Would your child eat these cakes?

[AHASRADA]

Just to clarify, I did not intend to suggest in my post that ALL picky eaters are raised on processed junk. I realize there are allergies, sensory issues, and just personal preferences. I just found it odd, and unlikely, that every single child in attendance fell into one of these categories. Thus, my hypothesis that cultural norms around food (namely, preference for processed / prepackaged food) were likely a factor.

 

Honestly, it has been a long time since I had a 6 y.o., and we didn't start having bday parties with friends (as opposed to extended family) until they were 8 or so. Maybe most 6 y.o.s are picky.

 

Still, as a parent of a guest child, I would encourage him/her to choose the "least offensive" cake, be polite, at least taste it, and finish the piece myself, or take it home. The idea that slices were served and not eaten, not finished off by parents or wrapped up, is the most upsetting aspect of the situation, more so than the pickiness.

 

Without knowing the guests' food preferences, I would have saved the elaborate homemade treats for our own family, and served a generic cake to the masses.

[PIE!]

Three out of my four kids would have gobbled both cakes down. I never know what my picky eater is going to decide "looks funny" and not even try a bite. It just depends on his mood I guess. (I do make him at least TRY healthy food, but I wouldn't make him try a dessert that he's not interested in.)

[kewb]

My kids don't like cheesecake so that cake would be out. My ds may have eaten the cherry cake. Not sure if my daiughter would have. I like to believe my children would be polite in their declining of the cake and not let forth with "Eww, cheesecake, GROSS!"

[unsinkable]

 

 

Still, as a parent of a guest child, I would encourage him/her to choose the "least offensive" cake, be polite, at least taste it, and finish the piece myself, or take it home. The idea that slices were served and not eaten, not finished off by parents or wrapped up, is the most upsetting aspect of the situation, more so than the pickiness.

 

I wouldn't expect parents to "finish off" cake or food that their child didn't eat.

[Joyofsixreboot]

My kids don't like jam or jelly or cheesecake so sadly, no, they wouldn't eat it.

[LuvToRead]

My kids would totally eat those cakes! They love cheesecake, cake with fruit, and home-made whipping cream.

 

Dh said those kids are a result of a processed-food society. If our kids did show some hesitancy about it we would explain the unknown food to our kids understanding that you as our host had put a lot of time and effort into it. If they did refuse to eat something, I or my husband would eat it so it wouldn't be wasted.

 

This is probably true of some kids, but this is not true of my kids. Neither of my girls would have eaten the cake. They love fresh fruits, but do not like jam. They also love a variety of fresh veggies, too. My oldest is pretty picky and will not touch a hot dot, fake chicken nuggets, or mac and cheese. She would rather eat kale, broccoli, and a slice of pork tenderloin. They probably wouldn't try the cheesecake either. I have dairy issues, so I don't make cheesecake, and I don't encourage a lot of dairy.

[LaxMom]

Mine love cheesecake and layer cakes with all sorts of filling - jam, mousse, almond paste, whatever. And they like their whipped cream barely sweet and whipped stiff.

 

They complain about stuff that tastes "like dye", though.

[Miss Marple]

I would not either. And I don't believe people should feel obligated to eat cake.

 

My in-laws take this a step further. Not only are you supposed to eat a piece of cake, you are supposed to eat a slice from the 5 different cakes offered. Ridiculous! I did this the first time I visited them. Never again. I felt miserable!

 

LOL! 5 different cakes - I'd be in heaven (if they were homemade)! My sister and I are often teased that we plan our dinners around what we will be offering for dessert :) My boys have come to expect that as well. Glad they all have good metabolism - they are tall, thin fellas. I, on the other hand, would only be able to have a bite of each cake :p But I'd gladly pass up the sweet drinks and bread in order to have that dessert.

[fairfarmhand]

My kids would love it, but they eat more ADULT food than kiddie foods, mostly because we raise much of our own food. They are funny. They'll sit around comparing the different cuts of steak that I cook. ("That New York strip was good, but I really liked the rib-eye better.") Any thing that contains whipped cream and cream cheese they would have been ALL over.

 

However, for a children's birthday cake, I may have made the cheesecakes and some cupcakes for the too. It's possible that the kids reacted the way that they did because they were expecting a traditional cake. In another setting they may have tried the food.

[AimeeM]

FWIW, my children have NOT been raised in a "food bubble", on any level. My husband cooks the most amazing, gourmet worthy meals; I lean more towards simple, but certainly not processed. We enjoy our take out and pizza once or twice a week, but the rest of the week the children eat from scratch and at the dining room table.

