Name any sort of life event, holiday or other time for a gathering and try to imagine how that celebration would go without a cake. When you really think about it, a cake is one of the reasons people will go to an event. Yes, it is always nice to reconnect with friends and family but if you’re attending something like a wedding or a birthday party, all you have to look forward to is the possibility of a goody bag and at least one piece of a really amazing cake. Now that we have spelled out just how crucial a cake is to a quality fete, let us look into the more specific reasons why every shindig should involve a cake.

They are iconic

Birthdays and weddings are synonymous with the serving of cake. In fact, cake is such a staple of weddings that there is a whole tradition of the bride and groom smearing cake into each other’s faces.

They are tasty

This is arguably the most basic quality of a cake. Most people like sweet things and cakes are definitely a sweet food, especially when you add icing and maybe even some candied fruit on top.

They are communal

Both the creation and consumption of a cake tend to be a group activity. When it comes to making a cake, you can rope multiple people into the process with one person buying the ingredients, another blending everything together, a third decorating the cake after it rests from baking and so on. If the cake is intended to be for someone special, there is the added benefit of having that person’s friends and family be involved in the baking, decoration and even delivery of the cake; each person can put a little bit of their love for the special person into the cake.

Now when it comes to the eating of cake, only the smallest of cakes is suitable for a single person and even that small an amount might still be too much for any one individual. Having a cake means you have plenty of food to share with others and those people are likely to be your friends, family and coworkers.

They elevate a person’s mood

Unless you make the faux pas of giving or make a cake for someone who has expressed issues with their weight or dieting, a cake is bound to improve a person’s mood. Whether purchased or baked by a group, news that everyone chipped in to make the tasty treat, plus potentially customising the decoration to the recipient’s tastes, means that the recipient’s mood just got an upgrade.

Even if your skills as a baker are less than stellar, you can always go by the grocer or hire a company like InstaCake to bring something truly spectacular to the party. Even if no one has any baking skills, you can still gain the benefits from a group-baking project by having everyone chip in a small amount of money toward the purchase.