Is this the best supermarket birthday cake ever?

The supermarket-bought birthday cake is the staple of the office celebration. While small children may get hand-crafted creations bedecked with jelly tots and acres of fondant icing from their parents, colleagues can't usually be bothered. But the days when this was a bad thing may finally be over, because Asda has developed a show-stopping birthday cake.

The cake in question is Asda's piñata surprise cake. It's a traditional Victoria sponge, but one that's crafted into an impressive dome. It's also covered in swirls of multi-coloured icing, but the really cool bit is that when you cut into it, oodles of tiny smartie-style sweets come spilling out. It apparently feeds 24 and is just £10.

Food writers have been falling over themselves to praise it. Grocery Gems called it: "a stunner of a cake, especially for the great value price", while Reveal Magazine said: "This has got to be one of the best cakes we've seen - ever!"

Asda has featured a brilliant version of the cake in its recipes section since July, but with a baking time of roughly four hours, involving numerous cake tins and piping bags - as well as the ability to ice a cake in neat horizontal stripes - it's unlikely many people thought 'Oh I could make that for Dave in accounts'.

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Workplace birthdays
There are plenty of people who don't see the point in celebrating birthdays in the workplace at all, and look askance on supermarket-bought birthday cakes and novelty cards signed with sleight of hand by the team.

However, before you pour scorn on them, and vow never to let a slice of this cake past your lips, remember the great unmarked birthday of our time. Back in May, Manchester City was in turmoil after the club failed to mark Yaya Toure's 31st birthday sufficiently. He was so offended that his agent said he felt disrespected and was considering leaving the club.

He remained with the club in the end, but this season has been criticised by Paul Scholes for showing a lack of passion on the pitch. He said: "He just did not look interested."

Just think, the club's midfield could have been transformed if only Asda'ssurprise cake had been on the market just a few months earlier.

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