Not a proper birthday cake????

[Blablabla1984]

It's my husband's birthday this weekend and we're planning a BBQ. For the bday cake I was planning on making a strawberry cheesecake. When I mentioned this to him his words were: "that's not a birthday cake. It has to be a sponge cake to be a birthday one. Cheesecake sounds lovely though!"

Why? What? How?......... I got super puzzled. Is this a rule??

He obviously loves cheesecakes, I mean he'd eat anything that's in front of him but I was a little bit surprised on the "sponge cake rule". Is there really such thing?

Totally agree with him. If it doesn't have buttercream icing it isn't a birthday cake.

Looks like you'll have to get cooking. Can I have the cheesecake?

He is right, you eat cake with your fingers you can't do that with cheesecake. Although I would if forced obviously (and would also eat it at 4pm with coffee).

Well then my poor son. I must be a terrible mother.

I made him a chocolate caramel cheesecake for his birthday last year. I will notify him that I will never make the terrible mistake of presenting him with his favourite 'cake' again and that from now on it will be white cake with vanilla buttercream frosting (which he detests), as is proper.

Sigh, guess I'll have to let DS2 know that I will no longer be making him a peaches and cream pie for his birthday, either. He'll just have to suck it up and be happy about it.

I'm not keen on sponge cake with horribly sweet icing and artificial colouring at all and would hate it as a birthday cake! In my book, the perfect birthday cake is whatever type of cake the person in question likes best, sweet or savoury, as long as it has candles and is nicely decorated.

My DH has a big homemade pork pie with candle in it for his birthday cake every year. Bet that doesn't count, either but I don't care

What on earth...? Chocolate cake is the ONLY birthday cake and if it's made to look like a caterpillar then all the better ! I'd be mightily disappointed with a sponge or fruit cake.

Yorkieheaven Tom is just waiting for the icing to set and he'll be right in with your cake.

Cheesecake isn't birthday cake but as long as whoevers birthday it is is happy, anything goes!

Ds2 has had birthday flapjacks in the past and now has birthday muffins. I make loads, pipe happy birthday minidoyouthink on top and stick candles in them. He hates cake (too much icing) but enjoys muffins so he's happy.

I have made cheese cakes for birthdays before, but they were a treat rather than a birthday cake, there would be a separate birthday cake too

One of our DC gets a Birthday Viennetta every year .

It's a summertime birthday and I have no intention of switching the oven on and doing a full icing job. We were also struggling financially when the tradition started. Now, ironically, they're not so easy to find and I had to ask a friend to get us catering size Viennettas for an important birthday!

OP, You're the one making the effort. Make whatever you want and stick candles on it. DH should be grateful for the gesture.

Well cheesecake it is!! He said it sounds lovely anyway!!
After a summer bbq, stoggy sponge cake is the last thing I'd want to serve.

AcrossThePond. Acceptance can be brutal - but a good therapist can work wonders.

They can still have them for dessert, but they're not Birthday Cake 😁

If you cook it properly it won't be stodgy sponge cake - it'll be either a delightful light piece of almost air, or my preference, a very heavy rum soaked infused chocolate cake.

Joking aside - birthday person gets to choose (or be grateful for) 'whatever' with a candle in it. But it's really not 'A Birthday Cake' unless it is a cake.

Sgtmajormummy I hadn't even thought of the poor buggers spending ages baking birthday cakes in sweltering heat for their loved ones' summer birthdays! 😫
It's bloody hot OP. Sod baking. Stick with the cheesecake!

Not a Birthday Cake - Birthday Cake is some sort of sponge cake with icing.

Stick candles in anything you like, but it's still not a birthday cake. It's Birthday Cheesecake, Birthday Doughnut-Pile, Birthday Tart Tatin, Birthday Samosa etc.

If your sponge cake is stodgy, you're not making it properly.

If you can't wrap it in a napkin and put it in a party-bag for safe-keeping, it's not birthday cake

Still confused, why is a birthday sponge better than a birthday tart?

This country is just full of silly rules. People who wouldn't touch a brussel sprout are ready to cancel Christmas if there are no brussel sprouts on the table.... Only because it's tradition....

If you can't wrap it in a napkin and put it in a party-bag for safe-keeping, it's not birthday cake

I was wondering wondering if I'd be the first to make this point but someone else beat me to it.

I've made a cheesecake cake with thin layers of sponge, a cheesecake filling with layers of strawberry and the crushed biscuit mix in a ring on top. That went down well.

SgtMajorMummy... tell me more about these catering sized viennetta?
Because in Casa Alpaca the appropriate serving size of a viennetta is half a viennetta.

Purple beat me to it, I was going to tell you all of the sponge cake i made that was sandwiched together with cheesecake topping. It was good...

my other half loves his birthday treat he knows he will get a surprise dessert and it will be awesome last valentines day i made the most rocking trifle

a surprise is so much better than the same cake lol

If you can't wrap it in a napkin and put it in a party-bag for safe-keeping, it's not birthday cake

this doesn't even work, because purists have told us that chocolate cake is not birthday cake!

I would not be impressed with cheesecake for my birthday cake tbh. But I cannot stand cheesecake

tha'ts a very good looking trifle. My diet is not going well, thank you.

It's bloody hot OP. Sod baking. Stick with the cheesecake!

Ok, I don't even like sponge cake, so I was prepared to accept that this thread was going to be mystifying, but a non-baked cheesecake? Are you telling me that the recipe I've been using for decades might not be the definitive cheesecake creation?!