It’s amazing how one person’s (possibly) fake allergy can hold an entire family hostage.

So, what would you do if you wanted to bake your grandma a beautiful meringue cake for her birthday, but your aunt, who always claims to have a severe egg allergy, was on the guest list?

Would you stick with a desert that won’t cause any issues? Or would you make the cake you want because your aunt eats eggs anyway?

In the following story, one granddaughter faces this exact decision and is really unsure of what to do.

Here’s the full scoop.

WIBTA for making a meringue cake for my grandma’s birthday even though my aunt “can’t eat eggs”?

Tomorrow is my grandma’s birthday party. My aunt (40F) lives with her as her caretaker and has decided to host.

I (19F) was asked (again) to bake the cake, because apparently this is always my “job” for family birthdays.

I usually don’t mind, but this time I’m conflicted.

Her aunt claims to have multiple food allergies.

My aunt claims to be allergic to three things: tomato seeds, eggs, and shellfish. I don’t question shellfish because that’s a common allergy, but the other two have never added up.

She eats pasta with fresh tomato sauce and ketchup constantly, but then says, “American ketchup and pizza sauce have tomato seeds, so they’re dangerous.” She also insists she can only have vegan mayo… and then eats McDonald’s mayo and other fast-food mayo without batting an eye.

Eggs are the big one. She says she’s anaphylactic and even carries an EpiPen.

Still, she sees her aunt eat these foods.

But I’ve baked plenty of cakes, brownies, and cookies with eggs for family events. She’s eaten them happily with zero reaction.

On a school trip to the US, she chaperoned, and she warned me she couldn’t eat pizza because of “tomato seeds.” I watched her eat several slices.

When I mentioned it mid-slice at a public venue, she stood up, dropped the pizza, held her hands in the air, but nothing happened. She was fine and later ate fries with American ketchup.

Now, she’s torn.

Now, for my grandma’s party, I’ve been told I can bake “whatever cake I want.” My grandma loves lighter desserts, so I was thinking of a meringue-based cake (like a pavlova/meringue torte). Obviously, meringue is egg whites.

Part of me thinks this is completely reasonable, my aunt has eaten egg-based desserts I’ve made many times without incident, and claims to LOVE pavlova.

Another part of me worries she’ll do the dramatic routine again and hijack my Grandma’s day. I don’t want the party to turn into “Aunt vs. Cake” with me painted as the villain who “tried to kill her,” especially because the last few times she’s hosted, she’s made up some crazy scene to seemingly get attention.

AITA?

Wow! It’s easy to see why she feels this way, but that’s a sticky situation.

Let’s check out what the fine folks over at Reddit think she should do.

This reader explains egg allergies.

According to this comment, she should trick the aunt into agreeing.

His wife is allergic to wasps and talks about the Epi.

Here’s an excellent point.

Food allergies can be serious, so she shouldn’t take the risk.

For everyone’s sake, it would probably be best to make something that’s allergy-free.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.