Did you have a birthday cake every year as a child? How old are you now? Was it homemade or bought?

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I was reading the thread about Dermot not eating the caterpillar cake and it’s got me thinking. I don’t like chocolate roll type cakes and never have. They taste like chemicals and disappointment. However, I think I might be holding a grudge against them because I never had one as a child. I can remember 2 birthday cakes in my lifetime and I’m 49. One my mum had someone make for my birthday when I appear to have had a party at around age 4 or 5. It was a chocolate cake basket filled with Dolly mixtures. The second one was for my 21st birthday and made by the local cake shop. I think my grandparents might have paid for it.

I didn’t have parties as a child. I can remember only one where I hid from my friends at first. I was diagnosed autistic last year which explains that one. My parents struggled financially but I just don’t think we were a party family. Perhaps that’s why there was a lack of birthday cakes even though my mum baked cakes for cake sales and her cakes were always lovely.

My own children have had a homemade cake every year. Decorated in the theme of whatever they are most into at the time. Some rather ambitious like a three-tiered Disney Fairies cake for DD’s birthday. For her first birthday she had one made by the same shop that made my 21st cake and it was dry and didn’t go very far whilst costing a fortune so I vowed to always make one each year.

Did you have a birthday cake every year? Do you remember them? Were they homemade? Do you dc have a birthday cake each year?

I think I might be hungry and a bit obsessed with cake this morning! I’m making a chocolate fudge cake later for Easter and having given up chocolate for lent I’m quite looking forward to a slice tomorrow.

I don’t feel deprived by the way, because I didn’t have birthday cakes as a child. Our family just didn’t really do them. My sister had a fancy one for her 21st made by my lovely Nana who was an amazing baker. Lots of royal icing which was the only bit I’d eat because it was fruit cake. That was back in the 80s.

Have things changed now and children have more birthday parties so therefore more cakes?

So many cake questions but the final one: what was your favourite birthday cake?

Thank you for indulging my Saturday morning cake musings.

I certainly had a homemade cake every birthday through primary school, can’t remember my cakes in high school but I would always have had something.

I don’t see homemade as a particular sign of love though, my own kids have never had a homemade cake every birthday- baking is not my talent.

I didn’t always have a party as a child but my own children had a party every year they wanted one. (With shop bought cake!)

I didn't always have a cake because I preferred other desserts but I'd have a treat on my birthday. However my family were also not a party family and I was always sad about that. My mum didn't make friends with other school parents and never organised parties and I've always loved parties.

Now I'm a parent I do whole-class parties for my kids.

My DH has family members who enjoy baking so the kids get given the most elaborate themed cakes from them each year, for which I'm very grateful because otherwise I'd be buying supermarket sponge and an icing pen to scrawl the name.

No way would I ever bake a cake, that is just too much bother. Painstakingly compiling party bags, now that I'm willing to do!

Yes. I'm 55. Homemade usually. Not fancy - a sandwich cake with candles.

I had a cake every year, bought cakes usually. My mum still buys me one now and im 42 😂 my children get one every year but i cant bake so also shop bought. Its also tricky because their birthdays are 2 days apart so now usually one gets a cake and the other gets cupcakes

I had ambitious homemade cakes for every birthday, and I do the same for my DCs, because I loved it so much as a child.
Over the years I have made some very extravagant fondant-iced cakes, in the theme of their current interests, but now they all prefer chocolate ganache or butter icing, so I am developing my piping skills!
I don’t particularly enjoy cooking, and I am indifferent to baking, but I do enjoy the decorating bit.

Late 40s, my Mum made a cake every year and I had a party/disco/friends round. My DM always made a fuss of birthdays (not in terms of lavish presents). I usually make my DC cakes now,.

Forgot to add that we’ve developed a tradition with the in-laws that at some point close to someone’s birthday we will get together and have a takeaway Chinese from the really good restaurant near them. There is always a Colin the caterpillar cake at these occasions - whether for a child or adult. This is at DD’s insistence so she gets that one as well, although she’s really only interested in picking the sweets and a bit of chocolate off her piece. FIL loves cake of any kind though so he’s always happy to keep whatever is left.

I grew up in the North East and like some pps never had a birthday cake or a party. I didn't feel deprived because nobody else did either. It was something that happened in Enid Blyton books. I've had a couple as an adult on 'big' birthdays so I've not missed out completely.

