweet for me, and it was the perfect marriage.
But for my bday last year, my mom made me banana pudding...you know, the kind with the vanilla wafers and fresh banana slices? AWESOME...but difficult to put a candle in.
rosezilla at 10:56AM on 05/30/08
I love Boston Cream....that's always been by B-day cake of choice (with carrot cake running a close second).
elderberry44 at 12:13PM on 05/30/08
@rosezilla--if you see this, can you tell me where to find the red grapefruit cake recipe/be willing to share? I have a Campari cake that I love to make, and I ADORE grapefruit and would love more cake recipes involving it! Thanks!
I love icebox cake! I was always so sad when I would see my gramma had made one, as she always put mint in the whipped cream! Not awful, but not ideal either....(see mint thread here. :))
I have made big thin gingersnaps and used those with liqueur-added whipped cream to spectacular effect.
sadiepix at 4:15PM on 05/30/08
@lemons - *hitting forehead with hand*
izatryt at 4:26PM on 05/30/08
Birthday without cake just doesn't sound right to me. There have been a few years where I've done an ice cream cake or a pie, and I always end up missing the cake. My favorite birthday cake was last year's, which was a homemade chocolate mocha cake with a mocha filling and a buttercream frosting that was swirled with crushed espresso beans. It was absolutely delicious!
When I was around eight years old, my uncle (a baker) created this beautiful chocolate cake for me. I took a big bite and nearly spat it out - it was filled with swirls of homemade strawberry jam. I wish I could go back and steal a bite from my eight-year-old self now that I can appreciate it!
poke87 at 5:37PM on 05/30/08
Thanks Lemons...yes, fro yo is frozen yogurt...I forget that not everyone says that!! (sorry Izatryt :) )
luswim06 at 8:02PM on 05/30/08
i just spent my 21st birthday in paris: birthday treats galore. cake is a must every year but never chocolate because i eat it almost every day.
on the actual day i had ananas flambé (flaming pineapple served with vanilla ice cream). the next day i went to Mariage Frères for high tea and had the most beautiful fluffy lemon vanilla genoise tea cake with dried tea leaves and rose buds on top.
tudogostoso at 7:02AM on 05/31/08