Out of all the books I've read or come across, there is only one which remains my all time favourite. None capture my imagination the same way. None inspired me as much or gave me so many hours of viewing pleasure. I read it so much that the spine of the book started to come apart and the pages fell out. I even tried to hide it from everyone else and I am pretty sure when I finally left my parents home I took it (stole it!) with me.It is a pure classic and still as popular today as it was when first published in the 80's. However it isn't a literary giant and it doesn't make any top 100 lists. It is....
The Australian Women's Weekly - Children's Birthday Cake Book.
This book is the original one. It includes cakes such as Humpty Dumpty, Miss Muffet, Donald Duck, Hickory Dickory Dock, The Old Woman who lived in a shoe, Gingerbread House, Puss in Boots, Soccer Ball, Racing Track, Cricket Bat, Tennis Racquet, Football, Little Piggy, Smiley Shark, Leonard the Lion, George Giraffe, Jungle elephant, Jelly Cake, Mister Monster, Friendly Ghost, Good Witch, Rocket, Pirate, Sports Car, Candy Castle...and lots lots more.
This book was the biggest hit for children in the 1980s. On the back of Willy Wonka the movie, this was the next best thing. Flowers made from marshmallows and my favourite - the swimming pool made from jelly and chocolate logs. With little plastic people floating around in the jelly. I absolutely loved this cake and my mum made it for me. It was so gorgeous I didn't want to eat it. It was fiddly to make but oh my goodness it was the "bees knees" to me. A cake made with tons of lollies!!
I adored the train with the carriages filled with popcorn, the cute cricket pitch, the piano made out of allsort and the barbie with the dress made from cake. She looked a bit like a toilet paper cover dolly, but I didn't care.
What about the number cakes with different themes? The number "8" with the cars on the race track and the little underpass. How cool was that.
I can only imagine how many mother's in the 80's were stressed out of their minds to recreate these cakes. Fast forward to today and most of us don't have the time to make a cake, let alone get to the shops to buy one. Time poor, the art of cake making has decreased over the years. However recently I visited my sister and she made a simple cake for my nephew. It was decorated in all sorts of lollies, sprinkles and icing. Her son's eyes nearly fell out of his head. He loved it more than any store bought cake. My sister felt like Martha Stewart and has now vowed to make the birthday cakes. It was a revelation how simple and fun it was to do. And it didn't take much more time to whip it up.
There seems to be a movement back to cake making, crafts and sewing. The very things we rejected as "old fashioned" are now coming back into Vogue.
The original Womens Weekly Birthday Cake Book now sells for ridiculous sums on Ebay and other auction sites. It was the benchmark and started the whole era of novelty cakes. I think that is why children in the 80's were so blown away. Forget a boring sponge cake! Who knew you could have cakes like this!
In our harder economic times, the shift back towards cake making and decorating is not surprising. To buy the same cake from a professional can cost hundreds. So the demand for cake decorating books and courses have never been so popular. Who would believe that there are even stores now that sell cupcakes!
I am inspired now to find my old cookbook and make a novelty cake from scratch. Even though new books have been released, none match the original. I love the fact that my children will now love the same cakes I did as a child. I wouldn't be surprised if one day my copy eventually goes missing and turns up in the house of my sons.
