Sunday, June 5, 2022

Let's Eat Cake!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: People seem to fall into two camps about the celebration of birthdays. There are those who--at least after whatever marker they've designated as the tipping point--bemoan the fact that they're a year older. Birthdays depress them, and the less fuss made, the better. (My hubby falls on this side of the divide.)

And then there are those like my dad, whose motto was "It's a whole lot better than the alternative!" He lived to be ninety-six, and was all about presents and fuss and German chocolate cake. I know I've shared this photo before but indulge me here, as it's my favorite picture of my dad. You can see that he didn't just love having birthdays, he loved celebrating other people's, too. That little twinkle is just adorable.


I was much more solemn at three. And the cake is almost bigger than I was.


I definitely come down on my dad's side of the birthday line. In the Before-times, I could stretch my birthday out for a month!  Mine is June 5th and my daughter's is the 25th, so between those two markers we could come up with another half-dozen celebratory outings and occasions.

This year will (again, sigh) be considerably more low key, but I'm happy to be spending a little time with friends and family.

Now if the birthday fairy would just bring me a Victoria sponge cake...


So how about you, REDs and readers? Are you an "ignore them" person, or a "let's eat cake!" person when it comes to birthdays?

P.S. I have a confession. I cannot make a cake. I have NEVER made a proper from-scratch birthday cake. My poor daughter got store-bought except when my niece made her favorite strawberry cake.

So I've decided I'm not too old to learn a new skill, and this year I'm determined that it will be CAKE.

126 comments:

  1. Happy birthday, dear Debs! Love from Rhys ( because Google makes me be anonymous on my phone)

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  3. Happy Birthday, Debs . . . . I hope you have a wonderful celebration. Love the pictures!

    I’m definitely in the “let’s eat cake!” camp. I’ve always made cakes for birthdays . . . make mine chocolate, please. John likes German chocolate; the girls, carrot cake, and Boston cream pie . . . .

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  4. Happy Birthday, Debs! I think birthdays should be a big deal and definitely include a birthday cake. I wish I could post a picture here, and I'd post the pic of my first birthday, with me sitting at the table with a cake in front of me (with one candle in it). My mother always had a birthday dinner where as much of our family that could come (as we got older) would come and there would be a cake with candles. My husband's family weren't big on birthdays, and he's still doesn't see the need to celebrate every year. I probably bought most of my two kids' cakes when they were growing up because they would want some character or theme. But, I made my husband the chocolate cake from scratch that his mother said was his favorite. Some years later, I learned from him that it wasn't, but that's okay because it was a delicious chocolate steam cake with chocolate icing. I have made a strawberry cake with strawberry icing, too. Now, if I make one I do my chocolate cherry cake and use a box mix. However, I insist on my icing made from scratch. No canned icing for me, thank you. OK, now I'm hungry for cake.

    Oh, and Debs, I haven't forgotten the pictures of the map book I was going to send you. I couldn't get them to download from my phone, but I'm going to try again.

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  5. Happy Birthday, Debs! I fully believe in celebrating birthdays, celebrating all month if you can, and in eating birthday cake! Every day is a gift. A whole year’s worth of days deserves a big celebration! If I don’t get a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for my birthday, I’ll go out and buy one! The pandemic has made things difficult but I have managed to eat cake!

    DebRo

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    1. I agree DebRo that every day is a gift! You would like my family's favorite chocolate with chocolate...

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    2. Thanks, Deb! I agree that every day is a gift.

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  6. Jennifer PoslusnyJune 5, 2022 at 2:21 AM

    My family all falls into the Let's eat cake camp. Good thing since I am a baker. It is birthday season here. Mom's is June 13th and then my sister's is July 6th and mine is July 8th ( 5 years apart). Sis and I roll into ours into a multi-day celebration that includes our favorite family dinners on the day of and going out to eat on the day in between.

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  7. I'm in the let's eat cake camp. Let's celebrate!

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  8. DEBS: Happy Birthday!! I hope you are enjoying this day which falls on the last day of Platinum Jubilee festivities.