It seems to be the consensus of the board that these poor children must be raised on mcdonald's and hamburger helper if they're picky... which is far from the truth here.

 

My middle son is picky, but he isn't "I'll only eat mcdonalds and chicken nuggets picky" - he likes "plain" foods... chicken, rice, pasta, peas. He doesn't like cake, on any level, and God knows he is presented with the same foods as everyone else in the home, he just has his preferences and we respect that (read: we do not make food a battle). Our eldest is our most adventurous eater, but due to a recent Celiacs dx, she wouldn't have been able to eat either cake (although she would have very much wanted to).

 

I do not, and will not, encourage or guilt my children into eating sweets; our "two bite rule" applies to *real* food, not cakes and sweets.

 

At parties (we had one this past weekend), we serve cake individually and always ask "who wants a piece"... I never assume everyone will and I never cut pieces that haven't been requested.

[Rene']

My girls would have loved them! My oldest daughter has requested cheesecake a few times for her birthday - the first time was when she was 7 or 8. But we all are big cheesecake lovers. I joke that that's how I won my husband. I made him a cheesecake when we were dating and he was mine from then on! :lol:

 

The cherry cake sounds lovely! Thank you for sharing the recipe.

[beaners]

 

At parties (we had one this past weekend), we serve cake individually and always ask "who wants a piece"... I never assume everyone will and I never cut pieces that haven't been requested.

 

Yep, and that way you can accommodate Aunt Marge who "just wants a smidge" then says, "no don't cut it that small, a little bigger," until she gets half the cake on her plate. :lol:

[Haiku]

My kids' birthday cupcakes didn't go over well with their hockey teammates. One chose pineapple and one chose lemon. The teammates wanted vanilla and chocolate.

 

Personally, I hate cheesecake (I'm vegan, but still, there are vegan cheesecakes, and I hate those, too). I think that you picked cakes that are fairly specialized, when most kids, when they go to a party, want something familiar and comforting.

 

Sorry they didn't go over so well. My kids were disappointed, too, until I let them eat all the leftovers. ;)

 

Tara

[Rebel Yell]

Adding bold to the OPs post for emphasis, my responses in red.

 

I gave my 2 kids a birthday party today, Happy Birthday to them!

 

and their cakes didn't go over well at all with the kids. Is it just this group of kids, or are these cakes far out there? Maybe a little of both. :leaving:

 

My son had a cheese cake with a dollop of whipped cream and fresh strawberries in the center, Seems like a standard cake (found on many restaurant menus) but slightly unusual for a young child's birthday party. while my daughter had a sweet cream cherry cake with whipped cream frosting. Never heard of this, sounds delicious, but again, unusual for a young child's birthday party.

 

After slicing into my daughter's cake, the kids saw that the layers had cherry jam between them, and wouldn't eat anywhere near the "red stuff". See, now- I HATE grocery-store Crisco frosting- I eat the cake and leave the frosting. :ack2: It's jam; surely kids have tasted jam, before. The second ingredient is sugar, who doesn't like jam? Not one kid ate either of the cakes (except mine, who had a slice of each)! Some ate the whipped cream off my daughter's cake, but when my son said, "Who wants some of mine?", no even tried it. How sad! They actually looked grossed out.How rude! But maybe they were just confused- either didn't know what it was. "Cheese" and "cake" together don't sound good if you have never eaten "cheesecake." I honestly used to think it was like Kraft Singles baked into a cake. One child wanted a dollop of just whipped cream on his plate, but after tasting it, said the cool-whip tasted funny. It was just heavy whipping cream and confectioner's sugar - how could that taste funny?! When you are accustomed to the texture and taste of Cool Whip, something unexpected will taste odd- almost spoiled. Have you ever had a glass of what you thought was orange juice but it turned out it was a mango smoothie/Naked juice, already poured into a clear glass for you? Trust me- I LOVE Naked Juice's Mighty Mango, but when you're expecting OJ, the mango is a nasty shock! Would your kids eat these cakes? Assuming there were no food dyes in the cakes, two would eat the cheesecake (the third has a dairy allergy) and only one would eat the cherry cake- one has a dairy allergy, the other does not like cherries. But she would have eaten the entire bowl of whipped cream. :D Did I just invite the world's pickiest eaters? Should I just use boxed mixes and canned icing? When I do large-group parties, yes- I do. Well, I make buttercream frosting and use box mixes. I do whatever the birthday child wants for smaller family birthday dinners- anything from a dozen donuts from the donut shop to a special cake and anything in between. Yes, I know I'm probably more upset that I should be, but it's sad to throw out so many slices of cake that you worked hard on. If the kids wouldn;t touch them, why throw them away? Wrap them up and send them home with the adults, or you have at least half of a leftiver cake to enjoy after the party. My daughter's cake had 3 cups of whipping cream in it! On the bright side, most of the adults really liked them. :party: And why can't I make paragraphs? Return isn't returning me?

