BRING IT ON
STEVE CUMPER BELIEVES BIRTHDAYS ARE MEANT TO BE CELEBRATED — WITH CAKE.
Our much-loved country cook Steve Cumper believes birthdays are meant to be celebrated — especially with this very special cake!
I’M ALWAYS SURPRISED when birthdays are met with a ‘bah humbug’ response. In my opinion, people who subscribe to the belief that birthdays are only for the young are missing out on one of the few instances in which to celebrate significant milestones. Or could it be that scientific improvements in keeping people alive for longer have made us ambivalent to the wonder of surviving another year? Me? I love birthdays. I see them as a day of reflection for the past, an appreciation of the present and the possibility of the future. And there is cake. I’m not sure why cake has become the leitmotiv for birthday festivities. However, my extensive inquiries (I typed ‘history of birthday cakes’ into Google) reveal it probably harks back to the ancient Greeks who made moon-shaped cakes for their gods, adding candles to give them a lunar-like glow. Birthdays weren’t recognised for many centuries afterwards, until German families began celebrating children’s birthdays with Kinderfest in the Middle Ages. Back then, the cake was mainly a vessel in which to plant candles, whose rising smoke was meant to transcend one’s spirits heavenly. The candles would burn all day (presuming they survived sudden breezes or spontaneous house fires) and eating the cake was almost an afterthought that followed the evening meal, when partygoers would ‘consume’ the luck associated with it. Our ancestors would be surprised to learn that the cake has become the main attraction, with the candles relegated to an annoying formality (including the inevitable cry of ‘Who’s got the matches?’) that gets in the way of eating it. My fondest birthday-cake memory was an ice-cream creation in the shape of an ocean liner that my parents arranged for my sixth birthday party. I still don’t know where Mum got it, but it may have come from an Italian ice-cream maker in Carlton. I vaguely recall its blueish-green hue, bubblegum aroma and liquorice squares as its funnels. I also remember someone flogged the funnels before the cake was cut (the incident nearly capsized the day for me apparently). It was an amazing creation, especially as this was eight years before The Australian Woman’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book changed the kids’ party scene forever. Of course, all this is leading to the purpose of my column, which is to add my contribution to Country Style’s 30th birthday celebrations. It’s rare for a restaurant or café to last more than a decade and, while I’m not sure what the stats are in the magazine world, reaching three decades seems an impressive achievement. You know how the Queen sends a telegram when your birthday tally tops a century? Well, might I suggest she supplement her list of regal card-writing duties to include a message to this magazine? They might even throw in a gift subscription if she’s lucky (which will save her trotting down to Marks & Spencer for it). As Her Majesty reads this month’s birthday issue at Balmoral, corgis at her feet, she may even be motivated to ask the kitchen to whip up my celebratory cake for her ‘official’ (if not actual) birthday this month, to remind her of all things sweetly antipodean. Happy birthday HRH and Country Style!
Steve Cumper is a chef and funnyman who lives in Tasmania and dreams of one day owning a fleet of holiday vans called Wicked Cumpers.