    I have MIXED feelings & traditions about my birthday. As a kid, my parents doted on me with presents & a party with friends & birthday cake. But once I left home at 19, I pretty much stopped doing any birthday celebrations until my late 30s. Then I met Katrina, a work colleague at Environment Canada in Toronto. She took a day off from work on her birthday and pampered herself. I adopted Katrina's tradition by taking a day off & doing a whirlwind trip away from home in late February. If my birthday fell on a Friday or Monday, I made a quick getaway to Chicago (or even San Francisco) to do things I love: explore interesting neighbourhoods, browse indie bookstores & eat waaay too much yummy food. Once I retired in 2016, this birthday tradition expanded into a 2-3 week getaway to places such as Arizona, Iceland & Hawaii. Of course, the pandemic lockdowns during the past 2 years prevented me from leaving home but I plan on doing another birthday getaway abroad in late February 2023!

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    1. You are very smart to treat yourself with exactly what you want Grace!

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    2. Grace, I also always allowed myself a day off on my birthday. As it is at the end of January, depending on the weather, it could be going somewhere special or just stay home, spending the day without routine.
      Danielle

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    3. ROBERTA : I agree, at our age, we should do what we want on our birthday! The solo at-home birthday dinners in 2020 & 2021 were a pandemic adjustment but still delicious.
      DANIELLE: I'm glad you also take a day off on your birthday.

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    4. Those sound like great traditions, Grace.

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    5. Great traditions, Grace and Danielle. My friend Cora taught me about taking my birthday off from work, and I loved it.

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    6. I would take the day off work, but only to avoid any celebrations there. Lisa in Long Beach

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  9. Cake for all! I love celebrations of all kinds, and especially for my birthday. My dearest friend's birthday is three days before mine, so we always do something special together. This November is a "big" birthday, and I'm already planning the party, including kitchen dancing. You're all invited!

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    1. I hope you're serious, Edith. If anyone invites me any place, I show up. It would be a blast to help you celebrate the "big" one!

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    2. Have a wonderful November birthday, Edith. From another November child. Elisabeth

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    3. I’m coming too, Danielle

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    4. EDITH: Yay, have a ball celebrating your special birthday this November!

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    5. Yay, Edith! Maybe we can Zoom with you!!

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    6. Cake and Zoom and kitchen dancing in November: yay!

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    7. Wait! I am in driving distance to your birthday party! I am coming, too!

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    8. Zoom parties are excellent, too!

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    9. We all have to start making our travel plans to Edith's house in November!

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    10. Uh-oh - I'm going to need a bigger house, LOL!

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  10. Happy Birthday, Debs! Celebrate! Be joyful!

    Hah! Just yesterday, I tripped over a FB video of Paul Hollywood teaching how to make that cake. Didn't look THAT hard. Hope yours turns out well.

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    1. I'll look up Paul Hollywood's video. It can't be THAT hard. I've seen them made often enough on Great British Bakers!

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  11. Let us all eat cake!

    However I do prefer a quiet celebration. My favorite was the card shower for my 80th, coordinated by Julie with much help from JRW and Catriona McPherson. I treasure that memories. Because of the pandammit, we’ve not gone out to dinner in ages, that being our traditional celebration. But I’ve had lovely birthday meals brought it from great restaurants. Our Julie doesn’t cook but she makes great reservations — take out these days

    Happy Birthday darling Debs. I hope your day is filled with love and presents and all the cake you can eat

    Much love, Ann

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    1. Yes, Ann, eat cake but with a quiet celebration. Elisabeth

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    2. Thank you, Ann!! Much love to you and Julie!

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    3. Pandammit has me rolling in laughter

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  12. When I was a kid we each got to ask for our favorite meal and cake for our birthdays. Mine was always a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas. Fried chicken at our house was otherwise just a Sunday dinner, since my mom worked.

    Then my kids came along, and birthday celebrations got bigger. My oldest daughter had 13 living grandparents at one point, and there were celebrations for weeks, with SO many presents. The younger two have birthdays 11 days apart, and for several years I would have joint parties for them, inviting all our friends' children of the same age group, and their own cakes on their actual birthdays. I tried my hand at fancy cake decorating, which, frankly, usually resembled those honored by https://www.cakewrecks.com/ (If you've never seen this site, or need a laugh, it's a must. Warning, do not drink anything while you're reading it.)

