Today is my birthday!

That means I get to have BIRTHDAY CAKE!

Ever since I can remember I’ve requested the same cake for my birthday – angel food cake. As a kid I didn’t care that it was fat free and a low calorie dessert. I just liked its name (probably because “angel” was my Mom’s nickname for me but it was probably my nickname only because she couldn’t find a mug with my given name on it – too unique – and I had to have a “name” mug because my brother had one!). Oh, and I loved how the cake tasted – so light and airy!

Back in those days the cake had to be coated with 2 cans of cherry frosting to be sure it had the desired level of sugar loaded goodness (yep – more than made up for the low calories in the cake with the high calorie frosting I wanted smeared all over it to the point of the light cake sagging from the weight of all the frosting).

It was SUPER YUMMY!!!

Now that I’m a grown up and definitely do not need the gobs of corn syrup, saturated fat, and sheer number of calories (70 for 1 measly tablespoon) in packaged cherry frosting (can’t say “canned” anymore because it now comes in a plastic container) I opt for a more figure friendly topping. Plus, the cherry frosting in the store these days doesn’t taste as good as I remember from when I was a kid. These days it tastes like a gob of corn sweetened vegetable shortening with a chemical aftertaste – definitely not birthday cake worthy!

My birthday cake today (there better be one and it definitely better be angel food!) will get topped with a dollop of real whipped cream (yes it’s loaded with fat but I don’t eat it every day and I can have 2 tablespoons for 50 calories), and some fresh raspberries (or raspberry sauce made with frozen raspberries and a little bit of sugar since it’s a “hit or miss” proposition when it comes to finding fresh raspberries in the store in March).

I can hardly wait for the cake (and there might even be a present or two for me!).

What’s your favorite birthday cake?