The Birthday Cake of All Birthday Cakes

Not One To Squander

I am not one to squander money. I've always said that even if I had a million dollars, I'd drive a Toyota instead of a Lexus because I'm not going to pay thousands for prestige. That's why, when I was at a birthday party, I looked at my friend like she had grown a second head when she told me how much she had spent on her husband's birthday cake.

A Simple Question

I saw my friend take her cake out of a box that I didn't recognize and I asked her the name of the bakery. (It happened to be Gerhard's.) She's usually frugal, so I figured she'd found a place that makes great birthday cakes at a great price, so I asked her how much she paid. That's when my jaw dropped wide enough to park a car.

As if she didn't have a care in the world, she told me she'd paid about $60 for the cake -- and then had the audacity to say, "But at least I didn't go for the next size up, which would have been almost $100."

How in the world could someone pay those prices for birthday cakes? I was about to find out.

A Taste of Heaven

I'm not a big cake eater, so I figured I'd take a really small piece of that cake because I was going to feel as guilty as all heck eating it. However, when the fork hit my mouth I tasted a bit of heaven. I can honestly say that it put all of the other birthday cakes I've ever eaten -- including mom's best recipe -- to shame.

If You've Got It, Indulge...

When my birthday rolls around, I'm going to be splurging on my own birthday cake. Heck, if I was a rich woman I might buy Gerhard's birthday cakes every single week.

So now I will eat crow (or cake...) and tell you that it can indeed be worth it to splurge a little. Unless you're in Lake Forest, Illinois then Gerhard's won't be near you, but that doesn't mean you can't check out the gourmet bakeries in your area and see what they offer in the way of delicious and heavenly birthday cakes.