    When my oldest daughter turned 50 it was November of 2020, and we couldn't travel, so we had the Zoom party to end all parties. Complete with kitchen dancing, Edith!

    My favorite cake of all is Sacher torte, which was the specialty of a local European bakery until they simplified their torte offerings. They will still make a less complicated version for special orders, and my daughter got one for my 70th birthday last year. It's a dense chocolate torte of three layers with chocolate ganache icing. The original had both raspberry and apricot filling, and slivered almonds around the sides, but even without those embellishments it was fabulous.

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    1. Debs, wishing you a wonderful birthday (month), and delicious cake!

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    2. KAREN: I love Sacher torte after first eating the authentic version in Vienna in the 1980s. Lucky you that a European bakery makes a good version for you to enjoy as a birthday treat.

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    3. Thank you, Karen! Our French bakery makes a Sacher torte, but I prefer their coconut cake. Yum.

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    4. Mmm, coconut cake is good, too!

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  13. Happy Birthday, Deborah! Always let them eat cake! Except for the year I was 10 and wanted NO birthday party, until the day before. Bless Mother for putting together a tour of the historical society and cake and ice cream and three friends (with apologies to their mothers for short notice). May you all celebrate with joy.

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    1. It’s Elisabeth here.

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    2. Elisabeth, now I'm curious. Do you remember why you didn't want a party??

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  14. Happy, Happy Birthday Debs! I am firmly in the celebrate camp!

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  15. Happy birthday dear Debs--to a long life filled with delicious cake! You know I'd make one for you in an instant if you were here!

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  16. Happy Birthday Debs! I am in the cake-eating camp.

    Because we are twins, our birthday was generally a big deal. We got to have whatever we wanted for dinner (and of course there was no dispute between the two of us: fried chicken, corn, potatoes, chocolate cake) As adults, we have had big parties and small parties, and often spend at least part of the day together.

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    1. Thank you, Gillian. That sounds like a good birthday to me!

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  17. Happy Birthday Debs !
    I’m in cake’s clan to finish a good meal with family and friends, celebrating life.
    My favourite cake is the Queen Elizabeth.
    Danielle

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    1. Thanks, Danielle! I'm not familiar with that cake.

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    2. It is a dates based cake topped with a kind of coconut cream sugar , Danielle

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  18. Happy birthday, Debs. Never pass up an excuse for "cake" has mostly been my response to a birthday. And "cake" doesn't have to be the kind we eat - though that's always a good idea - but the funny card or anything that says, "Yay, you!" Human need to celebrate when we can. (My husband claims he doesn't care...no one entirely believes him. :-) )

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    1. The thing about people who say they don't care about birthdays is that their feelings are usually hurt if you don't acknowledge the occasion:-)

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    2. SO TRUE! :-) Guilty as charged. xooxo

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  19. Happy Birthday to a fellow Gemini! As a child, I asked for strawberry shortcake for my birthday. Nowadays, it's a chocolate ganache cake decorated with strawberries.

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    1. My older son's birthday is June 12th, exactly when local strawberries are ripe in MA. His first birthday cake was covered with whipped cream and fresh strawberries!

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    2. You can't beat whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

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    3. Margaret, I'll take the strawberry shortcake. I'm not a big fan of heavy chocolate cakes. And happy birthday to a fellow Gemini!

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  20. Happy Birthday! I love the picture of you and your Dad - my Dad also loved to say “it’s better than the alternative!” I’m a June birthday too and always want cake for my birthday, even if I have to make it myself. My favorite cakes are the Italian Cream Cake from Society bakery in Dallas and a homemade Chocolate Dr. Pepper Cake.

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    1. Italian Cream Cake!!! I'm looking this up! They are closed on Sunday, so boo, but maybe next week I'll get a little Italian Cream Cake. I did say I believed in extended birthdays:-)

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  21. Happy Happy Birthday Debs. My birthday was last week on the 31st. I am definitely in the eat cake camp. Although I do have to make my own. I spent the day riding my bike, hanging out in the pool and going to dinner with my cousin. Yesterday my daughter who lives with me took me to lunch. When I was little mom made me cake. When I had kids we did cake and parties. This summer my older daughter will be 40. There will be a big family party with chocolate cake and peanut butter icing.

