Food & Drink

Birthday cake memories

A homemade cake is what it takes to say Happy Birthday right

By Anne Isham
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Monday, August 14, 2006

Editor's note: "Bought cake just doesn't count as a birthday cake," writes Anne Isham of Lago Vista, author of "Eat Chocolate, Lose Weight: The Chocoholic's Survival Guide and Practical Handbook." In a letter to the American-Statesman, she reflects on the cakes of her childhood.

In the "olden days," when I was growing up, birthday cakes were two layers of cake with a chocolate or seven-minute icing. I'm really not all that old, but the olden days are more recent in Texas than in other parts of the country.

In those simpler times, birthday cakes were decorated with candles and served with a rounded scoop of ice cream, probably vanilla, but perhaps chocolate. Usually, the celebrants included parents and my 10 siblings, maybe grandparents, sometimes cousins. The light of the candles on the faces of the celebrants is the picture, in my mind, of all that is purely good and heart-warming in the family bond.

Homemade birthday cakes are a rarity these days. My Great Aunt Nene, who had no children of her own, made cakes for her grandnieces and nephews until the sheer numbers of us overwhelmed her. Her cakes had chocolate icing and were usually garnished with pecan halves. The only other decoration was candles. But these cakes were magical; if you were the birthday honoree, you — and only you — would find a dime in your piece of cake.

How did she do that? Aunt Nene didn't come to the birthday parties. So how did Mom know where the dime was? This mystery baffled me for years. I finally realized that Aunt Nene didn't bake the dime into the cake, she put it between the layers when she iced the cake, then marked the spot with a pecan half cunningly placed facing in opposition to all the others.

The image of a simple homemade birthday cake still symbolizes the joy, the warmth, camaraderie and fidelity of idealized childhood. It is the pure bliss of the nest, without the rivalries, jealousies, and the inevitable pecking order disputes that are also part and parcel of any pool of siblings.

The scoop of ice cream is essential alongside each slice of birthday cake. Cakes that have whipped cream or cream cheese icings are not as well-suited to the accompanying ice cream.

We had a cake almost every Sunday, when I was growing up. Mom didn't bake, but Dad loved to make cakes and some of my sisters and I learned from him. Now, though, I don't make a cake unless I've got company coming or some place to take it. I try to plan so that there are no cake leftovers. The concept of leftover cake was unheard of in our dessert-crazed caper of 11 siblings. Dad would cut the cake, to ensure just distribution. He always managed to cut 12 or 13 equal pieces.

The Sunday cake might be an Oatmeal Spice Cake with Maple Sea Foam Icing, or a Devils Food Cake with Seven Minute Icing, but it was obviously not birthday cake and did not rate the distinction of that celebratory scoop of ice cream, which was the hallmark of birthday celebrations.

I love all kinds of cake; Sinfully Rich Flourless Chocolate Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Fresh Coconut Cake and Cocoa Carrot Cake with Caramel Pecan Filling and White Chocolate Icing and Marzipan Carrots for garnish, and German Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Bombe and elegant Sacher Torte.

I like making these complicated, elaborate cakes that have multiple components and take days to make. But, to this day, nothing says birthday to me like a moist, rich chocolate cake with chocolate icing, candles on top and vanilla ice cream waiting to be scooped on the side of each serving. Bought cake just doesn't count as a birthday cake.

---

Anne Isham of Austin is author of "Eat Chocolate, Lose Weight: The Chocoholic's Survival Guide and Practical Handbook."