My aunt is having a surprise birthday party for my uncle who has cancer. He has recently decided to not continue with chemo, so this will likely be his last. I have volunteered to do the cake but am at a loss of what to do. I'd like to do something sentimental but don't want it to have a we know this is the last kind of feel if you know what I mean. Any ideas? Thanks

Wow I'm sorry about your Uncle. If it were me I would prob do a cake of something he really loves or of all the cool stuff he has done in his life. Mostly you would want to make it a happy time for him. JMHO

I just went through this with my dad. He was diagnosed with cancer in May and passed away this past August. I never got the chance to make a birthday cake or any cake for him but I think no matter waht you do for him, hes gonna love it either way. I like ski's idea about doing a cake of his favorite things or a cake of all the things he's done in his life, I would just try not to make it a cake thats too much like a memorial. Treasure every last moment. I'm so sorry you have to go through this.

My heart goes out to you and your family. We went through the same thing last year with my dear nan and it certainly is tough.

The cake would depend on his personality - something he loves is a great start. My nan had a wicked sense of humour and refused to let any of us mourn before she went... so she threw a party! The cake was bright, colorful and covered with stars... it was one of the happiest cakes I've seen and she loved it. So if your uncle is a usually cheery person then I'd do something to reflect that. His birthday is still, after all, a celebration - in spite of what lies ahead.

I hope this may help, all the best to you

I, too, am sorry to hear that. I agree with the other posters. Focus on making a fun, beautiful cake, not on it being his last birthday cake. I'm sure normalcy is important to people in his situation.

Thank you all for your caring thoughts and ideas. We're still trying to finalize the details of the party. My aunt wants to do a video with lots of old pictures to play during the party. So I was thinking of doing a version of the road of life cake and tying the events on it into the pictures that are chosen for the video. The only trouble I am having with this idea is the top part. I'm thinking of either doing his age then having stars and curlie q's or doing a billboard that said happy birthday. What do ya'll think?

Your cake idea sounds perfect, I love the road of life cake it is fun and especially if you can match it to the slide show a bit.

I did a cake last summer for a man's 80 birthday who also had cancer, he wanted his last birthday to be something special. I did a square cake, with one corner cut out and placed on the top of the second layer. I put a figure on each layer doing one of the things he loved to do, fishing, hunting, skiing, and on the top the number 80. Many of the people at the party, his family especially picked up on the fact it was the favorite things "Grandpa" liked to do. The man's wife called me a day or so after the party to tell me how wonderful the cake had been, that it meant so much to her husband and the family. It made my day

KatieKake that is a great idea. I was just thinking it would be cool to put figures that showed his hobbies and interests along his road. Guess I better get the fondant/gumpaste out to practice modeling. I've never made any figures before but am game for anything.

Such sad news but yet at the same time, wonderful that you have the opportunity to do something so nice for him. I agree with everyone else on the road of life cake. I like your idea of the billboard personally. Maybe something idicative of the year he was born. One year I got my grandmother a book that listed events and cool facts about the year she was born. They had books for every year, really cool stuff.

Anyway, I just did a cake with a road and saved this one to my computer by rstml for ideas. It's fantastic... thought I'd pass it along for inspiration.

darn it.. it's not letting me post the picture. I keep getting a debug error...

I'll see if I can find a link or somt...

stephanie, I know the cake your talking about- its in my favorites too, along with almost all the other road cakes too

1st -- my thoughts and prayers are with you.

2nd -- for top -- well the billboard is nice. then again -- a sly reference such as "Onward and Upward" might be interesting too. This could be interpreted by those of faith to be that he will continue to press forward with life as well as pressing forward to the ultimate goal that lies beyond life.