Wow! That's a nice cake! I hadn't actually seen one like that before. My wife and I went to the USMC Birthday Ball the other day and it was real fun. There is a huge cake that they bring in during the ceremony. The tradition is that the CO or CG cuts the first piece and gives it to the oldest Marine present. The next piece goes to the youngest Marine present (and we old timers always laugh at when the young'en was born!). The little secret is that almost all of the 3 tiered cake is made of cardboard! There is just a little corner that has a real cake added to the rest so the whole thing can be used for all of the balls (almost every unit has one) that go on throughout the month.

Here is me (with my assistant commo from the MEU) with the (mostly) phony cake from last year. It is very convincing!

Sure looks real. A hell of a lot cheaper that way.