It is All About the Sheet cake

When I think of sheet cakes, I recall birthdays of years past.  These 11” x 14” confections always were replete with candles, ooey-gooey sugar icing and some sort of colorful theme on top that resulted in party goers with blue/pink/red/green stained lips.  These essentials of the child’s birthday party where 75% was never eaten became a thing of my past as children grew up and moved on to more mature party treats.  As a resident of Mexico, I have noticed that in the Hispanic culture, no event is complete without the aforementioned sheet cake.  I’ve noticed numerous sheet cakes being purchased and transported throughout Hispanic communities where I’ve traveled.  A community denominator is the sheet cake.  Although there are many symbols of celebration, the sheet cake also seems to be an ever-present representation of family, love and of celebration of connection.  I’ve seen sheet cakes transported by hand balanced as carefully as a 4-star restaurant waiter might balance a tray of food.  I have seen them carried gingerly by a passenger on the back of a roaring motorbike.  And I have seen them transported on buses, carried in a way not to touch another passenger.  Mundane plastic coverings are not present.  These would certainly distract from the sport of safe arrival.  Sheet cakes are purchased and brought home as so much more than a dessert.  They are symbols of love and family, of celebration and remembrance.  Sheet cakes are sugar, flour and water in fact, but they are metaphors for something deeper.  Maybe I’ll buy one.  It’s time to celebrate.