Adults Are Getting In On The Birthday Fun!

Posted on Feb 1st 2016

Adults Are Getting In
On The Birthday Fun!

Note From Mary Ann:
After reading this article, I knew I had to share it with all of our newsletter subscribers and web site visitors!

By MARIE HODGE
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
July 6, 2004

Let's face it, we're part of a culture that makes adults feel foolish if they want the birthday fairy to make an annual fuss over them. As a result, it often feels as if we haven't had a real birthday in years.

But here's a little secret: The glee we felt on the birthdays of childhood has never really gone away. It simply has moved underground, to reemerge in the way we give our own children gooey cupcakes at elaborate theme parties or sensory-overload celebrations at Chuck E. Cheese's. The kids, as it turns out, have been getting all the action.

Move over, tots; the grown-up birthday cake has arrived. It's a visual showstopper, with the kind of sophisticated ingredients, such as liqueur or coffee or cardamom, that are a taste most children have yet to acquire.

When you give cakes as spectacular as those in our recipes, you don't need to shop for any other present. And because kids won't touch such treats with a 10-foot fork, recipients get to keep more of their gift.

In fact, elaborate birthday cakes for adults have gained a bit of cachet in recent years, according to Kathryn Kleinman, who collected and photographed funky-to-fabulous recipes for all ages in

"Birthday Cakes: Recipes and Memories from Celebrated Bakers" (Chronicle Books, $24.95).

Kleinman sees the rise in adult cakes as part of a general resurgence of home baking. Baby boomers in particular are gazing back through the looking glass of their lives and remembering home-and-hearth traditions of childhood fondly. When nostalgia strikes, they haul out the electric mixer.

"People are having fun with cakes," Kleinman says. "Some women get together to celebrate a friend's birthday and have a queen party, including a cake with a crown, and enjoy themselves."

Even men and children are donning aprons and getting into the act, she says.

A friend of hers who recently turned 50 had a party for 70 people. The centerpiece was a cake of many layers, all created by different family members or friends. This tribute was tangible acknowledgment of her importance in dozens of lives. It was as if each baker were saying, "I'm celebrating the day of your birth because I'm so glad you were born and became part of my life."

Talk about affirmation.

(end of article)

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