Navigating: birthday cakes for procrastinators

Late to the party?

By Julie Haire, Special to Metromix

There are those industrious Martha Stewart-types who come bearing confections made the old-fashioned way: with their own sweat and tears. Then, there are the rest of us. After all, remembering someone’s birthday is heroic enough, ordering a cake, let alone baking one, ahead of time is just delusional. While the 24-hour Ralphs got us out of plenty a bind with a huge sheet cake and a decent scrawl of “Happy Birthday” or “You rock the big one, Gramps!” it does nothing to disguise our procrastinating ways. We’ve wised up to the fact that many local bakeries keep a selection of cakes on hand, any of which can be packaged up in a box that not only looks professional but also pre-planned. Yes, the markup on flour, egg and butter is outrageous, but for the time- and memory-challenged, subterfuge is priceless.