The birthday special Google Doodle was a painting of a cake by 89-year-old Los Angeles artist Wayne Thiebaud. The California-based company was first incorporated as a privately held corporation on 27 Sep 1998.
The birthday doodle was a more straightforward doodle than the 'Bucky Ball' doodle which Google marked the 25th anniversary of the discovery of the buckyball. It was a spherical dome of exotic molecules of carbon, with a special moving design.
The birthday doodle has a candle which represents the letter 'L' of the name Google. The artist Thiebaud's painting was used with the permission of Visual Artists and Galleries Association (VAGA) New York. His works includes paintings of many cakes, most painted in the 1950s and 1960s.