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    1. Geminis rock, Ann! My best friend since 3rd grade was born on May 30, so we consider ourselves twins a week apart.

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  22. Happy Birthday Deb! Let's eat cake. My mom taught us to make cake from scratch and I always added something special to the frosting, like sprinkles or color dyes.

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    1. Thanks, Dru! I don't remember my mom ever making anything other than the German chocolate that was my dad's favorite. I suspect that the huge and slightly lopsided cake in my three-year-old birthday photo was made by my grandmother.

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  23. Happy birthday, Debs! I am definitely in the let's eat cake camp. I've made lots of cakes from scratch, but the most labor intensive was a Frankfurter Kranz I made from a German cookbook as a special request for my husband's 25th birthday. The cake took two days to make, I learned all sorts of new skills making it. The cake was so rich - the frosting was creamed butter based that tiny slices were all you could eat - it kept in the fridge for nearly a month before we finished it and that last slice was just as good as the first. Never made another one, but the next year was Black Forest Cherry Cake from the same cookbook.

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    1. Thanks, Kait! I think you're very adventurous! I just saw a recipe on Smitten Kitchen for a strawberry meringue cake, and as strawberry is my daughter's fave, maybe I'll attempt that for her birthday.

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    2. You'll do great! Think of it as clues to a mystery.

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    3. KAIT: Bravo for tackling that Frankfurter Kranz for your husband's birthday. I love to bake from scratch but my FB friends will notice that I don't make cakes. But a Black Forest cake sounds more like my kind of recipe to attempt.

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  24. Happy birthday, Deborah! Eat all the cake you want, and, take it from me, you're going to be surprised at how quickly you master the art of baking a cake. Hey, even a less-than-stellar first try is still cake!! :-) And there are few 'sins' that frosting can't cover. I'm in the cake camp, too. My Irish twin and I were 20 days apart in January, so we often shared a cake. My favorite: white with scads of coconut in the frosting.

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    1. Oh, yum. Our French bakery here makes a fabulous coconut cake. Maybe I will pick up one on my way home from brunch...

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    2. Roberta has a coconut cake recipe that is the most delicious, decadent, coconutty cake ever! I've made it twice!!

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    3. I'll be looking for that recipe--I'm having coconut cake for my next birthday if I do have to bake it myself.

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    4. Roberta, where can we find your recipe?

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  25. Happy birthday, Debs, now that we know the real date. I love birthdays, especially my own! And cake! This year my son and his friend made me cheesecake. Absolutely wonderful! I told him I would like at least one every month, but that hasn't happened.

    My youngest was born on December 31, not the best time for a birthday so we ended up also celebrating at the end of June for his Half birthday. That got out of hand when my other kiddos decided they wanted half birthdays too. Of course they did.

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    1. Judi, when my daughter was little, we celebrated her half birthday on Christmas Day! Much better than having your actual birthday on Christmas!

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    2. Judi, my daughter was born on December 26th. At least I got to have Christmas and a Christmas meal before she arrived. However, I learned a lesson on one of her day-after-Christmas birthdays. I used Christmas wrapping paper on her birthday presents. My daughter let me know that she wanted birthday wrapping paper.

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  26. Happy Birthday, Debs. I'm on the fence about birthdays. Mine is the fourth of July, so there's always a celebration, I always had the day off from work and so did everyone else. I usually had strawberry shortcake with blueberries too - red, white, and blue.
    My kids liked Boston cream pie. I did make some fancy decorated cakes for my daughter a few times. My son liked white chocolate cheesecake with raspberries.

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    1. Oh, it's so hard when a birthday falls on a major holiday. You always had to share!

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    2. JC: That's tough, but I hope those close to you are in the mood to celebrate/party both on July 4.

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    3. JC, the Dallas Winds--the organization for which I work--has a huge, gala, July 4 concert and every year one of our patrons brings a dozen of her friends to it because July 4 was her birthday, too. She figured the celebration was all about her! We just threw the big party. Where else would she get fun music, a visit from Uncle Sam, and streamer cannons? One year we conspired with her daughter to add some personal birthday wishes to the stage presentation, and another year we invited her onstage to cue the giant flag drop. So she wasn't sharing her birthday with the holiday--the holiday was all about her birthday!

