Cake and Ice Cream

Although I sometimes tend to be a little off-the-wall in my approach to life, and occasionally a bit ditzy, I’m fairly conventional in most respects.  I like traditions.  They serve as a great way, in our ever-changing society, of providing a balance, as well as a link to previous generations. 

I like the familiar, but who decided we should have cake and ice cream for traditional birthday gatherings?  Did this tradition stem from a famous birthday celebrated eons ago?  Why cake and ice cream?  Why not cheese and crackers, or another dessert?  Why do cake and ice cream have to go together?  Can’t we just eat either birthday cake or ice cream?   Even Wikipedia doesn’t provide an answer – Wikipedia  simply refers to eating the cake and ice cream on birthdays as a tradition.

My mom celebrated her 86^th birthday this past week, and I was designated as the cake and ice cream provider for the affair, while other family members all provided items for the birthday cookout on her special day.  In other years when I’ve tried to provide a more creative, yet equally appealing, birthday choice, my family has objected.  Last year when I suggested strawberry shortcakes, since my mom likes strawberries, my sister flew into a fit, suggesting I might be batty, as everyone serves cake and ice cream for birthdays.  In other years when I’ve suggested a different delicacy, I have also encountered frowning as well as vocal opposition.

Cake and ice cream certainly can be considered an appropriate way to celebrate a birthday, in the sense they are special and not ordinarily encountered on a daily basis.  I can eat cake, but I never choose it if I have a choice.  I do like carrot cake and lemon limone cake, but I’m more of a pie lover.  I’ve never met a pie I didn’t like.   Even the crust from a fruit pie makes my mouth water just imagining it, and I am especially fond of those delightful extra pieces of pie dough my mother transformed into cinnamon sugar delights she assembled while baking a fruit pie. 

Since childhood, I’ve always requested a rhubarb pie on my birthday.  My mother has always indulged me with the pie, and even though I’ve explained she can simply put the birthday candles on my pie, she also bakes a cake for everyone else.   My candles appear on the cake.  Maybe it’s easier to stick the candles into frosting and cake rather than a pie, or maybe it’s simply traditional?

No one seems to know or remember the origin of eating cake and ice cream on birthdays, but most people do like cake and ice cream.  Perhaps that’s a good enough reason to keep this particular tradition.  As for me, bring on the raspberry pie, or the pecan pie, or the lemon meringue, or the cinnamon-flavored bread pudding, or the blackberry cobbler, or the iced sugar cookies, or double chocolate brownies, or white chocolate cheesecake.  Rejoice in rhubarb pie for my birthday with me!