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•The modern idea of celebrating our birthdays with cake originated with the ancient Greeks, who got the idea from something the ancient Egyptians did. The Egyptians had a tradition of commemorating a pharaoh’s coronation as a god or goddess, which they called a “birthday.” In ancient Egypt, cakes were considered sacred and created as unburnt sacrifices and bloodless offerings to deities, kings and heroes. Inspired by this practice, the Greeks first offered cakes to Artemis, their moon goddess.

•The Greek cakes were made as baked pieces of bread, biscuits and honey-sweetened sponges called meli. In addition, they also placed candles on the cake to make it glimmer like a full moon in honor of Artemis.

•Since the Middle Ages, Germans have celebrated Christ’s birth with Nativity displays, Christmas trees and a birthday cake. The birthday cake was later added to children’s birthday celebrations. In the 1400s, kids’ birthday parties were called “kinder fest,” where par- ents made cakes in the morning and put a candle on the cake to indicate the child’s age and year.

•In the following centuries, the price of goods like sugar dropped significantly thanks to global trade and technological breakthroughs. In the 1800s, birthday parties became more commonplace and “modern birthday cakes” were born.

•In Mexico, the first slice of birthday cake must be given to the person you love the most.

•Traditional Danish birthday cakes are in the shape of a person, called Kagemand for a “cake man” and Kagekone for a “cake wife” or “cake woman.”

•The iconic Jewish birthday cake is known as ugat yomledet. It’s a chocolatey, moist sponge cake with frosting or whipped cream on top, and must be eaten with milk or dunked in it like an Oreo cookie.

•Iconic chef Julia Child once said, “A party without a cake is just a meeting.”