The Joy of Cooking

Birthday Cake Baking Beckie here!

I have baked one birthday cake a week for the last 4 weeks in a row... And as you know, I am far from a baker. But on a positive note: at least I have graduated from learning the difference between "cooking" and "baking" cakes. Due to my lack of culinary experience, these caloric wonders are coming from a box. I have watched Ace of Cakes, and the man literally puts engines, fireworks, and living things, in his cakes. Now that is definitely talent. My cakes have...sprinkles? No, even better...LOVE. Because I love the people that I make them for.

Today I decided to get a little bit more adventurous. When I bake cakes for my employees at work, I go pretty plain. Because let's admit it, everyone just wants to eat it, they don't even care who's birthday it is. But I figured if I am spending all this time being Betty Frickin Crocker, I might as well have fun! So this week's is a vanilla cake- per Jessica's non subtle, but much appreciated, request- with lemon icing and colored flowers and such.

But as I was slaving away in the kitchen, I thought to myself "why are birthday's so important?". Birth is inevitable. Every human being has been born. So why would we celebrate something so normal? I went to the all too trusted, yet loved, Wikipedia to be enlightened. Pretty much...we've been celebrating birthdays since Christianity and we are going to continue doing it until we hit a Children of Men phase and all die out- except in that movie Clive Owen saves everyone and babies are able to be born again, and then celebrated, so basically...we're always going to celebrate birthdays!!!

Birthday cakes originated in the Middle Ages. They were used as an edible symbol of what your future years would hold. For example: If your birthday cake had a ring in it, you would be happily married. If you got a thimble, you would never marry. Clearly I have been secretly been getting cakes full of thimbles...

But all history aside, the reason I love baking these endless amounts (and yes there have been many more than the last 4 weeks worth) of cakes is because of the people that I bake them for. Everyone is allotted that one special day out the of year to be recognized for being just him or herself. Not for being an honor student, an incredible athlete, gorgeous, rich or fancy. But just because you are YOU! And without YOU the world would be a very different and less colorful place. And so to everyone out there that has a birthday, you are worth celebrating!! I have the best people working with me and the greatest friends and sisters in the world, why not throw in some sugar to sweeten the relationships? So if your birthday is coming up, let me know and I will bake you a cake too. :)