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

Mine would not, but they are über picky. Neither one really likes cake all that much to begin with. One only likes white cake with no frosting. One only likes chocolate, but mostly eats just the frosting.

[sewingmama]

No...mine wouldn't have. Party cake to them is frosting on plain cake.

 

However it probably didn't have much to do with the cake. I find at most parties kids don't eat the cake because they have already eaten too much by the time they get to it. Most of them just lick the icing off it and toss the cake.

[MomToJazmyne]

My daughter would have definitely eaten the cheesecake provided it didn't have lemon juice as she is allergic to citrus. The cherry cake she might have eaten...it just depended on her mood. She probably would have eaten it as long as you didn't tell her there was whip cream on it. She has this idea that she doesn't like whip cream until she actually eats it.

[AimeeM]

No...mine wouldn't have. Party cake to them is frosting on plain cake.

 

However it probably didn't have much to do with the cake. I find at most parties kids don't eat the cake because they have already eaten too much by the time they get to it. Most of them just lick the icing off it and toss the cake.

 

Word, lol.

We served sausages, asian pasta salad, and slow roasted italian pulled pork... and chips... soda/juice...

by the time we got to cake at our recent party, most of the adults politely declined and most of the kiddos only took a bite or two, lol.

[Greta Lea]

When mine were that age, they wouldn't have. BUT we have never eaten lots of sweets, especially cakes & pies, so they were pretty much only familiar with plain on sheet cakes when they were younger.

 

I think a lot of younger kids (even older kids and some adults I know:) won't even try foods that look different from what they were expecting (like expecting a plain ole sheet cake style b/day cake).

 

One of my son's doesn't like chocolate, so he very often skipped the cake at b/day parties.

 

By the way, your cakes sounds DELICIOUS!

[Greta Lea]

When mine were that age, they wouldn't have. BUT we have never eaten lots of sweets, especially cakes & pies, so they were pretty much only familiar with plain on sheet cakes when they were younger.

 

I think a lot of younger kids (even older kids and some adults I know:) won't even try foods that look different from what they were expecting (like expecting a plain ole sheet cake style b/day cake).

 

One of my son's doesn't like chocolate, so he very often skipped the cake at b/day parties.

 

By the way, your cakes sounds DELICIOUS!

[Lady Florida.]

Mine would have thought they were odd choices for birthday cake, but would have eaten them. He probably would have hoped for seconds (thirds?) on the cheesecake. :D

[Annie]

This thread has me wanting cheesecake with cherries and pumpkin pie with whipped cream!

 

My little one wouldn't have been able to eat either because of an egg allergy, but if they had been egg free, I'm sure he would have eaten the cherry cream cake. I've never made an egg free cheesecake for him, so I'm not sure if he likes cheesecake, but my guess is that he would like it. The strawberries in the middle would probably encourage him to try it if he wasn't sure because he loves strawberries. He would certainly eat the whipped cream. :)

 

I would have been thrilled to eat either of your cakes as an adult or child. My mom makes the best cheesecake, and it was a very common birthday request when I was little.

[stripe]

I have gotten a reputation as a great baker with my husband's colleagues. I used to make complicated cakes, but they are very happy with a nice yellow cake recipe I've been making in different flavors (e.g. marbling, orange zest, etc). It's easy and tasty. No frosting. I hate making frosting. I can whip it up in a few minutes and they are delighted, so it's a win-win.

[prairiewindmomma]

My kids would have loved those cakes!

 

One of our favorite cakes here is a chocolate cake with a raspberry layer and a chocolate ganache top with fresh raspberries on the plate!

 

Sounds like you need to have a dinner party pronto or freeze the extra cake.

[Plateau Mama]

At a dinner party or such my kids would eat those cakes. At a birthday party they may have, but they would have been disappointed. They expect regular cake and frosting at birthday parties. My daughter has one friend with a July birthday, he doesn't like cake so they always have Pumpkin Pie. The first year she was like WTH, but now she just expects it.

[Guest submarines]

Some of it was probably a groupthink effect + the kids being distracted and possibly over stimulated.

