Before Instagram and delicious. became our main source of birthday baking inspiration, there was the Australian Women’s Weekly Birthday Cake Cookbook.

Whether you remember artfully icing a figure 8 racetrack complete with lollypop stop signs or blowing out the candles on a blue jelly swimming pool, no birthday party was complete without one of these lolly-topped creations, (somewhat) skilfully made by mum.

And the party isn’t over. Next year, the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and the National Gallery of Victoria are putting on an exhibition that will feature 75 of your favourite cakes from the book in all their buttercream glory.

The 8-day exhibition invites you to take a walk down memory lane, as you marvel at all the cakes you had, as well as those you bitterly wanted (ie. the piano with the teeny, tiny candelabra).

Cakes will be made by various Melbourne bakers, with Natalie Paull from Beatrix cafe and bakery confirmed to take on the Hickory Dickory Dock cake.

Not just a big sugary spectacle, the exhibition will also touch on how the cakes have shaped our collective memory, revealing the depth to which these designs form part of Australia’s visual culture.

Take the Cake will be held at The Ian Potter Centre: National Gallery of Victoria Australia from 9am – 5pm, March 18-25, 2020. It is a free event. For more details, head to melbournefoodandwine.com.au