"The Origin Of Birthday Cake"

In the 1800 London edition of Christian Salzmann’s book Gymnastics for Youth (translated from German) we find the following brief passage “before his sixth birthday cake is put in the oven.”

How and when the tradition of a birthday cake spread to the rest of Europe is unclear. There are very few references to birthday cakes prior to 1850. In a widely circulated article published in 1843, Mrs. Abell writes that the exiled Napoleon Bonaparte was given on his birthday from an English friend a “cake ornamented with a large eagle”. In a fictional children’s story published in 1834 we find the following dialog, “ `On the morning of the 17th of May,’ (continues his papa,) `the day on which he completed his ninth year, he said to his mother, `Mamma, I should like to have a birthday cake.” (Anon 1834, 176)

Prior to 1850 in United States, the observance of birthdays was not a universal tradition as it is today. The newspaper Richmond Whig observed in 1865 “Mothers who have a dozen little ones to care [for] are apt to neglect birthdays; they come too often.” The Ladies Repository in 1871 noted that “Americans make too little account of anniversary occasions” and “rush through life with such velocity as to find little time to lay garlands on the milestones [of life].”

The Ladies Repository continues by pointing out that some Americans in adhering to the values of their Puritan ancestors have taken the early Protestant prohibition against religious festivals too far by rejecting family centered events like birthdays. It is clear there were both practical as well cultural and ideological reasons for not celebrating birthdays. It is likely that economic reasons also played a role especially for large working class families.

Interestingly, both the Richmond Whig and Ladies Repository articles made a passionate argument for the universal adoption of birthdays for children. The writers of these two articles were part of a larger social trend which emphasized children’s birthdays. This trend began in the 1850’s. (The evidence for an emerging trend can be seen in dramatic increase in the number of references in the period literature to birthdays.) Many of these celebrations include a birthday cake. The Americans were well aware of the German birthday festivals and detailed accounts were published in various publications (cites). It is likely they adopted the concept of a special cake for birthdays from the Germans. Although there was a strong emphasis on children’s birthdays, adult’s birthdays were also being celebrated as well.

The Americans were slow to adopt the German tradition of lighting a candle for each year of a person’s life. The earliest references in American newspapers and journals to the birthday candle tradition do not appear until the early 1870’s. The Ladies Repository article (1871) is one of the earliest American publications to promote the German candle tradition in America. It states “The huge, decorated, birthday cake is placed in the center-table, and around it are ranged lighted candles, graduate in length and number by the age of the child. As the first slender taper, signaling babehood, goes out, the assembled family and guests united in singing one verse of an appropriate hymn, and thus they go in order to the last, each year expiring in music. What could make a sweeter, holier impression on the heart of a child?” The singing of verses from hymns never gained momentum but the singing of a song after the candles have been lit has become a part of the tradition.

The tradition of the birthday boy or girl blowing out the candles (rather than letting them

burn down) can be traced back to the 1880’s. In Switzerland during the year 1881, folklore researchers collected the following “superstition” from the Swiss middle class, “A birthday-cake must have lighted candles arranged around it, one candle for each year of life. Before the cake is eaten the person whose birthday it is should blow out the candles one after another.” [anon 1883, 380-381) There is no mention of making a wish. A different version of this tradition emerged in America during the early 1880’s. In New York state, the Watertown Daily News reported that around the birthday cake, “were placed 10 candles, 9 of which were kept burning, and one representing the year begun, and not passed, [remained] unlit. The youthful host selected nine of his friends to serve as well-wishes, each to make one wish, and to blow out one candle …” (6-2-1882) The nine well-wishes spoke their good wishes out loud before blowing out the candle. It should be noted that the birthday boy did not blow out any of the candles. In Michigan, the practice of adding an extra “growing candle” was also observed. Unlike New York, the extra candle was lit. Like the New Yorkers, certain guests were asked to make a wish for the birthday person and blow out a candle. (Michigan Farmer 11-18-1884) This tradition of having the guest blow out the candles continued into the first decade of the 20th century. The book Correct Social Usage (1909) written in New York, recommend this practice but instructs that guests to keep their wishes a secret.

One of the earliest references in the United States to the birthday girl or boy blowing out all the candles (rather than the guests) is found in the March 1909 edition of St. Nicholas, a children’s magazine. Three candles were stuck into the frosting of the cake and lit. Then, “Bab cut a piece of cake for Ned, and Ted, and for Nursie, and then she blew out the candles and so her beautiful part was over.” At some point in the 20th century, it became a tradition that your birthday wish only came true if the birthday boy or girl successfully blew out all the candles in a single breath.

In America, children’s birthday parties had become socially fashionable by the 1880’s. The Michigan Farmer (1884) writes “In this city birthday parties are very much in the fashion. Where the little ones attend the kindergarten, a birthday serves as a semi-holiday.” During this decade, it was common to see descriptions of children’s birthday parties appearing in the social columns of the local newspaper. Some of the longer accounts even include a list of guests in attendance. (ex. Watertown Daily News 6-2-1882; New Haven Register 11-10-1888 and 10-24-1888)

Birthday’s had been being celebrated with Birthday Cakes for about fifty years when Mrs. Owens published her cook book in Chicago, Illinois in 1899. Yet she felt it her duty to explain how a birthday celebration in particular the part with the cake should be handled.

She explained a large cake was to be baked in the “dripping pan and heavily Birthday Party from St. Nicholas (1909) frosted.” When the frosting was partially dried “mark it off in small squares and put half an English walnut meat on each.” The next step was to cut a narrow “paste-board” [cardboard] frame to go around the edge. Small holes were cut in the paste-board to hold the candles. To dress up the frame, fancy colored paper was added.

Then she explained how it was to be served. “The lights in the room should be put out and the cake brought in with candles lit and placed before the person whose natal day is being celebrated and he should cut and distribute it.”