How to (Not) Host Your Baby’s First Birthday Party --or Smoked Cherry Cake for Everyone

As a young mom, I set the bar pretty high for birthday celebrations. Not realizing how many children we would have and how many extravagant celebrations that would add up to over the years, I started out with grand illusions about the best birthday parties ever. Well, five children and almost three decades later, I still enjoy planning a great birthday. Unfortunately however, I have put myself through way too much mom guilt over this birthday party thing through the years. The worst example was when we F I N N N A L L Y celebrated my son’s long anticipated tenth birthday with a very amazing Spy birthday party……. On his eleventh birthday. If that’s not enough to make you cringe, I don't know what is. He absolutely loved the party and appreciated all the work I put into it. He said he didn’t even mind that it was a year late. Sometimes, during a rough week, I still allow myself to feel bad about that ridiculous delay.

Having grown up in a family that eschewed holidays other than birthday’s, I came to love the anticipation of celebrating each family member’s most recent trip around the sun. I would spend weeks coming up with a theme and then planning a party designed to honor and delight the recipient.

As a brand new mother with only one adorable little boy, I was much more excited about his very first birthday party than he was. I bought a special cookbook so that I could create a healthy birthday cake for him avoiding all the foods that he still had not added into his dietary repertoire. The Sugar Free Toddler was full of snacks and treats and to my satisfaction a first birthday cake recipe with no dairy, no eggs and no sugar. YUMMY!

I prepared his special cake the day before and even iced it with some sugarless fruit spread. I was aware enough to realize that most of the guests would not be excited about this very special sugarless birthday cake, so I did send my husband to the store to retrieve a cake mix and canned frosting for everyone else.

“Will this work?” he asked, holding up a Duncan Heinz boxed cherry cake mix. I made a questioning face. “I’m sure it will be fine. I’ve never had cherry cake before. It looks good.” I shrugged. He had chosen vanilla frosting to go with it. I was glad it wasn’t chocolate. That would have been weird.

After the ordeal of preparing the fancy cake for the birthday boy, the cake mix was a cinch. I whipped it up the morning of the celebration and pulled it out of the oven when the timer went off, setting it on the front left burner of the stove to cool off. A few minutes later, I smelled something burning and turned to see smoke rising from the cherry cake! “OH No!” I cried reaching for the fan and a hot mitt at the same time. I immediately realized the burner had been left on; flipping it off, I quickly moved the cake to a hot pad on the counter. The party was in just over an hour and I didn’t have time to make another cake. Not even if it came from another box.

One trait I am known for is my resourcefulness. And this situation was no exception. As soon as the cake had cooled enough, I popped it out of the pan and examined it carefully. It was totally retrievable. Only the bottom was burned. I deftly sliced off the dark crusty burnt bottom of the cake and placed the remaining portion on a plate. Covering it with the white frosting and a generous amount of sprinkles, it looked great. WHEW, problem averted.

The guests began arriving. Families with young children of similar ages filled our living areas. We had some simple party games and then “helped” our one year old open his mountain of gifts. As the youngsters began to fade, we moved into the kitchen where the sleepy birthday boy had to wait while we all sang the perfunctory birthday tune. Finally, he was given his very own cake to eat or play with. As he dove into his healthy rendition of a birthday cake, the guests looked notably relieved to see a more recognizable version of a birthday cake on the counter. Though smaller than intended, there was enough cake for everyone.

Tending primarily to my little guy, I failed to notice the partially eaten pieces of cake being added discretely to the trash can. After cleaning up the little one's, everyone bundled up and prepared to head home. It had been a perfect initiation into our first of many children’s birthday parties.

Exhausted from the preparation, both practical and emotional, I put our brand new one year old down for a nap and settled comfortably onto the couch with my husband. He offered to get us each a piece of the yummier cake and I did not refuse. With a sigh of contentment, I smiled at him and took a large bite of cherry cake. “Oh gross!” I sputtered, spitting it immediately back out onto the plate. “That’s terrible. It tastes like smoked cherries.”

“It’s not THAT bad,” comforted my husband taking a second bite.

“Oh my gosh,” my face was horrified as the realization hit me. “We just served this awful cake to all our guests, AND their kids!” My embarrassment was fierce. “Why didn’t they say something?!” I was puzzled. I thought we were close enough friends with most of them that they would have at least told me my cake was a failure.

Picking up the phone, I called our friend’s Tim and Suzanne. Tim answered. “I’m so sorry for the horrible cake,” I started. “It was gross. Why did you guys eat it and not say anything? I feel so bad for serving this to everyone.” By this time, I had realized that even though I cut the burned bottom off the cake the smoke had permeated the entire thing leaving a strong burned flavor throughout.

“Oh it’s ok,” Tim kindly assured me. “We just thought it was supposed to be like that. We all thought you had added something healthy into it and we should just eat it.”

“Oh my goodness. No. I am completely embarrassed. I’m so sorry.”

After assuring me again it was fine, we hung up.

This one of a kind cake has resurfaced a few times over the years to remind me to be less over confident and have grace for both myself and others.

Thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Here are links to some of my other humorous stories.

The Mysterious Button

How to Pull Over a Police Officer

The Oblivious Young Husband

The Terrifying Giraffes at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha Nebraska

Iron Buns

The Time My Google Assistant Tried to Get Me the Wrong Date