Birthday cakes: delicious, photogenic, and the only acceptable reason to set food on fire indoors. But behind the frosting and candles lies a history packed with ancient rituals, eye-watering price tags, and cakes so massive they could crush a small car. Buckle up, because these facts are wilder than a toddler on a sugar rush.

10 Birthday Cake Facts You Never Knew

1. The first birthday cakes were Geburtstagskuchen

The first birthday cakes were rumoured to have come from Germany, where birthday cakes were made for children to celebrate their birthdays. Germany’s first birthday cakes - called ‘Geburtstagskuchen’ - weren’t the fluffy buttercream dreams we know today. Nope, they were more like dense bread, probably closer to something you’d find in a medieval ration pack. We’ll stick to the modern sugar-loaded versions, thanks!

2. We spend over £1million a day on birthday cake

In the UK, nearly £1.3billion is spent on whole cakes per year, which includes the birthday cake! That’s over £3.5million pounds worth of cake per day, which equates to a lot of cake (and even more candles). When you extend this to around the world, you’ll find that people eat between 50-100 million birthday cakes, not per year, but every single day.

3. Before birthday cake candles, the candles on cake were saved for the Goddesses of the Moon

The Ancient Greeks started the whole ‘candles on cake’ thing, baking moon-shaped cakes for Artemis, Goddess of the Moon. The candles? They symbolised moonlight and carried prayers up to the heavens. Today, we do the same - except our prayers are mostly for 'please let that be my best angle in the photos'. You don’t want to be blowing out those birthday candles in Venezuela however, where there is a practice of trying to push the birthday girl/boy’s face in the cake after the candles have been extinguished. At least they get the first taste of the cake!

4. The number of candles on a cake traditionally represent the years of your life you’re celebrating

This tradition is also said to have come from Germany, where the belief was that lighting these candles to celebrate the years preceding the birthday would lead to a long life in the future. 

5. One of the biggest ever birthday cakes was almost as heavy as an elephant

Las Vegas celebrated its 100th birthday in the most Vegas way possible - by baking a cake that weighed 6.18 tonnes. That’s roughly the same as a full-grown elephant or 10,000 slices of cake!

6. The world record for birthday candles stands at over 70,000

The Sri Chinmoy Centre in New York holds the Guinness World Record for the most birthday candles on a cake, lighting over 70,000 candles. Sadly, due to the large amount, Sri Chinmoy wasn’t able to blow them out, instead resorting to using a fire extinguisher! In this instance, the number of candles didn’t quite match the years passed, with Sri Chinmoy celebrating his 85th birthday on the occasion.

7. Birthday cake used to be an expensive affair

In the 17th Century, birthday cakes started to become more commonplace and take the form we know them in today. The decadent creations could only be afforded by the upper class as the ingredients were so expensive. It wasn’t until the 18th Century that there was birthday cake all round. As the price of ingredients dropped, the demand rose.

8. For some, birthday cakes still come with a large price tag

A cake worth $75 million? Yep, some ultra-rich mystery buyer in the UAE thought cake wasn’t extra enough unless it was lined with over 4,000 diamonds. Apparently the cake depicted a fashion runway...and it wasn’t quick to make either, taking over 1,000 hours of painstaking work. For extravagant birthday cakes, that don’t cost the earth, take a look at our wonderful birthday cake collection.

9. When it comes to flavour, chocolate comes up top

What flavour would your ideal birthday cake be? Well, according to research the most popular choice is chocolate. We can’t help think of poor Bruce Bogtrotter, of Roald Dahl’s Matilda. In the book, Bruce is made to devour an entire cake, by the evil headmistress Mrs Trunchbull. Friends save the day however, chanting him to victory!

10. Birthday cakes aren’t just for humans

Birthday cakes aren’t just for humans anymore - you can now buy cakes for dogs, cats, and even hamsters. Because if there’s one thing cuter than a dog, it’s a dog in a party hat eating cake. (Just don’t tell them it’s sugar-free.)

Now that you know more about birthday cakes than the average cake historian (a real job, probably), it’s time to celebrate. Check out our birthday cake collection and order your own - because history tastes better with buttercream.