It’s been the inspiration behind Aussie kids’ birthday parties since 1980. Now author Pamela Clark has told the ABC’s Throwback program about how the “daggy” book changed childhood celebrations – and revealed which cake you can take off your baking list.
“Oh! Tip Truck Cake. B***h of a cake, don’t make it unless you’re really desperate,” she says.
“Glue the pages together. Forget it!”
Ms Clark also says she broke “a lot of rules” to make the 106 cakes that fill its iconic pages – including packet mixes and (shock) basic buttercream for the icing.
The book also had separate boys’ and girls’ sections – which went down like a lead balloon.
“The phone did not stop ringing in the test kitchen with people saying, ‘How dare you segregate boys and girls? How sexist of you’.”
But the book found a special place in the heart of Aussie families and Ms Clark loves that people still bring her their copies – complete with pages stuck together with buttercream – to sign.
“Often, it’s the book that their mother made cakes from, and they’ve passed it on to their daughter, and then their children are now looking at these cakes.”
Of course – who can forget the joy of deciding which cake you were going to inflict on your poor parents?
Watch the full interview with Pamela on ABC News’ Facebook page here.
