Duff Goldman Reveals the Detailed Cake He Made for Daughter’s 4th Birthday After She Asked for 'a Brain’

Mar. 15, 2025

In a sweetInstagram postshared Sunday, Feb. 9, the famed pastry chef, 50, explained why he designed an edible version of the central organ of the nervous system for his daughter Josephine’s fourth birthday party.

“So after Halloween I asked Josephine what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday and she immediately said ‘a brain,’” Goldman wrote in his caption.

He said he and his daughter, whom he shares with his wife Johnna Colbry, both laughed at the thought, but he figured she would change her mind before her birthday arrived.

“I’ve been asking since Halloween and she didn’t change her answer once. She wanted a brain. I’m the cake guy, if my daughter wants a brain, she gets a brain,” he said.

Duff Goldman, April 2019.Paul Archuleta/Getty

Paul Archuleta/Getty

Goldman’s photo showed him smiling while carrying the pink brain cake — complete with large googly eyes and candles — into a room of family and friends.

“Josephine is 4?! That blows my MIND,” was written underneath with purple icing.

Johnna Goldman, Josephine Goldman and Duff Goldman.Duff Goldman/Instagram

Duff Goldman/Instagram

“How are you 4 already?!?” Goldman wrote in a Feb. 1birthday tribute. “You’re doing great, kid. It’s hard work growing up, figuring out how the world works, figuring out how you work and the figuring out never stops.”

He added, “That’s the fun part. It never gets boring if you keep being curious. Don’t go changin’. Happy birthday Josephine.”

“I’m 48. I’ve got a 2-year-old. You do the math,” he said.

“Making the right decisions becomes so much less of a chore because you’re making those decisions for somebody that’s relying on you,” the Food Network star told PEOPLE, referring to Josephine.

The proud father managed to lose 40 lbs. in six months, documenting the process on his fitness Instagram,@beefcakecookie.

Duff Goldman.Michael Tran/FilmMagic

Just months later, in February 2024, Goldman spoke again to PEOPLE about how a car accident almost left Josephine without a dad.

“I just saw my wife and my daughter. It was nuts,“Goldman told PEOPLE. “And then boom, the crash happened.”

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TheCharm City Cakesowner claimed that when he went to check on the other driver, the person was stumbling out of their car and smelled like alcohol.

“My daughter almost didn’t have a dad because this guy was stupid,” Goldman said, adding that there’s “no excuse” for not taking safety measures such as calling an Uber.

“I’ve been hugging my family a lot. I think they’re getting sick of it. I just keep saying like, ‘Come here. Give me a hug real fast,” he said.

source: people.com