There is saying which goes like, there is no birthday without cake. This is nothing but the truth. If people can’t imagine being sad on their birthdays, some of us certainly cannot imagine a birthday without a cake. Cakes are so versatile it’s absolutely mind boggling. The amount you can do with a cake sometimes baffles even the best of us.
Cake has come a long way. From being only sold in bakeries or being made with a lot of love and sweat at home, it has now come very far and is being sold in the form of cupcakes, slices, expensive tired cakes, cake pops etc. It’s sold anywhere and everywhere, starting from cake mix boxes to being sold in the most fancy patisseries.
To delve more into the depth of knowledge about cakes, let us read a few fun facts about cakes:
- The first batch of cakes that were made in ancient times had a very bread like consistency, unlike the moist ones with butter cream that we eat today. These bread like cakes were made sweet with honey and had dried fruits and nuts added to it. So the next time you send a cake to your loved ones, remember how different they are from the time they actually originated.
- The word cake has been traced back to the 13th Century by the Oxford English Dictionary. Cake comes from an old norse word called ‘kaka’.
- Fruitcakes and gingerbread was made best by Medieval European bakers. These products had such a good consistency that they could last for months.
- Once better ingredients like refined sugar, better technology in the form of good ovens and manufacturing of cake moulds came around 17th century to Europe, that’s when the predecessors to modern cakes with icing started to come around.
- The breakthrough in the cake world happened somewhere around the mid 19th century when baking powder and soda came around. These ingredients replaced yeast and became very effective as raising agents.
- The modern day wedding cake has come out of very poignant ethnic traditions. It is said that one of the first such traditions began in Rome, where the bread was baked, only to be broken over the head of the bride. This was supposed to bring good luck and fortune to the married couple.
- The wedding day as we see it, came to existence in 1882, at Duke of Albany, Prince Leopold’s wedding. This wedding cake was the first wedding cake that was actually completely edible. The pillars between cakes as we see now, didn’t begin to come about, 20 years after the wedding.
- When we talk about cupcakes, the very first one has been traced to 1796, when a recipe was written describing small cups to be used to bake light cakes. This recipe was written by Amelia Simmons in American Cookery. The first time it was documented was in the year 1828 in a book by Eliza Leslie.
Nowadays personalised birthday cakes are taking over the world because everyone wants to make their loved ones feel super special on their birthday.