Close your Eyes...Make a WISH, then BLOW the candles....

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Close your eyes, make a wish, then blow the candles....but remember the tradition, SSSSSSSSSSSSSShhhhhhhhh....Don't tell anyone so your wishes will come true. ;-)






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Entering another year, the difference now is that I live at the moment. Moments are so fleeting not to enjoy, so precious to waste, give the best of yourself to second of our life, commit to life, and share and be thankful for all the blessings of life. We are RENEWED each day. What a great blessing from above....Alhamdulillah....All thanks and praise to Allah...




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Birthday Cakes: Beginnings to the contemporary. Wikipedia.com tells all. The birthday cake has been an integral part of the birthday celebrations in Western cultures since the middle of the 19th century. Certain rituals and traditions, such as singing of birthday songs, associated with birthday cakes are common to many Western cultures. The Western tradition of adding lit candles to the top of a birthday cake originates in 18th century Germany. However, the intertwining of cakes and birthday celebrations stretch back to the Ancient Romans. The development of the birthday cake has followed the development of culinary and confectionery advancement. While throughout most of Western history, these elaborate cakes in general were the privilege of the wealthy, birthday cakes are nowadays common to most Western birthday celebrations. Around the world many variations on the birthday cake, or rather the birthday pastry or sweets, exist.

History. In classical Roman culture, 'cakes' of flat rounds made with flour containing nuts, leavened with yeast, and sweetened with honey were served at special birthdays. In early Europe, the words for cake and bread were virtually interchangeable; the only difference being that cakes were sweet while bread was not.[citation needed]

During the 17th century, the birthday cake took on more or less its contemporary form[citation needed] However, these elaborate cakes, which possessed many aspects of contemporary cakes (such as layers and decorations), were only available to the very wealthy. Birthday cakes became more and more proletarianized as a result of the industrial revolution, as materials and tools became more advanced and more accessible.


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Contemporary rituals and traditions.The cake, or sometimes a pastry or dessert, is served to a person on his or her birthday. In contemporary Western cultures, two rituals are prominent: the singing of the traditional birthday song and the blowing out of candles decorating the cake by the birthday person.The service of a birthday cake is often preceded by the singing of Happy Birthday to You in English speaking countries, or an equivalent birthday song. In fact, the phrase "Happy Birthday" did not appear on birthday cakes until the song Happy Birthday to You was popularized in the early 1900s.[1] Variations on birthday song rituals exist. For example, in New Zealand, the Happy Birthday to You is sung out of tune and is followed by clapping, once for each year of the persons life and once more for good luck.[citation needed]In Uruguay, party guests touch the birthday person's shoulder or head following the singing of Happy Birthday to You.




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The birthday cake is often decorated with taper candles, secured with special holders or simply pressed down into the cake. In North America, the number of candles is equal to the age of the individual whose birthday it is, sometimes with one extra for luck. Traditionally the birthday person makes a private wish, which will be realized if all the candles are extinguished in a single breath. A birthday cake is shared amongst all the people attending a birthday party. This represents sharing of joy and togetherness. As a courtesy, it reflects one's hospitality and respect for guests.




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Candles. Though the exact origin and significance of the candle blowing ritual is unknown, the history of placing candles on top of the cake is well documented. This tradition can be traced to Kinderfest (Kinder is the German word for 'children'), an 18th century German birthday celebration for children. A letter written in 1799 by Goethe recounts: "...when it was time for dessert, the prince's entire livery...carried a generous-size torte with colorful flaming candles - amounting to some fifty candles - that began to melt and threatened to burn down, instead of there being enough room for candles indicating upcoming years, as is the case with children's festivities of this kind..."[citation needed] As the excerpt indicates, the tradition at the time was to place candles for each year of the individual's life with some added candles 'indicating upcoming years'.

Birthday pastry cultural variations. Variations on the birthday pastry exist outside of Western culture. The Chinese birthday pastry is the sou bao (壽包), lotus-paste-filled buns made of wheat flour which are shaped and coloured to resemble peaches. A single large pastry is not often served, rather each guest is served their own. In Korea, the traditional birthday dish is a seaweed soup.[citation needed]In Western Russia, birthday children are served fruit pies with a birthday greetings carved into the crusts.[citation needed] The Swedish birthday cake is made like a pound cake and is often topped with marzipan and decorated with the national flag. A Dutch birthday pastry are fruit tarts (taarties) topped with whipped cream.[citation needed]The Mexican birthday tradition involves a piñata, a coloured brittle container filled with sweets. In India it's common to rub a piece of cake icing on the face of the birthday person, after the cake has been cut.






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And surprise!!!! My own birthday cake (done in a jiffy....not so aesthetically looking good but the taste oh my!) Enjoy my treat ( drums rolling.....chadan!!!!Moist Chocolate Layered Cake with Mocha Buttercream Icing & Filling.....with all my love! this is a wonderful recipe and perfect icing & filling.;-)













MOIST CHOCOLATE LAYERED CAKE
with MOCHA BUTTERCREAM ICING and FILLING

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sifted cocoa
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. chocolate brown food color
3/4 cup softened butter
4 whole eggs
2 cups all purpose flour or (2 1/4 cups cake flour)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 3/4 cups brown sugar

Method:
1. Mix cocoa, milk, vanilla and food color.
2. Mix all dry ingredients, add butter and eggs.
3. Combine the two mixtures.
4. Prepare two 9" round pans (or 9"x13" or 8"x12" or 10"x12"x1')line with bake paper or grease.
5. Preheated oven 350F, bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

YOU can use this recipe for CHOCOLATE CUP CAKES.
Method:
1. Pour mixture on 24 paper-lined muffin pans.
2. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes 350F preheated.
YOU can also use this for making SOFT BROWNIES.
Method:
1. Line two 7"x11" pans with bake paper.
2. Preheat oven at 350F, bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
3. Cut into 28 pieces per pan.
4. TO decorate, top with icings.

For the Mocha Buttercream Icing & Filling:
[Adapted from Chocolate Cookery with Aaron Maree, published by Bay Books Cookery, 1992]
Ingredients:
300g unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (135g) icing sugar, sifted
2 x 60g eggs
50g Cadbury Dark cooking Chocolate, melted
1TB instant black coffee
1 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
1. Cream the butter and sugar until light, fluffy and pale. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.
2. Add the melted chocolate and instant coffee, stir in quicly before the chocolate sets or becomes hard.
3. Add the vanilla essence and continue beating for further 10 minutes at medium speed until the mixture is light and creamy.
Makes enough to cover (1) 23cm cake.

















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