Today, November 26th, is National Cake Day, and I LOVE CAKE! Here are some facts about this fluffy, sweet, dessert thingy:
- Early on, cake was more like bread and sweetened with honey. Cooks often fried sweetened bread dough to make "cake."
- Most bakers today leaven their cakes with baking powder and/or baking soda. Earlier bakers used yeast.
- Sponge cakes are leavened with beaten eggs. They originated in the Renaissance, probably in Spain.
- We bake cakes today in many shapes and varieties--bundt cakes, cupcakes, roll cakes, conical, layered round, rectangular sheet, and cake balls, (those ridiculous cake pops at Starbucks are mini cake balls). There are also lava cakes and funnel cakes (a modern version of the ancient fried cake).
- Today, we usually ice our cakes with butter cream frosting, or sweetened cream cheese, or this stuff called fondant which comes in sheets and is as smooth as a baby's butt. Whipped cream or marzipan (sweetened almond paste) are occasionally used.
- The word "cake" is thought to come from an Old Norse word "kaka." I'm glad it isn't a Latin word because that would be unappetizing.
Here are links to cake recipes:
And a NEW recipe, Chocolate Watergate Cupcakes--All you do is take the Pistachio/Watergate Cake recipe above, substitute chocolate pudding for the pistachio, and cola for the lemon-lime soda. Forgo the icing!
Mix it all up just like the original recipe, but pour the batter into a standard muffin/cupcake pan. Bake the same. THESE CUPCAKES ARE BETTER WITHOUT ICING. I say this, and I'm an icing hog. Absolutely delicious! (The photo below has nothing to do with this recipe. It's an example of a bundt cake).
Bundt cake iced with powdered sugar.
Cake has a Wiki Page!; And go to Amazon for books on baking cakes!
Source Articles: Wikipedia; American Holidays, list; History of Cakes; Goodreads quotes about cake; Starbucks' Cake Pops Recipe; Food Timeline: cake history notes
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