Birthday Cake Woes

[veruccasalt]

So, I can't seem to get the stupid birthday cake right.  Oh, I can *PURCHASE* as many cakes as I'd like--but using them is a huge issue.
First, the stupid cake must have, like 80 slices to it--which means there is *always* some leftover cake.  It seems the cake must be finished
in it's entirety before another cake could conceivably be successful.  Maybe--it's taken me a ton of removing the dead, half-eaten cake from
the fridge thinking it was the one I'd just bought.  On one occasion I even bought 10 of them and the store charged me for them, but when I got
home to do my birthday party the stupid half-eaten crapcake came out of the fridge and I had to make everyone finish eating it or it would just keep
coming out of the fridge.  While the family was all eating this old nasty cake, the girl darted in the bathroom and transitioned.  Now, I have a young adult
female that needs to transition, I bought the dumb cake and now I can't find it in the inventory.

The cake is a lie.

How do I get this madness to stop?  I have the lamest birthdays ever--people eating stale cake while the birthday girl transforms in front of a dirty toilet.

[cathyknits]

You could "clean up" the leftover cake - either use that command on it, or drag it to the trash yourself - instead of putting it in the fridge. (And you don't have to use up the cake before you can do a second one, normally - if it seems you have to, and you feel as though you're keeping good track of the cakes, you might have a glitch of some kind.)

[veruccasalt]

I've tried that.  If there's a smear of frosting on the cake platter, I cannot just 'clean up'--my sims (who are clearly developmentally
challenged) insist on putting it in the fridge.  I have bad luck in real life, so I've probably got a glitchy game and will simply have
to delete the 'throw birthday party' wishes from my sims' cue.

[Anna Lane]

I can't even figure out how to get the birthday cake out of my inventory. I open my inventory and scroll down to the cake but my xbox doesn't give me the A/select button choice. I've just given up on the birthday cakes and just let my people age up without cake or a party.

[Sarabi]

The cake is a lie.

Spoken like a true Dragon Age fan.   

I've played TS3 on both PS3 and PC, and the birthday cake procedure is pretty much the same on both.

I usually buy a cake from build/buy mode instead of going to the store to purchase one.  You can easily place them on the table or a counter, just like any table lamp, small appliance, etc.  Birthday cakes need to be sitting on a table or counter-top to be used to trigger the age transition.  When you're ready to commence the birthday celebration, select the birthday Sim and then click on the cake and choose the "blow out candles" option (on PS3, you need to have the birthday Sim selected when you interact with the cake; the PC version gives you a pop-up list from which to select the Sim that is to age up).

After you've done that, the rest of it happens automatically.  If the birthday Sim is a baby, an adult will carry the child to the cake.  Other Sims present will blow party horns, etc., and the birthday Sim will blow out the candles and age up.  Then they eat the cake.  Or sometimes, they just take a piece, set it on the floor, and bail.  When that happens, you'll have more leftovers.

I've never tried putting a whole cake in the fridge - but I'm guessing that once you do that, it is treated like any other food leftovers and no longer has its "trigger age transition" mojo.

Good luck.

[Twinmum]

I thought "The cake is a lie" was from Portal?

[Twinmum]

If your Sim wants to put the remaining cake in the fridge rather than cleaning it up, couldn't you clean it up? Just grab it with the mouse and drag it to the garbage. I often do that with plates and such instead of having my Sims clean up.

[Sarabi]

I thought "The cake is a lie" was from Portal?

I just googled it, and you're right... but the line was also used in the finale of Dragon Age.  I guess it's a popular video game line. 

If your Sim wants to put the remaining cake in the fridge rather than cleaning it up, couldn't you clean it up? Just grab it with the mouse and drag it to the garbage. I often do that with plates and such instead of having my Sims clean up.

Since I started playing on the PC, I've been doing that a lot.  It's different on the consoles - on the PS3, I always had to get the Sims to clean up (or just wait for them to do it on their own).

[Twinmum]

Oh gee, I should read these things more closely, I keep replying to things only to find out the discussion is concerning the console version.. sorry.

[Sarabi]

No prob.

It is the same game in most respects, but some of the control capabilities are quite different.  For example - on the PS3, there is one single inventory, whereas the PC version has an individual inventory for each Sim plus a family inventory.  So, for example, if one PS3 Sim puts a guitar or laptop in inventory, all of your Sims would have access to that item.  And you can't just drag items into or out of inventory like you can on the PC.

But I'm getting a bit off-topic here.  Bottom line is that each platform is a bit different in the way they work.

[Pam]

@Sarabi:

I hope your information will help the original poster.  I only play the PC version, but it sounds good.  There's really no reason to buy more than one cake at a time.  I do the same thing with buying it in Buy Mode when the party starts.

@veruccasalt:

Let us know if you've got it worked out now.

[Sarabi]

I hope so too, Pam.  Watching the Sims celebrate a birthday is a lot of fun, and I'm hoping we might be able to help our fellow Simmers enjoy that part of the game.

[glacier777]

I throw a birthday party so all my sims and the guests get a slice, sometimes it all goes at the party and no leftovers.

[Breerents]

I do exactly what Sarabi does.  But I usually just have the immediate family present(no big party), then I sell the cake right away.  The cake is I think 30.00 and you can sell it for 23.00.  I think its neat to see my sims evolve especially the little ones, it kinda cute.

[Hope512]

I also buy from the build and buy mode and place it directly on the table. I also only buy one at a time. I haven't been able to interact with the cake in the inventory so I don't buy it from the store anymore.

I then get the sim to put the cake in the fridge and they seem to enjoy eating it the day after the party  especially for breakfast. I'd say if you want as much cake eaten as possible then throw a party.

And I'm pretty sure you could just clean up the remaining cake rather than putting in the fridge.

Oh, one thing that happened when I tried to age up my nooboo.... I got his father to take him to the cake, finally, I had to click several times before someone would take him! He took his sweet time to blow out the candles and the whole thing, plus the table and chairs and the laptop on the table went up in flames! He has the brave trait and calmly took the nooboo back to his crib. I'm so glad I got an alarm because before I knew it a fireman turned up. Needless to say the rest of the sims freaked out and didn't run away from the fire. I was worried they'd all catch on fire and I'd have lots of ashes to clean up, and Grim as an unexpected party guest. After the excitement they all have the party balloons with the smiley face in their thought bubbles. They all thought it was a great party!