 

The cakes sound delicious, but it is so hard to predict what kids would like.

 

Were the kids asked whether they wanted a slice, or the cake was just served to everyone? I find it odd that the kids, at their ages, would say yes to a slice, and then not eat. My kids would've said, "no, thank you," or asked for a tiny piece to try it, if they weren't sure about the cake.

 

If the cake was just served, and they kids had no chance to say "yes" to it, all bets are off.

[Aspasia]

My kids would eat them! And I totally understand how you feel because I put a lot of work into desserts and it would definitely bother me if people didn't eat them.

[AimeeM]

My kids would eat them! And I totally understand how you feel because I put a lot of work into desserts and it would definitely bother me if people didn't eat them.

 

I put a lot of effort into all the food I make, especially for gatherings.

My sister is a preferential vegetarian (meaning, she's a vegetarian because she dislikes meat; she prefers not to eat it - not for ethical or health reasons); should I have been bothered when she wouldn't eat the pulled pork roast my husband slaved over for 12 hours?

[AimeeM]

OP - did you serve other food at the party? Were your guests simply not hungry (or even more, were they stuffed, lol?).

I never eat dessert served after a meal - I simply can't do it.

[NotSoObvious]

My kids will eat anything called "cake." They don't discriminate when it comes to dessert.

[AHASRADA]

 

 

I wouldn't expect parents to "finish off" cake or food that their child didn't eat.

 

 

Really? Huh. Maybe that's a custom peculiar to my family and circle of friends.

 

Those of us with small children often don't even serve ourselves, or take very little food, knowing that our kids aren't likely to clean their plates and we will be finishing their leftovers.

 

I thought that was the norm to avoid food waste. Oh well, to each his own :)

[AimeeM]

Really? Huh. Maybe that's a custom peculiar to my family and circle of friends.

 

Those of us with small children often don't even serve ourselves, or take very little food, knowing that our kids aren't likely to clean their plates and we will be finishing their leftovers.

 

I thought that was the norm to avoid food waste. Oh well, to each his own :)

 

Yeah, not normal in my circle. Lol.

We do not encourage eating, past the point of satisfying hunger, just to lessen food waste; just as a general rule.

[unsinkable]

 

 

Really? Huh. Maybe that's a custom peculiar to my family and circle of friends.

 

Those of us with small children often don't even serve ourselves, or take very little food, knowing that our kids aren't likely to clean their plates and we will be finishing their leftovers.

 

I thought that was the norm to avoid food waste. Oh well, to each his own :)

 

 

That makes me feel queasy.

 

I guess my family's custom is to give small children small appropriate servings so "waste" is minimized. And if it is a food they are uncertain of, then just a tiny spoonful.

[twoxcell]

Three of my kids would eat them. My older dd doesn't like cooked and sugared fruit, she only likes fresh fruit. She may have eaten the cake anyways though and removed the part with fruit. ;)

[CatholicMom]

Mine are NOT picky about their cakes. They would eat it happily. Sometimes they will get leery about, say, actual cherries in the cake (maybe). And nuts anywhere on it would be a no-go. But whipped cream and jam they would definitely eat happily. I think that was just bad luck. Sounds delish to me! I'm sure you could find someone to give some cake to rather than throw it out... (My address is... :p )

 

They might think it was unusual for birthday cakes, but that's about it... and only because we usually do the boxed cake and canned frosting thing or else I buy a cake from the store and then embellish it (hides -heehee).

[In the Rain]

However it probably didn't have much to do with the cake. I find at most parties kids don't eat the cake because they have already eaten too much by the time they get to it. Most of them just lick the icing off it and toss the cake.

 

 

:iagree: Even when it is a Costco cake (which often has a fruity filling in the middle, BTW) kids seem to just eat the frosting. I've been to a fair amount of birthday parties, and it seems like most cake at kids' parties gets thrown away.

 

If my kids picked something special requiring a lot of extra effort for their birthday, I would steer them toward serving it at the family party. I would want something easy for a party with a bunch of kids, operating under the assumption much of it will be trashed without being tasted. :tongue_smilie:

 

My kids have food allergies now, but if they didn't they would have loved both of the cakes you served. I'm sorry your feelings were hurt.

[FriedClams]

It depends....

 

One would and loved both.

 

One would, if she asked for it before knowing what was in it (jelly) would have suffered through it without complaint. I may have saved her and eaten half. If she knew what was in it she would politely decline any. She may have eaten the cheesecake, but she isn't a big sweet eater, so I'm guessing she'd skip altogether.

[Mom-ninja.]

