Sugar And Spice And Everything Nice, Unless You're Chinese

Chinese Style Cake

Today is my son's birthday. Naturally there will be a party, red envelopes, and a big ole birthday cake. Good times is expected by all. Except the planning and preparation can get a little dicey. You see, my wife is very old school. She prefers the Chinese style cakes that are sold in the local Chinese bakeries. I, on the other hand, much prefer Western style birthday cakes with thick gooey layers of buttercream frosting and cake so moist they cling to your lips and cheeks when you bite into them.

I definitely don't understand the appeal of Chinese cakes. To me they are really unappetizing. The cakes are extremely dry and tasteless. The frosting is just as plain. They taste like whipped cream that somebody forgot to add the sugar. The only flavor in a typical Chinese style cake is derived from the fruit that typically serves as a topping. For my wife, even that is too sweet and she typically scrapes off the frosting and only eat the fruit and the cake. For me and the children, the frosting is just about the only thing we'll eat. We usually leave the cake behind.

She on the other hand find Western birthday cakes sweet to the point of gag-inducing. She can't understand how anybody can eat that much sugar in a single bite. Having been in the U.S. much longer than her, and having come over when I was much younger, when my taste preferences were still developing, I got used to Western cakes, the kinds you find in supermarkets and Costco. My kids are the same way. They would rather have Western style desserts like cakes, cookies, and ice cream than typical Chinese desserts like red bean soup and hot tapioca soup.

For awhile, these arguments over what type of cake to buy for a birthday party got quite heated. I usually let her get what she wants because it was usually she who was in charge of the party. But after awhile, should could see that most of the cake was wasted. The children usually took one bite of the cake and discarded the rest. So that got her realizing that it was just a waste of money to buy Chinese cakes for American children, no matter how much she adored them. Now she will buy a cake from Costco, but only the smallest one she can find. Because it is still horrible for children to eat that much sugar.