Why Are People Torching Their Birthday Cakes on Social Media?

Weirdly for a man who is—as his many birthday candles clearly indicate—81 years old, Biden is right on trend with Gen Z (cake-wise, if not approval-ratings-wise). Bettina Makalintal recently reported about the pervasive new TikTok trend of burn-away cakes, which are (just as they sound) cakes made up of layers that disappear engulfed in flames. Makalintal attributes the current popularity of the trend to bakers Namaya Navaratnarajah and Denise Steward, and goes into the science behind it, which involves frosting sheets, wafer paper, and perhaps just a touch of latent pyromania. TikTokers are making their own approximations with aplomb, and TBH, it’s mesmerizing to watch.

Not to be outdone, Marc Jacobs gave us a new chapter in the cake-on-fire genre this week with an Instagram video of himself blowing out the candles on an absolutely flame-drenched sheet cake (and attempting to protect his bag from the blaze). Now that an A-lister has embraced the trend, it’s pretty objectively fashionable, right? Secure that bag, Marc!