Birthday cake

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Birthday Cake
Birthday Cake

The birthday cake has been an integral part of the birthday tradition in Western cultures since the middle of the 19th century.

The cake, or sometimes a pastry or dessert, is served to a person on his or her birthday, and is often decorated with small novelty candles, with the person's name and/or a message of congratulations inscribed with icing. The phrase "Happy Birthday" did not appear on birthday cakes until the song Happy Birthday to You was popularized in the early 1900s.

Novelty candles are often used.
Novelty candles are often used.

Tradition holds that the person with the birthday may make a wish, which will come true if all the candles can be blown out in one breath. As with Christmas puddings there are various traditions of coins or Touch Pieces being added for good luck.

US patent 6319530 relates to a "method of photocopying an image onto an edible web for decorating iced baked goods." This invention enables one to inkjet print a food-grade color photograph on the cake surface.

  • Smith, Andrew F. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. ISBN 0195154371.
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