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    4. Gigi - what fun. I will think of my birthday differently from now on.

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    5. What fun! Almost as good as having a whole Jubilee celebration:-)

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  27. I love to celebrate with those that want it, as long as I am not in charge of the party. However, my main reason to comment... I want to know Deborah when you make the cake and...will it he Victoria sponge?
    Karen in Utah

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    1. If I manage to make a cake, I'll post a photo. I really need to learn how to make that Victoria sponge. How hard can it be???

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  28. Happy Birthday, Debs! I agree with your dad. Celebrate yourself. Life is too short - Eat cake first!

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  29. Happy birthday, Debs! I'm all for cake and definitely on one's birthday. My mother's two options for us were Victoria Sponge or a chocolate cake with raspberry jam filling, both delicious. Birthdays are for celebrating, I think. Enjoy your day...and weeks of celebrating!

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    1. Thank you, Amanda! I wouldn't turn my nose up at the chocolate with raspberry jam filling!

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  30. Happy birthday, Debs. Since you may not get a delivery of that Victoria sponge cake, maybe over sized, warm biscuits with drippy, sugary strawberries and whipped cream would be a passable substitute. :)

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    1. Oh now you've made me drool, Deana! And thank you!

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  31. I’m a bit of both perceptions, I guess. (And my birthday’s tomorrow.) No one before me was particularly long-lived and some were rather short-lived, so I may be heading for a record. For me, the pleasure is having activities to look forward to - books into print, family to love, community to engage with…and cake! - Susan C Shea

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    1. Happy birthday, Susan. Enjoy

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    2. Happy Birthday, Susan, Danielle

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    3. Happy birthday, Susan, fellow Twin!! Wouldn't it be fun to celebrate together one of these days!

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  32. I've always been a big celebrator of birthdays. Those pics are adorable, Debs! I decorate, bake cakes, and make a big fuss over the birthday person - and if it's me, I make sure I receive the same. LOL. Things changed for me a couple of years ago and I don't know if I'll ever get back to celebrating my birthday like I used to - but I have no trouble pulling out the stops for everyone else!

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  33. Hank Phillippi RyanJune 5, 2022 at 12:30 PM

    Oh, so late today! Happy birthday, darling Debs! When we were kids, we used to try to have a birthday week, to extend our birthdays for as long as we could, but mom would never let us.
    No, I tend to kind of ignore them, until the day of the birthday, and then I think wait, where are my presents?
    And for Jonathan‘s birthday this year, I realized we had no cake, so I decided to make a cake. It was a big production, because I realized I had never made a cake! Never.
    But I persevered, and then I decided to call instead of just leaving it well enough alone, I decided to cut it into a multi layer cake, an asymmetrical tower. It was a massive disaster, and had to be cantilevered up with about 25 birthday candles.
    But it was delicious. I am not really a fan of cake, until I taste it, and then I think wow! Cake!

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    1. Hank, I remember the photos you posted of that cake!!! It was a masterpiece!!

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  34. Something that inevitably comes up with cakes concerns its sugary covering. Is it icing, or is it frosting? I talked about icing for my chocolate cake in my comments, but I noticed everyone else said frosting. So, not for the first time, I googled "icing vs. frosting." Although the use of either term can be a matter of colloquialism, I finally found a detail of difference that resonated with me. Icing is thinner than frosting and not fluffy like frosting. When you pour icing onto a cake, you don't have but a few seconds before it starts to harden up and set. With frosting, you can take your frosting knife and dip out so much at a time to swirl onto the cake. With my chocolate icing for my chocolate cherry cake, I make some holes with the butter knife to let the icing seep into the cake, too. And, I should definitely call my strawberry topping frosting as I take a little a time to swirl the fluffier mixture onto the cake. After reading the first article I mentioned, I found another good one. I'm listing them both here.
    https://www.masterclass.com/articles/frosting-vs-icing#4-types-of-frosting
    https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/frosting-vs-icing-whats-the-difference/

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    1. Ah, that's good to know. I thought it was a cultural thing, that the Brits say "icing" and Americans are more likely to say "frosting."

