National Basketball Association

Report: LeBron rejects gaudy b-day cake

Published Jan. 3, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Perhaps if you're an NBA superstar and it's your birthday, you can have your cake and eat another one too.

That is, of course, if you believe Boca Raton baker Alethea Hickman and her tale of woe about making a cake for Miami Heat forward LeBron James, who celebrated his 27th birthday last weekend at a swanky Miami hotel.

According to the Miami Herald, Hickman was asked by officials at the Shelborne South Beach to make a five-tier $3,000 cake for James' party in return for some invaluable promotion for her Passion for Pastry business.

Unfortunately for Hickman, her Heat-red cake with edible gold dust and an edible crown on top was met with a thumping reject in favor of an ivory-colored rum cake with gold lions' heads from another Miami bakery.

"I don't even know where my cake went," Hickman told the Herald. "I was mortified. They had me do it in the middle of the holiday crush, and I hired additional people. Someone needs to pay."

Explaining what had happened, the hotel's managing principal Jared Galbut said James' people had simply decided Hickman's effort wasn't fit for "The King."

"It just wasn't what was expected. When LeBron's people saw it, they just didn't want to use it and decided to bring their own cake. I can't tell LeBron James what birthday cake to eat. It's LeBron James, for Christ's sake," he said.

It remains unclear if James enjoyed the rum cake, but he clearly had a great night, proposing to his longtime girlfriend Savannah Brinson.

A witness told the New York Post that James "got down on one knee and proposed" to his high school sweetheart, putting a large pear-shaped diamond on her ring finger.

"It was real cool," James said. "It was an opportunity for me with my personal life, so it was good. My girl, she's very excited."

The party was hosted by Heat teammate Dwyane Wade and his girlfriend Gabrielle Union.

Heat power forward Chris Bosh and actress Queen Latifah were also among the 60 friends and family members at the shindig.

Shortly after 1 a.m. ET, Heat owner Micky Arison sent a tweet congratulating his star player on the engagement, writing, “Congrats to Lebron. @KingJames and Savannah so happy 4 u guys.”

Other NBA stars (and their wives) got in on the action too, as tweets of congratulations came in from Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul and La La Vazquez, the wife of New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, among others.

James isn’t the first member of the Big Three to put a ring on it in 2011. Bosh married Adrienne Williams in June at an extravagant wedding at Miami's Fontainebleau Hotel — an event that required the NBA to make an exception allowing team executives and players to mingle during the lockout.