Growing up, my birthday cakes were either 'adult cakes' (like the Taiwanese taro birthday cakes that my mum bought from our local bakery in Melbourne) or 'kid cakes', with my aunty buying gorgeous Japanese anime birthday cakes from Melbourne's then-Japanese department store, Daimaru.
Australia's birthday cakes are diverse, but it wasn't always this way. In fact, several decades ago, birthday cakes were mostly fruit cakes, according to food historian.
"I think the most surprising thing is that before the 1970s, birthday cakes [in Australia] were really different to what we imagine today," says Dr Samuelsson.
Dr Samuelsson, whose PhD is on the influence of The Australian Women's Weekly (AWW) magazine, has found that The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book has significantly changed birthday cakes over the last several decades.
"Books like the Children's Birthday Cake Book offer such a wide range of cakes, [highlighting] that anyone can bake and decorate one - from a novice to a professional - which is why I think it was and still is so popular," she says.
FROM AUSTRALIA'S BIRTHDAY BIBLE
Oh my! All 107 Australian Women's Weekly birthday cakes in one room
Dr Samuelsson describes the book's cultural impact as "phenomenal". Indeed, it's still being bought after its debut in . There has even been a based on it.
"It has a resonance with much of the Australian population," she says. "A lot of this, particularly recently, has a lot to do with nostalgia. In my research, I heard from so many people who particularly remembered cakes that they had cooked or eaten from this book - and of course, the cakes are related to lovely memories of childhood, parties, friends and feeling special."
Her research shows it's also a book that many people pass on through or buy for their families.
The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book is in many households across the nation. Source: Supplied
For bakery owner Phillippa Grogan of , birthday cakes usually came in the form of a very traditional strawberry sponge cake.
"Although mum could bake a very good sponge, she usually purchased one to two sponges from Keith's Cakes in Brighton, [in Victoria]," she says,
Grogan served them with sweetened whipped cream and strawberry halves and candles on top.
"Mum wasn't really into making special shapes and sometimes mum changed it up and baked a pavlova, which she was an expert at making, usually with strawberries and sometimes, if in season, passion fruit."
But she was also exposed to 1970s fruit cakes. "I remember Dundee cake as an alternative for my father for an afternoon tea celebration." This is a simple yellow, buttery fruit cake that's studded with moist fruit.
For Melbourne bakery, Natalie Paull of , birthday cakes are something that she holds close to her heart and remembers AWW cakes taking centre stage at most of her birthday parties as a child.
"My most favourite cake was the Hickory Dickory Watch from page 6 of the birthday cake bible the Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Cookbook [the original 1980s edition]."
It had a mouse made from a plump prune, liquorice tail and musk lollies for eyes. "I adored the cake and (surprisingly) didn't have to fight off my friends for the prune!" Paull says.
My most favourite cake was the Hickory Dickory Watch from page 6 of the birthday cake bible.
Many of us have had an AWW birthday cake. I remember flipping through this book to pick the cake I wanted and asking my mum to ask my cake-decorating aunty to make me the princess cake. This one featured a Barbie surrounded by a cake which resembled her fluffy pink dress.
Dr Samuelsson remembers how much she loved the swimming-pool cake.
A home baker recreates a cake from Australia's favourite birthday cake cookbook. Source: Getty Images
"My mum worked full time, so she didn't really have time to bake cakes often, but she did make birthday cakes. I remember her making the swimming-pool cake one year - it was amazing. A pool of green jelly, surrounded by those chocolate finger biscuits."
This cult recipe book has proven to be relevant decades after its original publication date. Australians show off their creations on social media. Even New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern .
Dr Samuelsson says, "Given the popularity of the birthday cake book, I'm sure that there are people out there right now baking up a 'Dolly Varden' or a 'train' or even the 'tip truck' for their kids."
