The History of Cake
Cake is a term with a long history (the word is of Viking origin,
from the Old Norse kaka) and
denotes a baked flour confection sweetened
with sugar or honey; it is mixed with eggs and often, but not
invariably, with milk and fat; and it has a porous texture from the
mixture rising during cooking. It is not surprising that the frontiers
between cake and bread, biscuit and bun are indistinct. The progenitor
of all is bread in its simplest form. As techniques for baking and
leavening developed, and eating patterns changed, what were originally
regarded as froms of bread came to be seen as categories of their own
and named accordingly. Certain Roman breads, enriched with eggs and
butter, must have achieved a cake like consistency and thus approached
one of these indistinct frontiers.
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, from 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 important in Asian are quite different
from anything occidental for examples, see moon cakes 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 considered 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.
Moulds, in the form of cake hoops or
pans have been used for forming cakes since at least the mid-17th
century. Most cakes were eaten accompanied by a glass of sweet wine or
tea. At large banquets, elaborately decorated cakes might form part of
the display, but would probably not be eaten. By the mid-19th century
the French were including a separate "sweet" course at the end of the
meal which might include 'gateau.'
During the 19th century, technology made
the cake-baker's life much easier. The chemical raising agent
bicarbonate of soda, introduced in the 1840's, followed by baking powder
( a dry mixture of bicarbonate of soda with a mild acid), replaced
yeast, providing a greater leavening power with less effort. Another
technology breakthrough was more accurate temperature controlled ovens.
In most of NW Europe and North America a
well-developed tradition of home baking survives, with a huge
repertoire of cake recipes developed from the basic methods. The
abililty to bake a good cake was a prized skill among housewives in the
early to mid-20th century, when many households could produce a simple
robust, filling 'cut and come again' cake, implying abundance and
hospitality.
Although the popularity of home baking
and the role of cakes in the diet have both changed during the 20th
century, cakes remain almost ubiquitous in the western world. They have
kept their image as 'treats' and maintain their ceremonial importance at
weddings and birthdays.
Source: The Penguin Companion to Food by Alan Davidson
