For some children, a birthday is especially worth celebrating.
Jessica Gowers can't tell you whether her son Riley will make it to 13, 18 or 21.
She didn't think they'd get to see his seventh birthday in March.
But, they did.
Riley was born with CHARGE syndrome, a series of complex medical issues.
As well as heart issues, he is deaf, mute and partially blind.
With all that time in hospital, it's no wonder Ms Gowers doesn't have time to bake a cake. Or much else for that matter.
So she calls on the Cake Angels, a team of 2,100 professional decorators around the country donating incredible custom cakes to kids with lifelong or life-limiting conditions.
These are not your average banana cakes with cream cheese icing.
Cakes worth up to $600
The Australian Cake Angels Network was started in 2011 by a baking instructor who wanted to see the leftover decorated cakes from her classes go to good use.
The not-for-profit organisation has grown from there, connecting children with volunteer decorators via referral agencies for the past 10 years.
Before COVID, president Kellie Arney says they were making up to 600 cakes a year.
The kind of cake most families wouldn't be able to access otherwise.
'When you've got a sick child, you often end up becoming a one-income family. [Someone] has to give up their job to be able to go back and forth to hospital, to appointments," Ms Arney says.
Cakes bring everyone together
An agency will contact Cake Angels with a request, who will then notify the closest volunteers.
"It may be 10 people, it could be 40. And always the same people come back first," Ms Arney says.
One of those people is Jo Jeffers, a pastry chef turned home decorator from Toolamba in Victoria's Goulburn Valley.
In five years she's made 33 cakes for Cake Angels.
"It's a centrepiece of a birthday party, everyone gathers around… it brings everyone together."
Like all volunteers, Jo will get in contact with the child's family and plan a design.
"The kids have a particular thing that they adore. If they're verbal and able to, they'll pick out a design," Ms Jeffers says.
The volunteers then, in most cases, deliver the cake themselves.
"I love to be able to deliver the cakes personally," Ms Jeffers says.
"A lot of the time I get to meet the kids too and see the look on their faces."
Sweet, final wish for families
The cakes aren't often delivered on the child's actual birthday.
"We do try and wait until the child's not in hospital," Ms Arney says.
"Often, when they're in the hospital they're not well enough to really enjoy the cake or their party, or have their friends and family around them."
Sometimes the cakes are delivered before their birthday.
Then there are bereavement cakes.
Ms Jeffers has made them too.
When she was starting out with Cake Angels five years ago she was put in touch with another farming family not far from her.
Their twin girls Zoe and Monique were six months older than her daughter at the time.
One of the girls was diagnosed with a brain tumour and passed away.
She made one cake for that little girl, and then one for her twin and older sister in the years following.
"It was going to be her last birthday so I really wanted to make sure I got it right," Ms Jeffers says.
"She loved Scooby Doo so it was a Scooby Doo themed cake."
The best cakes to make
Despite costing the volunteers time and money, most Cake Angels consider these cakes their favourite assignments.
"They just take it on their back," Ms Arney says.
"The cake is at the volunteer's discretion. It will be for at least 30 people, but most of them will make a bigger cake if they know it's for a bigger birthday. Or add cupcakes.
It's all a worthy cost for Ms Jeffers.
A sprinkle of compassion
Ms Gowers is already planning Riley's next cake in March.
She's tossing up between dinosaurs or Heroes of Goo.
"I do get excited," Ms Gowers says.
"Yes, we don't know how long we have left with our children. All we ask for is compassion."
To register to be a cake angel, visit the website.
While many of the volunteers are professional bakers, you don't need to have a registered kitchen or business.
