If I knew that you were coming I would have baked a cake

Sozlet, E.G. and I have birthdays boom boom boom (within about a month). I bought before sozlet's birthday (the first one in that run) all the fixin's for carrot cake. Carrot cake is our family birthday cake -- both E.G. and I grew up with carrot cakes as our birthday cakes and were seen as decidedly odd for that (which we are, but...) and so when we had a kid it was a given that her cake would be a carrot cake, too.

I make a mean carrot cake. Coconut, pineapple, homemade cream cheese frosting, moist, wonderful. Really good stuff.

But around sozlet's birthday, I was too busy. Grating 3 cups of carrots takes a long time. We ended up getting chocolate muffins with sprinkles. She loved it.

Then came her birthday party -- chocolate cake. She loved it.

Then came E.G.'s birthday -- I don't remember what we did, but it wasn't carrot cake.

Then maybe Christmas? No.

Then my birthday -- had visitors, they made dinner for me, didn't want to make them make carrot cake and it was too labor-intensive for me to make while visitors were here. No carrot cake, very delicious chocolate cake.

Still have fixin's.

In theory, I would prefer the home-baked cake. I don't really bake though, and if pressed to be responsible for a cake, I might buy it. I rarely have had a store-bought cake that was scrumptious.

Soz, so, what's wrong with carrot cakes for birthdays?

Hmmmm. All of my options didn't show up. I'll have to see if I can edit.

I know what you mean, soz. This seemed to be a buy-a-cake-time if ever there was one.

Really though it only took me about 30 minutes to mix it and 30 minutes to bake it. I made an easy chocolate cake this year. (Last year I made a German chocolate cake - those things are time consuming, like carrot cake.)

I even bought a bunch of junky decorate-a-cake- stuff so Mo could do his own thing on it.

You'll have to share your carrot cake recipe with us, soz.

One of my very favorite deserts is made from a cake mix:

A bag of frozen blueberries
A can of crushed pineapple
One dry yellow cake mix sprinkled on top.
One stick of butter sliced up and laid on top.

Bake until done - somewhere between a half hour and an hour.

I can't figure out how to edit my poll....

Any ideas?

Interesting recipe Boomer - does it come out like a cobbler??

Ooh I bet he'll love the decorating.

My recipe is just from Better Homes and Gardens, but it's REALLY GOOD!! I'll put it here later.

littlek, I dunno, kids tend to sneer at carrot cake. Carrots? In a cake? We usually had to have an alternate at my birthday parties for the ones who wouldn't touch it. I was always happy with the carrot cake, though.

It's true, they're most always better fresh-baked, whether from a mix or from scratch. Sozlet's b'day cake was a chocolate torte from Trader Joe's, buy it frozen then defrost, that's genuinely yummy. I was pondering what to get when someone swooped in and grabbed one of those, I asked her if it was good and she said with extreme seriousness, "It's the best cake I've ever had." I wouldn't go that far, but it's the best *store bought* cake I've ever had, probably.

I've had marvellous home-made cakes, and stupendous cakes from bakeries. You want a cake from me? I'm buying it.

A couple of years ago for my birthday, I ordered 2 tarts/cakes from a friend who's a chef/baker. This was one of them. Lemon Tart - Crostata di Limone








I don't think I'll ever bake again.

the recipe in case anyone else wants to bake

Ya know...a really good bakery can have some fantastic cakes. I'm sure there have to be some great bakeries where you live, boomer. Bring it home when Mr. B's out. Get rid of the box. Who's gonna know you didn't bake it yourself? Life isn't always perfect.

If you click "edit" for your first post you should be able to edit the poll. Make sure that you type the option then click submit or whatever (I haven't done a poll in a while, but when I do I always seem to need to edit...)

Yes it does come out like a cobbler, little k, but.... different too.

I love love love carrot cake. I typically don't like sweets so carrot cake is one of the best. My grandma used to make this dairyless depression cake. I would beg for it. It was really more like bread and a total pain to make - you had to soak things in fruit juice. That cake was so incredible.

Do you have that recipe, boomer?

No I wish. It was all in her head - never written down anywhere. She tried to teach me but I was a doofus. When she would make it I would sit down with the pan and a fork and growl at anyone who got too close.

Ummm. That lemon tart looks delicious. Sounds delicious. I love tangy stuff.

I've already baked the cake now, Swimpy. I'm a pretty good baker but not a very good decorator (because I don't like frosting I usually leave it off) Mr. B would most definately know.

Now that the cake is baked I feel like a dumbkopf for thinking it would be such a hassle.


Even with your advice, soz, I can't figure out the edit thing. I'll just let it slide.

I prefer a horrible home baked cake over a grocery store one, but have a few bakeries I would like to be the fly on the wall of. Anything at all, ever, however small, is welcome, welcome, from Emporio Rulli.

So, that sound's like I'm rule bound, eh? Home or one of California's best bakeries, next to Massimo's Delectibles...

but no, what counts on a birthday is real love. Something to save is good, even a small poem on a piece of paper. Storebought doesn't matter, as long as something of you went into it. Putting a sprig of rosemary in the store ribbon,
a tiny photo in a tiny frame. Personal counts. Maybe not so much at four. Not even the exact day exactly counts.

We used to do things up for my niece, who had quite a hard life at four, don't get me started. The presents were, I am sure, at least sort of fun for her, and the cake I baked was nice, for those minutes. But now at seventeen she remembers the pleasure in being in that house with us, the way I let her fool with me in the kitchen, the neighborhood walks we took hand in hand, just the being there.

Cake, no cake, on that day, on another.... precision is not the deal. The love is. A cake is love, but the memory will not center so much on the date of the birthday, as that you did things out of love.

Osso - wise words.

That has come true, for me.

Osso! Yes! Take a bow!

I think Mr. B comes from that same space.

His dad walked out on his family when he was about two years old. His mom, a glamorous debutante found herself raising four kids on her own without much help. She managed, but it wasn't easy. He remembers that she always took the time to make their favorite cakes on their birthdays.

Mr. B's mom is the greatest.

I think this is why he has this cake opinion.

A cake is love.

And, as I am a wee bit older than some here, I remember hearing the song, If I Knew You Were Coming, I'd Have Baked a Cake. Might have been part of Come on to (onna) my house, c'mon, c'mon, but then again, maybe not. Perhaps on the very early Hit Parade, circa 1951. I would have been nine. Not later, and maybe earlier.

But wait, my niece would not have cared if there was a cake, we were putting the cake thing on to her. Indeed, I didn't repeatedly make cakes, nor was she alway at our house on her birthday. It didn't matter at all, that wasn't her focus. I gather it was Mr. B's, but he didn't set it up as a focus'd ritual.

I am perhaps confusing you on what I think. I have faint memories of my aunt making a sheet cake, when we lived with her in Los Angeles when I was 6 - 7, but it probably wasn't on my birthday.

I didn't know about birthday cakes, that I can remember, until we lived in Evanston, Ill, when I was 9 - 13, and that's because Mrs. Hennessy across the street used to make a big deal out of birthdays for her four children.

I think cakes are wonderful but am not so reined in on their being timely in any way. Love is important on a birthday, period.