Cheating - for the first time ever

Yes Annodomini you are right, it is the blowing out of the candles and knowing others wish you well that is the best bit.

I always made my children elaborate cakes for their birthdays when they were little until my ds went to a birthday party where they had a bought caterpillar cake. He was given a piece to bring home and raved and raved about this cake after that I asked him if I should make him a cake or buy him a caterpillar cake. He is now 31 and still has his caterpillar cake every year. Don't feel guilty as your family will probably not notice if you ice it yourself. Of the shop bought cakes we prefer Sainsbury's ones the best they are not dry.

My family all prefer shop bought- how cheeky's that!

Basketlady ditto

Thank goodness it is only a cake that was cheated with.

Exactly, like meeting a lover at the British Museum......

My sons demanded Black Forest gateaux for their birthdays when they were young teens. I bravely adapted a recipe to be something like BFG (not big friendly giant) and it always went down well. Tables were turned when I had 70th party - DS2 made me a cake in the shape of a VW Beetle and now makes themed cakes for his DSs. He's far more ingenious than I ever was. I was so flattered when my sisters bought me cakes (one sponge and one fruit) for my 77th just a few weeks ago. Bought or home made, a cake is a cake and there are candles to be blown out

OMGosh! This is not cheating, this is being clever - when I saw your headline about cheating - I thought the same as Basketlady!!

Oh bless you - get out there and use the shop bought sponge - at the end of the day it's the novelty of the decorating that everyone admires...xx

If this is all you have to worry about you’re very lucky.

I have recently discovered Betty Crocker country carrot cake mix. So easy to do and delicious. That is what I take to coffee mornings etc. and it is always complimented.

I come from a family of excellent bakers but somehow that gene was not passed on. However, I am famous for my imaginative birthday cakes, which I construct rather than bake. Some of my favourites - a fort, complete with cannon and flags made of a whole tub of icecream, chocolate fingers, chocolate logs and minirolls; a massive mountain of eclairs, studded with strawberries with glittery 'snow' on top; a fruit and veg 'covered wagon' - melon top, toast woodwork, big tomato slice wheels, surrounded by celery and broccoli trees on cress and parsley grass any many more. Great fun to do and eminently edible.

Ha ha ha.....yes agree with basketlady....was really wanting some juicy info! Oh how sad am I? No comment on cakes and things bahaha..... (but am sure they will be lovely) xx

I sympathise with the frozen shoulder. It is the most painful thing I have ever had (worse than childbirth I would say).

I thought this was going to be about a cheating man too!

Oh dear, should I feel guilty because I didn’t feel guilty when the cake I made for DH’s 70th was so awful (I used rice flour I didn’t know I had), we chucked it after one slice. We laughed, he didn’t think badly of me & no one died. We had a lovely meal though at a Breton restaurant in Richmond. .

No one could possibly object to your decorating a shop bought cake under these circumstances. I'll bet it'll look and taste lovely. Get well soon.

Yes, I was also expecting something a bit racier.

But i dont see what cheating has got to do with not baking a cake.
Why put yourself through unnecessary fretting.
You are providing a cake. Surely that's enough.

6 yo gd always wants me to bake her birthday cake, and tells me in detail what she wants. So far I've made Peppa pig, ponyo (Japanese film character), ninjago, minecraft and mermaid under the sea theme. Every year is a bit more challenging!

So was I, re the OP.
Shysal, you are so clever

Thankyou Shysal!

When I first read the title of this thread I was expecting something a great deal saucier !!

You're not cheating, you are being sensible. The older we get the more difficult things get, so work out where you feel comfortable cutting corners and stick to making things from scratch if you really either would miss doing so dreadfully, or feel that the home made version is much better than the bought one.

For me Christmas would not be Christmas if I did not bake two different kinds of biscuits using my great-great grandmother's recipe for the one kind and my grandmother's for the other, or if I didn't buy a tree and decorate it, but I can survive without spring-cleaning the house in the course of December, writing dozens of cards (I send e-mails instead), putting up decorations everywhere ( I only do the sitting room now).

Love the cat, Poohbear, must remember it!

thank you all for the lovely supportive comments. adaunas yes it is the 2 years that worries me.
Yes I suppose there comes a time where we have to hand down the reigns to the younger generation, just not sure I am ready to do that yet.
Made a cat and she loved it.

If God had wanted us to spend time cooking and baking he wouldn't have invented Aunt Bessies and Mr Kipling!

Hildajen ? Love it!

Not cheating. I like making cakes, but it’s meant to be fun not painful. The only downside to you not having done this before is you have no idea which ones will taste good and which won’t. Re your frozen shoulder, I am having physio for that at present because the doc doesn’t like doing steroid injections because they risk doing more harm than good as you get older. (I had one ages ago and it was effective really quickly so I wasn’t best pleased.) The Physio, as she takes me through the exercises and assesses progress of mobility assures me that, even without treatment it will be gone within 2 years!?

If you are not able on this occasion then an alternative is very sensible! It's not the end of the world and you are still putting thought into it. Well done for even getting to the shops if you're taking strong painkillers!
I love baking, my cakes are great (I don't usually blow my own trumpet!). But decorating them really let's me down. I'm not very imaginative and I draw like a 2 year old ?. I don't let it stop though.....