A sleeping Puss wakes up, sniffs the air, and licks his lips. The narrator smells the smell too, and recognise it as food. Puss runs inside, where the Princess is making a paper chain. The narrator asks the Princess if she's the one who cooked the nice-smelling food, and when she says no, he asks what she's doing. She reveals that she's making decorations for an upcoming party. Then, the General walks past, revealing that it's his birthday.
The Princess worries when the narrator asks if she's giving the General a present, since she doesn't know what to give him and there isn't much time. However, she then hears him excitedly talking about presents and cake and decides to make the birthday cake.
She tells the Chef that she plans on making the cake, but the Chef argues that, as... well, the Chef, he should be the one to make the cake. The Princess retorts that she thought of it first, which turns the conversation into an argument, and they go to the Maid, King, and Queen to sort it out.
The Chef points out that the Princess allegedly can't cook, but the Princess says that she's "made" cereal before, and made mud pies, and fed the pets (even though she fed them banana, which Puss doesn't like). The Chef says that isn't "real" cooking, and they continue to argue, until the Maid suggests making the cake together. They're stubborn, however, and insist on working solo.
The Maid, King, and Queen whisper among each other and decide that the Princess and Chef can make a cake each. So, they go into the kitchen, and so does Puss. The Chef begins yelling at Puss because Puss wanted to steal a fish and because of the no-pet rule, but the Princess says that Puss needs to stay and be her "chief taster".
She puts him in a chair and gathers up ingredients, then the General shows up, so she shoos him away. The Princess then sees the Chef putting flour in his cake and asks what the stuff is. The narrator tells her, and the Princess asks if it's important for cakes. He says, "I think so, Princess," so she tries to steal some, leading to the two arguing and ripping the bag apart.
Then, the Princess has Puss taste the ingredients, and when the narrator asks why she doesn't do it herself, she says that she's the cook and therefore already has a job. She tries to feed Puss raisins, but he refuses. The narrator asks what people do when they want the Princess to eat, so she does the "here comes the plane" trick. He spits them out, and does the same with cherries and a lemon slice, but he likes the cereal.
The Princess makes her cake with cereal, biscuits, a banana (including the peel), an entire jelly (which the narrator is dubious about, but she defends herself saying, "to help it stick together"), a lollipop (stick and all), a can of rice pudding (including the can), and eight bits of chocolate (because, according to her, "the more chocolate, the more yummy").
The result looks rather ugly, which the Maid notices, but she reluctantly puts it in the oven while the Princess makes an icing sculpture of the General. The General himself tries to be sneaky and look through the window but he walks off when she accidentally sprays red icing onto him. He tries to spy at the doorway, but she shoos him away.
When the cakes are done, the Princess's still looks bad, and when she tries a piece, it apparently tastes equally bad. This makes her cry. The Chef tries to cheer her up by saying that even he finds some things hard to cook, but she's still sad over having no gift for the General. He points out that she still made a good decoration, which cheers the Princess up.
They put the decoration onto the cake, and then set up the party. The General is very happy with the cake, and so is everybody else. As for the Princess's cake, the pets prepare to eat it, but Puss changes his mind.
This episode provides examples of
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Puss wears a bandanna in a flashback and during the party.
- Ageless Birthday Episode: It's unrevealed how old the General is.
- Artistic License – Biology:
- While Puss mostly has a catlike palate in this episode, he still likes the cereal despite being a cat.
- Scruff is seen eating the Princess's cake despite it containing chocolate, which is poisonous to dogs.
- Birthday Episode: The episode focuses on the Princess wanting to cook for the General's birthday party.
- Continuity Nod: This is the second time the Princess has fed Puss a banana. The first was in "I Don't Want Help" (and it can't be about the same incident, since this time, it was in the hallway instead of the kitchen).
- Copycat Mockery: When the Princess says about baking cakes, "Maybe I'll do one every day" and the Chef tauntingly repeats her line in a high voice and in a barely-comprehensible way.
- Damned by Faint Praise: When the Princess is crying about her terrible cake, the Chef tries to cheer her up by saying, "Well... it's different."
- Department of Redundancy Department: When the Princess is adding the ingredients, she says, at the end, "Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, lolly, chocolate, rice pudding, chocolate."
- "Eureka!" Moment: The Princess gets inspired to make the General's birthday cake from overhearing him enthusing about cake.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: The episode ends with the General picking up the decoration of him and saying, "Look, everybody— I'm going to eat my hat!", making everyone else laugh.
- Everyone Has Standards: The Chef does mock the Princess and berate her for not being able to cook, but he doesn't continue to mock when she's crying.
- Filthy Fun: The Princess cites mud pies as something she's "cooked".
- Happy Birthday to You!: When the General sings "Happy Birthday to Me", he sings it to a slightly different tune from the Happy Birthday song, probably because that song was still under copyright in the UK at the time this episode was made.
- Lethal Chef: The Princess is a terrible cook (not counting the decoration). Firstly, she judges ingredients based on whether a cat likes them. She also adds in an entire jello, a lollipop including the stick, and a can of rice pudding including the can. The result looks lumpy and half-singed and apparently tastes awful.
- Pet Dress-Up: The Princess puts a bib on Puss to have him taste ingredients.
- Speak in Unison: When the General asks who made the cake, the Chef and Princess say both at once, "I did. We both did."
- Stock Animal Diet: Puss tries to eat a fish at one point.
- Title Drop: The Princess shouts the episode title when arguing with the Chef about who should cook.
