This is the story of a birthday cake, or rather, the pursuit of a birthday cake. The best birthday cake. One single favorite celebration cake to represent sprawling, diverse Los Angeles.
Let me backtrack.
Earlier this year the Los Angeles Times Food team began obsessing about birthday cake, what it meant to different people, and what might be the iconic birthday cake, if there were one.
Deputy Food editor Betty Hallock put the question out to the public with a survey. The survey asked readers of the Food section and followers on social media to name their favorite cake, filling and frosting for birthdays. The answers were as mixed as the city itself: Tres leches cake. Hazelnut dacquoise. Tropical fruit pavlova!…