This post was first published in my private blog two years ago on the occasion of my secondborn’s birthday. I reproduce it here today for public consumption with a view to reflect and rejoice in the gift of life even as we celebrate a sixteenth birthday. For her fourteenth, for some whimsical reason, she got two cakes! The original post follows. The cakes for her 15th and 16th follow below after the post.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Let Them Eat Cake
Let them eat it everyday (if they can and wish!), but let them eat it for sure on their birthdays! Well, the title of this post is a phrase oft-attributed to Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France known for her lavish ways for whom brioche or cake was as ordinary as bread. But cake is not ordinary. It is extravagant in every way: butter, sugar, flour and flavorings come together to create a decadent sensation for the palate and the eyes. It is the signature food for special occasions: weddings and birthdays, in particular.
And so, last week we had cake. To celebrate S’s 14th birthday. Not one or two, but three altogether! And here’s why: there’s the main one– a very fancy guava-and-lime tiered cake on the day of her birthday (which happened to be a Wednesday); another small one which was a double-chocolate fudge brownie cake (which is a random tradition in our house to have a smallish one on the side, just for fun!); and a standard yellow sheet-cake on the day of her party (Friday of that week) with her friends that has a lovely blue-and-yellow frosting of flowers that also look like butterflies! Needless to say, all three were delicious!
And speaking of cake, I read this article the other day on an interesting concept in designing a dinner menu for a wedding reception– a novelty idea to have each dish catered by a different source, including the cake which looks oh-so-gorgeous in all that chocolate glory and those pink flowers (orchids?) as a shocking and delightful contrast against the rich brown chocolate exterior. Mmmm… I think that cake might have even stolen the show at that reception!
Oh, and by the way, that phrase Let Them Eat Cake, well, there is controversy on whether or not the line was truly uttered by Marie Antoinette. Here’s some more info on that.
So, enjoy these pictures of Samira’s birthday cakes. They were certainly good enough to eat! Now, if only we could have eaten our cake and had it too… 🙂