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  35. Bringing the celebration towards tea time. Let them eat CAKE. Heck let them eat pie.. let them eat trifle.. it doesn't matter.. enjoy the heart of the matter, you are here and still lovin' life. Long may it be true. ps. I am all for ice cream and frosting with a smidgen of cake.

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  36. Happy birthday, Debs! I'm still working on getting a proper cake for you. And that dress you were wearing in the three-year-old photo? I think I had one exactly like that.

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  37. Happy Birthday Debs and Kait! I Love cake. Any excuse to celebrate! Birthdays are great for birthdays. Through trial and error, eventually I learned how to bake a cake. I learned that if you are making two layer cake, then LET them COOL first before putting the frosting on the cake.

    Diana

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  38. Celebrate! It's good for one's spirit! <3
    ☼♡ Happy birthday and many more, each happier than the one before! ♡☼
    Huzzah for another trip around the sun!
    Each year is an achievement, having fun and doing some good. <3
    Celebrate all month with cake and books! <3 ♥ ❤️💛💚💙💜
    “There is no truer love than that between a man (person) and his(/her) books.” — Eugene Field, THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF A BIBLIOMANIAC
    Having fun isn’t hard, if you have a library card . . . and with such abundance of choice, choose what you wish. ;-)
    http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2021/4/25/sunday-sweets-brings-cake-to-the-library

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  39. I love cake but I skip my birthday celebration anymore. My granddaughter made me a Victoria sponge for my birthday a couple of years ago and it was delicious! She was attending culinary school at the time. Just got up early, made the cake, and off to school she went. Happy birthday Debs!

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    1. Thank you, Pat! (You can give your granddaughter my address!:-))

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  40. I love cooking for birthday celebrations - my favorite thing is to make THEIR favorite thing, whether it's a cake or a steak. Or both. I admire anyone who bakes from scratch - I'm a Duncan Hines girl. Especially devil's food with dark chocolate frosting. Though occasionally for my husband I made a from scratch chocolate hazelnut torte topped with a bit of whipped cream. Spectacular. But you need to FIND hazelnuts in the store, then roast them, then, roll them around to dislodge skin, then....

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  41. PS! Happy Birthday Debs! Love that photo of you and your mega-cake. So cute!

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  42. Happy Birthday, Deborah! When I turned 16, the Saint Bernard someone had just given, or dumped on us, ate the angel food cake off the table. That's the one I remember best.

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  43. Happy birthday Deborah! I for one love birthdays, and I love cake (for birthdays and just in general.) I have a zucchini chocolate cake recipe that is to soooo good. My husband has started making tea cakes, also soooo good! I also like pound cakes and "poke" cakes. My birthday and our older daughter's birthday are four days apart, and even for cake lovers, two cakes in four days is too much. So we decided that we'd have cake to celebrate her birthday (sometimes from scratch, sometimes from a fantastic bakery near us), and something else for mine. Some years it was bagels, or pie, or donuts. Which worked just fine--even on my birthday when that same daughter accidentally set my birthday donut on fire. Too many candles for a small donut, ha ha! We still laugh about that.

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    1. What a scene! That is adorable..a flaming donut!

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    2. That's hilarious, Jess! Maybe I should have asked for a birthday donut:-)

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  44. I feel like a total wet blanket, but for some reason cake has never done it for me. Candy, yes. Ice cream, sort of. Caviar and champagne, totally! So, I'm wishing you a totally caviar and champagne, birthday, Debs♥️

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  45. Sorry, don't know why that came through as Anonymous!

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  46. Happy Birthday Deborah,
    We had favorite foods, streamers, balloons, cake, and parties for the children when they were growing up. We would order the cake from the bakery at our grocery store. We had a beautiful chocolate cake with turquoise and purple decorations for a Jasmine cake. My son loved dinosaurs so we had those on his cake with a raised up volcano. This year he will be 28 in two days so I will order him a chocolate cake from Safeway(Tom Thumb). I am definitely a cake and ice cream person. Diane R

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  47. Happy belated birthday! If you want to start baking cakes that are easy, quick, yet all ultra-special, try nearly any recipe from Yossy Arafi’s Snacking Cakes cookbook. The chocolate peanut butter cake has been requested for birthdays here at my house.

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