Yes, my kids would have eaten the cakes. (However they are gf so the cakes would have to be gf for them to eat.) My kids love home made whip cream, cheesecake, and jam.

[AngieW in Texas]

My 15yo and 20yo would have eaten the cheesecake, while carefully scraping off every bit of the cherry stuff. They would have eaten just the frosting off of the second cake.

 

My 17yo doesn't really care for cake is unlikely to have eaten either one. She would prefer celery or carrots or cherries (but not cherries with anything mixed in).

 

I would have at least tried both cakes. I love cheesecake, but only when it's frozen, so I probably wouldn't have eaten the whole slice. The second cake sounded better to me than the cheesecake, but none of my kids would have eaten it.

[Susan in KY]

Um... they would, but that's only if they had a chance. DH and I would have given them a run for their money. :) They sound phenomenal!

[Plink]

My kids would eat and enjoy both.

 

IMHO, you live near a few picky kids, and the rest were probably followers playing the "if Joey doesn't like it, I won't try it" game. I'm so sorry!

[MomsintheGarden]

I'm sorry! It sounds like you put a lot of work into those cakes, and I would have been sad, too. FWIW, my children would have loved your cakes, and my 15 yo bottomless pit ds would probably have had two pieces of each.

 

I have learned the hard way to serve very small portions of food to children at birthday parties. Before I serve, I tell them that they are welcome to ask for seconds. I ask if anyone wants more before putting the food away. Those precautions have saved me the angst of composting a lot of uneaten food.

 

Your cakes sound delicious. I hope you were able to finish them before they spoiled.

[AndyJoy]

My son (3.5) would have eaten either happily.

 

I'm surprised that the kids rejected the one with jam, but I'm not surprised that the cheesecake was too "out there" for them. Cheesecake is usually a dessert I can safely bring to a potluck to ensure that the adults get something tasty all to themselves. :drool5:

[AndyJoy]

Wow, it sounds like my kids are more adventurous eaters than I thought! It never occurred to me when the kids picked out those cakes (they go through the cookbook each year and pick) that some kids wouldn't eat them. I've known kids that don't like cake of any kind, but I know for a fact from attending a few of these kid's parties in the past, that they do at least it the traditional bakery cakes. Mine have NEVER turned down a dessert. No matter what it is. When I made the cheesecake, I knew some wouldn't like strawberries, so I only put a few in the center as garnish and made a strawberry sauce separate on the side. It didn't help that when I told them it was cheesecake, one child couldn't believe it was a cake made of cheese and they all found it the funniest thing ever. I'm guessing he thought it was like cheddar cheese? How do you get to the age of 10 and never hear of a cheesecake? We live a mile away from The Cheesecake Factory. Next year will be a box but I'm still putting whipped cream icing or homemade buttercream on it.

 

 

I was 14 the first time I tasted real cheesecake (I'd had instant Jello "cheesecake"). I'm not sure when I knew what it was, but I don't think it's that strange for a 10-year-old to not know what it is. I probably would have liked it when I was younger, but it wasn't something that was ever offered to me. It was considered a rich, adult, too-good-for-kids-who-will-like-any-cheap-dessert-we-offer-them thing. Until I was a teen, I rarely ate any cake at parties. I was just not a big fan of any cake except carrot cake or Black Forest cake, which were rarely offered. If ice cream was served, I would decline cake and ask for just ice cream. I wasn't picky in any sense (my favorite pizza was combination with all the toppings at age 6!), I just didn't see the point of eating a dessert I wasn't going to love.

[QueenCat]

Ds 1 would have eaten the cheesecake. Ds 2 wouldn't have eaten either.... They are both accustomed to homemade cakes so it has nothing to do with not eating things that don't come from a box. I think both of the cakes the op made are the types of foods many people do not tend to acquire a taste for until they are older... I know I didn't like cheesecake as a child but LOVE it now. I still don't like cakes or pies with syrupy fruit fillings. Mine would have politely declined.... anyone who really knows us would know that the younger one would likely have not eaten anything while there as he did not eat much in front of others when he was young, unless he was starving.

[Garga]

You know the Charlie Brown Christmas special where Lucy is asking Shroeder to play Jingle Bells and he's playing these beautiful versions and she keeps frowning and saying, "No! No! I mean 'Jingle Bells!'" And when he finally plays a version that sounds plunked out on a kid's piano, Lucy yells, "That's it!!"

 

That's how my kids are about food. They don't want Beethoven and jam. They want a boxed cake with an action figure stuck in the canned frosting.