You've probably seen or heard the public service announcements touting the American Cancer Society (ACS) as the Official Sponsor of Birthdays. In an effort to celebrate life and the progress in the fight against cancer, the ACS has created a campaign to encourage people to declare the ACS the official sponsor of their birthday and help raise money to continue to find cancer cures.

Because a birthday's not much without cake, the ACS teamed up with The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) to create a better-for-you birthday cake. CIA baking and pastry students were challenged with creating a healthy, reduced-calorie cake, which would be judged by CIA alumni and star of Food Network TV's Ace of Cakes, Chef Duff Goldman. Students were required to submit a regular cake recipe along with a description of how the new recipe used more healthful baking ingredients and/or substitutions to improve on the traditional birthday cake. In addition, the recipe had to be easy to make.

Chef Duff and the ACS chose Alexandra Mudry's red velvet cake as the winner and has made her cake the official birthday cake of the American Cancer Society. Her cake is a healthier version of a red velvet cake that delivers lots of taste but much less sugar and fat than a traditional recipe. In addition to cutting back on sugar, eggs, oil and butter, Mudry's inventive additions - including roasted beets, dried cherries, applesauce and whole grain flour - help kick the nutrients up a notch.

To learn more about the ACS's The Official Sponsor of Birthdays campaign go to: http://www.morebirthdays.com.

To see the finalists of the better-for-you birthday cake competition and download the winning recipe go to: http://www.morebirthdays.com/morebirthdays/cake_contest.asp.

Celebrate your life and health this year by making your birthday celebration calorie balanced! Serve reduced-calorie foods and "activate" your gathering by planning games that gets people moving!