Will this be a good surprise for J-MIL?

My mother in law will be coming to the U.S. the day after her birthday.

I enjoy baking and decorating cakes (I know it's not a manly thing to do. It's a passion that I have always shared with my mom). As this will be her first birthday since I married her daughter, I would like to extend my whole heart by customizing a cake with my own hands.

I think this will be a good surprise as my wife and her mom are now in Japan.

My wife has never baked a cake for her mom (they don't even have an oven in their house!) so for some reason I am second guessing myself. Would a J-mother in law love this? or would she prefer something expensive and fancy?

J-MIL? Interesting usage.

Simon,

Why are you second guessing?

Let me see...

Hand made, unexpected and if done right; tasty. What's not to like.

Let them eat cake!

Tenshi

It's common for Japanese residents to not have ovens or to not ever had baked cakes, so that is not a problem.

What you do need to make sure is, whether they like sweets or not, and whether they have any food allergy or not. You seemed to have discussed the topic of cakes with them before. Did they say anything about not being interested in "eating" cakes? If not, I'm sure they are two of the typical Japanese women who would love a homemade cake.

Why are you second guessing?

Well the fact my MIL not having an oven in her kitchen made me feel that cakes and baking them are not a special part of her life. She's not crazy about cakes so my goal is to bake and decorate a cake that would make her heart *melt* :-)

I didn't think about allergies so I just asked.. fortunately none. Thanks for pointing that out Uco. Really relieved to find out that not having an oven is actually the norm in Japan. Now I am no longer having second thoughts :-)

My MIL would eat sweets as long as they are not too sweet. The cakes sold off the shelves in the U.S. are way too sweet for her, so that's another good reason for me to bake one to suit her taste. I have decided to bake a rum cake as she loves alcohol.

My wife has always loved eating cakes but no one ever taught her how to bake them in Japan (also perhaps she doesn't have the resources- no oven). So I taught her how to bake and she taught me how to cook Japanese food.

Again, thanks for the opinions!

Most of the Japanese cakes that I tasted were not as sweet as like in America. Also they like to put fruit and there is usually like strawberries or blackberries. But I think he would appreciate your going to the effort to make a cake.