It's a well-known fact that writer-director John Hughes, who died Thursday at age 59, was a master of capturing teenage ennui (not to mention a master of setting too-high romantic expectations for a generation of women raised in the '80s.)
What's less remarked upon is his fascination with food and the way American culinary rituals define adolescence. There's the lunch scene in the detention hall of "The Breakfast Club," in which Molly Ringwald snottily articulates the concept of "sushi" to an incredulous Judd Nelson and "bad girl" Ally Sheedy demonstrates fantastic Coke can catching skills before creating a sandwich out of Pixy Stix, butter, bread and cereal -- which she proceeds to devour like a raptor.
We're stuck on a loop of John Hughes memories, but this photo of a different 16 candles -- a snapshot taken by a father of his rosy-cheeked son "caught in the glow of his 16th birthday cake" -- caught our eye.
It's a tribute to the maestro that any cake teeming with candles will always make us think of him. So to paraphrase one of his own characters, "May we admire you again today?"
I have a confession to make. This year, I did not bake Scott's birthday cake from scratch. It's the fourth birthday confection I've baked for him in the years we've known each other, and it's the first time I didn't start with raw ingredients and a recipe. Instead, I used two boxes of Naturally Nora's cake mix and saved myself a whole lot of prep time. No one at his party had any idea that I hadn't slaved over the cake, measuring flour, beating egg whites and creaming butter. I got a million compliments and as I received each one, I just smiled and said thanks (as I write this, I'm beginning to feel like a 1950's housewife), mentally forwarding them to Nora herself.
The thing is, I don't feel bad about passing off that cake as my own. I did bake it up in the big aluminum pan I inherited from my great-aunt and I sweated over the frosting. It's just not always possible to bake a cake from scratch, and it's awfully nice to know that there's a dependable, natural cake mix out there among all those chemical-laden ones that is just as easy and tastes really good.
So next time you have to make cupcakes for a school party and you find yourself running short on time, grab one of Nora's mixes (they come in five flavors) and let yourself off the hook.
My goddaughter turns 1 today and the topic of conversation around her parents' house in recent weeks has been the perfect cake for baby to celebrate her first birthday.
It got me to wondering how parents choose the right cake for that oh-so-special Kodak moment. If you have a kid named Madeline or Lady Baltimore, you can get away with serving an eponymous cake. The rest of us have to weigh taste with what will look best smeared on that beaming butter bean's face. Do you go small or big?
My friends chose to stick with tried and true recipes -- a white cake with raspberry filling, cupcakes and a cheesecake for the adults.
Upon first clapping my eyes upon the picture you see above, I found myself talking to the cake. There's something about it that telegraphs a sense of personality and individuality. It's the kind of cake that doesn't come around too frequently these days. However, it embodies everything a birthday cake should be (interesting, indulgent and chocolate-y).
As many of us here at Slashfood know geeks love to play with their food. And what geek doesn't love computers? Here's a birthday cake that combines the love of computers with that playful approach to food. It's a sugar-laden cartoony rendition of a motherboard. That Intel chip is an After Eight chocolate mint, and you can see that the gal who created this cake for her boyfriend also made liberal use of vanilla and chocolate wafer cookies. The circular gold things are Rolos. I haven't had one of them in years. Seeing the gold-foil wrapped treats has me wanting to run out and buy a pack.
I stumbled upon this sweet rendition of a motherboard on Geekcake, an entire site that's devoted to geeky cakes. What are some of the other cakes geeks are making you ask? Naturally, Star Wars is a common theme. There's a cool-looking Jabba-The-Hut wedding cake. And since nerds worship role-playing games, there's a cake fashioned after a 20-sided die. In high-school I played my fair share of D&D. But my favorite cake on the site is a Rubik's Cube cake. I'm guessing that's its not a fully functional Rubik's Cube. I'll bet it tastes good though.
As the resident cake baker in my circle of friends, I'm always trying to find something new and funky to make. I've been in a groove of no-cook fondant and marzipan figures, but this summer I got a challenge -- chocolate. Not being the biggest fan of chocolate cakes, I mostly stick to the many other flavors. However, my friend, she loves the dark and sinful treat. If she wanted chocolate, she was really going to get chocolate. Since she's also a skier, it would be served in a smooth, snowy package.
Death by Chocolate Cake, straight out of The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Chocolate, with white fondant, a marzipan skier, and some candles for wishing. Check out the gallery, peruse the recipe after the jump, and stay tuned for more information on the fondant and marzipan.
If you've been a part of the online community during the last year or so then you know what it means to be Rick Rolled. Someone sends you a link, but when you click on it, instead of being directed to the site you thought you'd see, you are treated to Rick Astley singing his hit, Never Gonna Give You Up. It's a trend that has touched every corner of the internet, including our foodie world. Case in point, the "Rick Rolls" we brought you a few months ago.
Now the infamous Rick Roll has arrived in the form of a birthday cake. Papersatan over at Instructables made one for her boyfriend's birthday recently, and she has given us all step-by-step instructions on how to make one at home.
