Women of a certain age

When my mum turned 50 we had a family get together, so of course, there was cake.  This is one of the cakes I vividly remember being involved in.  I came up with the design and my sister put the plans into action, by actually baking and decorating the cake.

It was an open book on page 49 and page 50.  I suggested we piped ‘to be continued…’ on page 50, but I don’t think we did in the end.

As lovely as the cake was, in honesty, the cake was a little sombre.  Signifying the end of a chapter, a bit like an end of era.  When my mum turned 50, it probably was a big deal.  In the early ‘80’s, all the big-zero birthdays signified ‘the change’ and automatically receiving a copy of the Marshall Ward catalogue. 

These days, when I make cakes for women to celebrate their 40^th and 50^th birthdays, they are, colourful and vibrant…Possibly because, these days we ‘women of a certain age’ have so much more to celebrate. 

I had a Nigerian lady a while back who wanted to make such a song and dance about her 40^th birthday, she ordered four cakes for her party – a photo cake, displaying her gorgeous self, a 4 and a 0, a cake with an @symbol and a sewing machine cake, to show off her sewing skills.

One of my girlfriends had a 40^th birthday cake (yes, I made one of the cakes) and she had three costume changes on the night.

I’ve made a number of ‘Fab at 50’ cakes too.

Let’s face it; women who are in their 40’s and 50’s today are fabulous. 

We’re looking after ourselves, we have more freedom and independence than our mothers ever did (and some of us, can’t wait for ‘the change’, so our bodies can have even more freedom). 

The ways we’re celebrating our 40’s and 50’s is great too.  Some have parties, some have private dinners, girls’ nights out, spa weekends and some ladies are having more fun on their 50^th and 40^th birthday than they did on their hen night.

On the cakes, I put five or four candles – that’s enough, the ladies can do the sparkling and light up the room themselves.

We mustn’t forget that old chestnut, life begins at 40, but I’m told, things really kick off in the 50s.  So ladies, let’s continue to celebrate these ‘golden years’.  We look great. We’re certainly living longer – I hear we’re known as the ‘double-inheritance generation’ (inheriting from our parents and sometimes from the husband too).  Embrace the change and celebrate in style, with a cake.