To make a birthday cake and not cut it

Exactly. I can't even believe this is a thing

This. It all looks the same coming out. I don't get why you wouldn't just eat it there. I feel this is why people are so busy, just making things more complicated than they need to be 😑

I make ds birthday cake and I'd be raging if I put that amount of work in and no-one tasted it! I've always cut it at the party and then popped into party bags and taken the remainder home. Though they've always been big cakes so I wouldn't have been able to eat it all at home anyway. Well I absolutely could but I'd probably end up ill.

It’s an Instagram cake 🎂

I'd make two cakes or a cake for home and cupcakes for party. Or buy an ice cream cake for the party and serve it at the party after the food?

It's very telling on here that the people who have done it think it's fine, but the people who've been given the substandard cakes don't feel so fine about it...

People definitely do notice, if not the kids, the adults do. Its quite unpleasant to show off a fancy cake but to deem the (present laden) attendees not worthy of eating it.

Cut it there or use an identical duplicate if that's more practical (but don't be obvious about it)

It all gets squished through peoples intestines at the end of the day.

People will notice it's a different cake. It's really stingy and you are basically saying to the guests, "Look at the wonderful cake we made/bought for our precious child. You can look but your children aren't good enough to eat it so are getting a bit of traybake instead". Strange.

We just had a cheap supermarket cake for our daughters party, made a cake for at home, solely as her younger sister has allergies 🙈

I can understand baking a nice cake and not wanting to waste it on a free-for-all scrum class party.

But I don't think you can then display it at the party. Just keep it for the family party or wherever you're planning actually to eat it.

The kids think they're going to get the cake on the table. That's why they all crowd round and you spend half the party swatting little fingers away from it. It's ok, I think, to "trick" them by substituting a duplicate cake but boring old cupcakes are a bit of a letdown.

This happened at DD's nursery friend's party about 7 years ago and I still remember how weird it was. Beautiful cake produced just for photos and the guests were given Tesco cupcakes.

I did this. Baked the cake but kept it for sharing at home at a family gathering but did matching cupcakes individually boxed up in advance for the kids to take home.

I remain entirely unconvinced that cutting a birthday cake into slices is difficult or dangerous.

It makes no sense to me i would just have the cupcakes

You can do "cakes" that are really just a lot of cup cakes. That's what I would do if you're thinking on giving out cupcakes.

Google cupcake cake or pull apart cakes. You don't need to ice individually.

Depends on the age of the kids and the type of party, what else they are having etc

At the soft play type parties here they get jelly and ice cream pudding so don’t want cake on top in a short party (1.5-2hrs) - they’d rather play as they are usually under 5.

Different once they are school aged I think.

We aren’t serving cake at DD’s 5th this month - because it’s in a village hall with a tight turnaround and I don’t want to clean it up and it’s the norm to serve in party bags and far easier.

But I expect that to change as DD ages.

I will never ever understand why people don’t cut cake and eat it immediately while at the party. I know it is the done thing to put it in party bags but I find it odd.

Wow, she’s 4 and the cake meant a lot to her.

And it's OK that it meant a lot to her but a cake at a birthday party is there to be enjoyed. Explaining that and demonstrating that to her is a part of being a parent just as much as having a cake at a birthday party and sharing it with your friends is a part of having a birthday party.

@Anon22224 i didn't say she is selfish, I'm saying by doing that you're teaching her to be selfish. Parties are for sharing joy and the coming together of loved ones (as symbolised by the sharing of the cake). I didn't say it was easy either. But sometimes taking short cuts leads to problems further down the line. I'm sorry for your loss.

Do you understand what the purpose of a birthday cake is lol

I’ve done this before - it’s absolutely fine and I wouldn’t give it a second thought (especially if cupcakes are matching)

I don’t understand this… Will the cake not be eaten at the party?

Wow, she’s 4 and the cake meant a lot to her. Her mum died actually so having a ‘mum’ make her a cake meant so much to her she couldn’t bear to have it taken away. Shes the least selfish little girl I’ve ever know actually but thanks for your comment

So you're teaching your kid it's ok to be selfish when everyone has made the effort to turn up at her party.

2 identical cakes, one cut up in advance I could possibly see the logic of.
But a "show cake" that's not for party goers to eat is rude.