The cake is pretty simple, but you will need some icing colors and piping tubes to make it happen. For the most part, all the necessary ingredients are simple and inexpensive. Happy Birthday!
I'm pretty confused about this one. An elementary school principal in Connecticut has been suspended because of a birthday cake? Well, I guess it was the argument he got into with a parent trying to deliver it to his child's class.
The parent was trying to take a homemade birthday cake to his kids class. Apparently that was against school policy, and when the principal tried to explain that the parent "protested". I am not sure exactly what happened, but it was enough that the suspension may lead to firing for the principal.
Birthday cake is supposed to bring happiness, not aggression. Both of the people involved should be ashamed that they brought negativity to such a happy thing. What so you think about this?
Being that I'm known in my circle of friends as something of a food lover and able cook, I often get called upon to bring contributions to communal meals or other food events. Nearly once a month, I get tapped to make a birthday dessert and so I'm always on the hunt for a quick, tasty birthday cake that doesn't come from a box. I have a go-to cake for the chocolate lovers but I've always been stymied by from scratch white cakes. They never come out quite right for me and so the search continued.
Until Saturday morning, that is. I needed to make a cake for my boyfriend's birthday party that night, and he had specifically asked for a white cake with chocolate frosting. Simple enough, right? My theory is that when you're working with such a classic combination, you have to do a really great job of it, or it's a let down. I flipped through at least six cookbooks, looking for a recipe that didn't use a pint of cream or require you to separate half a dozen eggs and beat the whites. What I ended up using was the All-Occasion Yellow Cake recipe from the Gourmet Cookbook. It is billed as being "incredibly simple" and it lived up to that promise. It came together quickly, baked up evenly, came out of the pan easily and tasted wonderful. This one is a keeper (and the recipe is after the jump).
The Perfect Pantry is a great blog, filled with tips for stocking your pantry or kitchen. As webmaster Lydia herself says, there's no such thing as a perfect pantry, but there are certainly things in there you need. And it's The Perfect Pantry's one-year birthday (well, it was yesterday), and Lydia made a Chocolate Outrageous Pie to celebrate. She found the recipe in a notebook filled with old recipes. Full recipe after the jump.
What's a luxury department store to do when it hits the century mark? If it's Berlin's KaDeWe, or Kaufhaus des Westerns, the answer is simple. Let them eat cake, and lots of it.
Yesterday the store served up an enormous 20-foot tall cake to celebrate its 100th birthday. As you can see here, the confection's lowest tier was adorned with a replica of the store, including marzipan customers, complete with shopping bags. An enormous cake is especially fitting for the luxe KaDaWe given that it has a renowned food hall. With 164,042 square feet of selling space, the store also happens to be Europe's largest.
Me and my sweet tooth are holding out for one of New York City's great retail destinations to whip up a similar cake for a special occasion. [via Spluchster]
With only a few days to go until the deadline, you still have time to enter Slashfood's Birthday Cake Photo Contest. The deadline for entries is midnight on Wednesday, August 23rd, at which point the photos will be judged and we'll pick a couple of winners!
We're happy to report that we have some really fantastic entries up right now, so take a look at the Birthday Cake Contest Flickr group when you have a chance.
If you haven't entered yet, what are you waiting for? All you need is a camera (preferably a digital one) and some kind of birthday cake. You could even go to your favorite neighborhood restaurant and tell them it's your birthday so they'll stick a candle on top of your dessert for you. Just upload the photo before the deadline and you'll have a chance to win one of two great prizes. The winner will receive a copy of The Cake Book, and the runner up will get Crazy About Cupcakes.
I've told the
story to many a friend about how I appointed myself the birthday cake baker a few months into my first job out of
college. When I made the decision, there were only nine investment bankers in our group. Nine cakes a year?
Piece of, umm, an exhibit in an offering memorandum. No problem.
But soon our group was 27 strong and I was baking all the time, getting requests for special desserts, and
generally kicking myself for stepping up. What should I do when my own birthday approached? I sucked it up and ate the
cardboard-tasting grocery store cake that was the reason I'd decided to start baking for my co-workers in the first
place.
Like Kelli, I'd much rather make my own birthday cake (and have, many a year). She fixed herself a
delicious-sounding concoction of chocolate, hazelnut, ganache, genoise, mocha filling... yum. She provides general
instructions, along with some links to recipes, if you'd like to recreate it for your own special day.
If you've been a part of the online community during the last year or so then you know what it means to be Rick Rolled. Someone sends you a link, but when you click on it, instead of being directed to the site you thought you'd see, you are treated to Rick Astley singing his hit, Never Gonna Give You Up. It's a trend that has touched every corner of the internet, including our foodie world. Case in point, the 
The Perfect Pantry
What's a luxury department store to do when it hits 
With only a few days to go until the deadline, you still have time to enter 
10 More Dirty Restaurant Tricks
5 Things You Didn't Know About Turducken
10 Catchiest Food Jingles We Love to Hate
