Your Daily Facts about Birthday Cakes
Cakes were initially called by the name ‘plakous’ by the Greeks, which is a similar word to ‘flat.’ These were a combination of nuts and honey. Besides, they also made a cake called “satura,” which was a flat heavy cake. It is also believed that the Greeks offered round shaped cake to the Goddess of Moon called Artemis. It is this for reason that even candles were placed on the cake to make it glow like the moon. The Romans followed the suite, with a slight change in the name of the cake, which became “placenta” as derived from the Greek term.
They were even called “libum” by the Romans and were primarily used as an offering to their gods. Placenta was sort of a cheesecake, baked on a pastry base, or sometimes inside a pastry case. Moreover, there were three types of birthdays celebrated by Romans, including private celebrations with family and friends, city and temple birthdays and the birthdays of past and present emperors or members of the imperial family. It is even said that the 50th year was celebrated with a honey cake made of wheat flour, grated cheese, honey, and olive oil.
Nevertheless, the cakes of that era bore little resemblance to the modern day birthday cakes. They were primarily made up of cereal grain meal, moistened with water or wine. They were possibly leavened with some form of yeast and sweetened with honey. The cakes were usually shaped into flattened rounds and baked by being turned over on a griddle. Even the word ‘cake’ is said to have been coined in early 13th century. It is derived from an Old Norse word, ‘kaka’. Ancient Greeks referred their cakes as breads as there was little distinction between the two.
Europe and places such as North America where European influence is strong have always been the center of cakes. One might even draw a line more tightly, fourn English-speaking areas. No other language has a word that means exactly the same as the English ‘cake.’ The continental European gateau and torte often contain higher proportions of butter, eggs and enriching ingredients such as chocolate, and often lean towaars pastry rathern than cake. Central and East European items such as baba and the Easter kulich are likewise different.
The western tradition of cakes applies little in Asia. In some countries western-style cakes have been adopted on a small scale, for example the small sponge cakes called kasutera in Japan. But the ‘cakes’ which are imporant in Asian are quite different from anything occidental for examples, see mooncakes and rice cakes of the Philippines.
The history of cakes, goes a long way back. Among the remains found in Swiss lake villages were crude cakes make from roughly crushed gains, moistened, compacted and cooked on a hot stone. Such cakes can be regarded as a form of unleavened bread, as the precursor of all modern European baked products. Some modern survivors of these mixtures still go by the name ‘cake’, for instance oatcakes, although these are now considreed to be more closely related to biscuits by virtue of their flat, thin shape and brittle texture.
Ancient Egypt was the first culture to show evidence of true skill in bakin, making many kinds of bread including some sweetened with hone. The Greeks had a form of cheesecake and the Romans developed early versions of fruitcakes with raisins, nuts and other fruits. These ended up in 14th century Britain. Chaucer mentions immense cakes made for special occasions. One was made with 13 kilograms of flour and contained butter, cream, eggs, spices, currants and honey.
As the art spread across Europe, the cooks started modifying their ways quickly. During the 18th century, the cake industry took a leap as the world trade started expanding. This led to a steep fall in the prices of the earlier expensive items as well as increase in the quantity. As a result, the cooks could now access all the other ingredients such as nuts, lemons and oranges, vanilla, chocolate, and sugar, which were not affordable before. By the middle of the century, beaten eggs were used as raising agents instead of yeast. The mixture was beaten to an extent where there would be enough air in it.
After this, the mixture was poured into moulds to give it an elaborate design and shape. However, they were at times laid on two tin hoops, set on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, which later formed the modern cake pans. With the passage of time cakes were being considered a symbol of well being by early American cooks. In early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution revolutionized the trade further. Baking ingredients became easily available because of mass production and improved transformational facilities.
It was during this time that modern leavening agents, such as baking soda and baking powder were invented. This brought a complete change in the way cakes were perceived. The popularity of cakes grew and they were made for every special occasion. Slowly and gradually, it grew into an industry, the credit of which can be given to a number of things such as the expansion of world trade, improvements in food refining and the invention of chemical leavening agents, stoves, refrigerators, and other equipment and tools. Yet, no matter what, the fact remains that nothing other than the cake makes a birthday entirely special and complete.