I can’t remember getting birthday cakes growing up, I remember having 2 birthday parties but don’t think I had any more. Dcs had birthday cakes and parties (or sleepovers) every year. Homemade cakes for almost every one apart from dds 18th and we bought one from a lovely baker. We very rarely buy shop bought cakes as they’re always so disappointing. We’ve always done a lot of baking at home and dd now bakes the birthday cakes.

We had a homemade birthday cake every year, sponge covered with buttercream and our age written in Smarties. I remember a tin filled with little plastic houses and stuff that my mum would make a scene with. Very happy memories 🙂

Always homemade, and my mum put a lot of effort in too. I remember as a child (i'm 35) sometimes wanting a store bought cake, because they were perfect😆 now I look back and think, wtf was i thinking. She made the most amazing looking cakes - I had a fishtank cake one year, and Noah's Ark another year, to name a couple.
I have a 4 year old now and so far he has had homemade too. I will always plan to do that.

Ooh my mum did well here, I had a delicious homemade every year. I used to choose a picture from a Mary Berry cake book and invariably picked a fancy chocolate one.

So, yes, I remember them, the best ones anyway. I'm 37.

I make my son one too, they're probably not as good as my Mum's cakes but I put some effort into decorating them.

I'm afraid we eat them as a family and feed his friends chemical caterpillar cake. (Which I confess I do quite like).

I always had a birthday cake, decorated to some theme I would usually pick. Mom was/is a decent baker but it wasn’t crazily elaborate. One year I remember very fondly we went to see the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe at the local theatre for my birthday so my cake
was a white iced Victoria sponge with a brown icing lamppost (cocktail sticks inside) and a bench and maybe some green plants. I was
so pleased with it. She often used BeRo or Delia for ideas. We would never have bought a cake - what decadence!

My mum baked us a cake for every birthday, decorated in a specific shapes etc, and I bake birthday cakes for my children, and now they bake birthday cakes for me. My mum is 83, I’m 56 and my children are 18 & 21.

We do bake regularly though, most weeks, so making a birthday cake isn’t scary for us. I do agree that shop bought cakes are always weird and disappointing.

Mid-50s. Yes, always had a birthday cake, always homemade. Mum was a good cook and made lovely cakes. My dc have always had homemade birthday cakes. Dh or I make one.

Homemade every year until I left home.

My DM now makes a homemade cake every year for my kids.

I’m 52. Mum made me a cake every year of my childhood. Had one most years after that although not always homemade. Now my DD buys me a cake every year. And she gets a Colin the Caterpillar (I didn’t inherit my mum’s love of baking!).

Yes I did and mostly homemade but sometimes bought. Im 68

What is the relevance of how old we are?
We always had birthday cakes. My parents' generation had birthday cakes. Their parents did - I still have the photos, and the wartime economy recipe books.
We had all sorts- every flavour, shape, decoration. Sometimes ice-cream or fruit was involved. (Massively controversial). Towers of fairy cakes or brownies were allowed.
Always homemade.
Anything goes, the only unifying factor was that we always had candles. In my childhood home birthday candles were saved to be used again. Apparently this is unusual. There were crowds of us.

i don’t remember a cake, although like you I had a party when I was 5 and there was one then. My sister on the other hand, I remember her being baked for every year. Mum was a prolific baker. I think she just like my sister more. My dc get an epic homemade cake every birthday

Yes, home made as a younger child, bought when a teenager. My children's are mainly shop bought but they always have one.

I had a shop bought one as a child until I was about 10. And then not again until I met dh and his family did cakes for everyone for every birthday and his mum made me one for my first birthday I had when we were together.
My dc have a homemade one every year - they choose what kind of cake they would like. Dh and I also have a homemade one for our birthdays. I like the tradition!

I'm in my late 40s and only remember birthday cakes on the rare occasion that I had a birthday party - my 8th birthday was the last one. My mum never made a fuss of birthdays and so they weren't a big deal in our house. When I got married, my mother in law was horrified by this and insisted that she made me lovely cakes every year! The most memorable was the hedgehog cake for my 30th as she thought every child born in the 1970s should have had one.

Homemade cake every year: people didn't really buy children's birthday cakes in my country of birth in the 70s. There were no 'themed' cakes, and no infernal icing, just a simple layered cake with a thin dusting icing sugar and candles. Nice.

Always a birthday cake, I’m 46 now. My parents declared that my seventh birthday would be the last party; thereafter it would only be birthday tea, with cake, with one friend allowed to attend. My birthday is in early December, they took care to keep it separate from Christmas, although I always liked having a December birthday.