Emily Cake

My birthday occurs one week before Christmas. This brings with it the usual trials of an American with a birthday so close to the holidays: joint birthday/Christmas presents and the challenge of hosting a birthday party amidst all the holiday parties. In college my grandmother would call each year to ask what I was doing with my friends for my birthday, and every year I had to answer “studying for exams” and one year “I have a 7pm exam – I will be taking a test this evening.”

Now, I’m not saying I’ve never had a great birthday – I definitely have! Just that it takes extra work and a little more luck beyond birthdays which occur at other times of the year. So, my birthday expectations often start a little simpler. Even so, this pandemic meant repeatedly lowering the bar. First, we expected to be home well before it rolled around this year, though by mid-summer we knew that was no longer going to happen.

Then the Christmas markets were cancelled – so no Christmas Market birthday like I had last year. My husband and I planned to go shopping at a favorite clothing store on my birthday, but then they closed all retail just two days before hand. Ok, but we could still order take out from our favorite crepe place! And…. when we called Friday to place our order, we learned they had decided to close for the remainder of the year. So we made our way downtown to get takeout sushi instead. And to pick up the one non-negotiable for my birthday: cake.

Cake is the only symbolic birthday token which must be had. Preferably on my birthday, but if not, then it needs to be cake specifically for my birthday. One dark year, I realized my birthday had gone by without even a cake for it, which is when I set down the unbreakable rule that cake is the only required recognition of my birthday. A party, gifts, a special outing, these are all bonuses and much appreciated. But as long as there is cake, I can be content with my birthday. This year I had an excellent slice of German-style carrot cake (marzipan instead of cream cheese frosting) from our favorite coffee place, which was, thankfully, still open.

And this brings us to Emily Cake. What is Emily Cake? It is any cake made by Emily, and they are the best cakes. My husband scoffed at the idea of a good chocolate cake, until he had Emily Cake. We also had an Emily Cake for our wedding, a thing of which all others should be jealous.

And she has embraced the Cake Rule as only a best friend can. Which means that whenever remotely possible*, she has baked a birthday cake for me. Turns out she is way better at baking me cakes than I am at taking photos of them. I could only find a few to illustrate.

First up is the birthday cake which was served at her 2014 New Years party the first year I was living in North Carolina. We went home for New Years. I believe this one featured marzipan quite heavily. Note how it says “Happy Birthday” so that none could mistake it for a generic (if very tasty) party cake, thus adhering to the Birthday Cake Rules.

A cream colored birthday cake with central marzipan rose and “Happy Birthday” written on it.

Then there is this lovely little chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream. This one was sent home with me when we celebrated Thanksgiving together (I think) in 2015 as frozen cake layers and refrigerated icing. So it was “some assembly required” cake.

And the only other photo I could find was from 2017. Emily had planned to make cake again for me to have at her New Years’ party. But I ended up going through Baltimore just before my birthday when my grandmother passed away suddenly. I was picking up my dad to head up to Michigan where my grandmother lived to settle her affairs, and we’d be celebrating my birthday up there. So she quickly jumped into action and put together a small sturdy cake to travel hundreds of miles in a car:

It mostly made it unscathed, though as you can see the frosting decorations suffered slightly. More raspberry frosting I believe. I love raspberry and chocolate, so it’s always a sure win as a birthday cake. The store bought carrot cake next to it was purchased so that I could selfishly keep more of my cake for myself.

Other Emily Cakes have included “Fallen Angel” cake (devils food flavored angel food cake), ones with decadent layers of raspberry glaze, and a chocolate pear cake which she made in November last year for when I was back in the US for a work trip. As a considerate guest, I made sure she was not burdened with left overs after I departed.

So now you know what Emily Cake is.

*Obviously, this year giving me a cake was not possible. Please wear your masks, socially distance, and get vaccinated when you can so we can go home, and I can have Emily Cake for my birthday next year.