Cake
Cake is a sweet baked food typically made from ingredients like sugar, eggs, flour, and butter, often decorated with icing and filled with various ingredients such as fruits and nuts. Historically, cakes can be traced back to ancient times, initially resembling bread and evolving significantly over centuries into the elaborate dessert forms we recognize today. Early cakes were less sweet and often used grains, nuts, and honey for flavoring, with significant advancements in baking techniques occurring during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when cakes became lighter and more refined.
By the 17th century, cakes had taken on a round shape with the introduction of molds, and advancements in baking tools and ingredients, such as refined sugar and baking powder, led to the fluffy cakes commonly enjoyed today. In the 20th century, convenience became a focus with the introduction of boxed cake mixes, which simplified the baking process. Despite a recent decline in boxed mix sales, cakes remain highly popular, often serving as artistic centerpieces for celebrations. The modern cake culture has also been influenced by reality television shows that showcase baking competitions, further popularizing cake decorating as a vibrant art form. Cupcakes, a smaller variant of cake, briefly surged in popularity but have since seen a decline, while cakes continue to evolve with new designs and flavors.
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Cake
Cake is a sweet food typically made with sugar, eggs, flour, butter, and other ingredients and baked in an oven. It usually is decorated with sweet icing and can be filled with fruits, nuts, or other ingredients. Early cakes resembled bread but since have become elaborately flavored and magnificently designed desserts of varying shapes and sizes. Cakes typically were associated with wealth and baked for only special occasions or celebrations such as birthdays because their ingredients were expensive. Into the twenty-first century, cakes have remained popular and have become grand works of art and the subject of various reality television shows.
History
Cake dates back to ancient times and has evolved since then. Prehistoric cakes were made of moistened crushed grains that were formed into a patty and cooked on a hot stone. The ancient Egyptians were one of the first peoples to demonstrate baking skills. Early cakes were less sweet and more like bread. They often could not be distinguished from breads except that cakes were sweeter and smaller. Cakes generally contained grains, nuts, seeds, and fruits and were sweetened with wine or honey.
The word cake can be traced back to the thirteenth century as a derivation of the Old Norse word kaka. In Latin, the word placenta means "cake" and derives from the Greek word plakous, which means "flat." The Romans generally did not eat cake; they used it as offerings to their gods. The Greeks made cakes from a mixture of nuts and honey. During the Middle Ages, cakes were flat, round breads. Europeans at this time made fruitcakes and gingerbread, which had a long shelf life and sometimes lasted as long as months.
Throughout the years, cakes transformed from hard, flat, and dense to soft and tender. To achieve this lightness, air bubbles were added to the dough by way of a leavening agent. The Romans used yeast to lighten cakes. In the sixteenth century, Italians added whipped eggs instead of yeast. While yeast and eggs helped to lighten cakes, these methods could be time-consuming, as bakers had to wait for the yeast to rise the dough, and these methods did not always produce consistent results.
Cakes in the modern sense—as in round with sweet icing—can be traced to Europe during the mid-seventeenth century. People used cake hoops, or round molds, to hold the cake batter on a flat tray and give it a round shape. The hoops were made of metal, wood, or paper, and some could be adjusted to make cakes of different sizes. By this time, ovens were more reliable, which helped to produce better cakes. Additionally, refined sugar was more readily available. The icing used to top cakes usually was made with sugar, egg whites, and flavorings. It was boiled and then poured on top of the cake. The cake was put back in the oven to set the icing. As the cake cooled, the icing set into a hard, glossy finish.
By the nineteenth century, cakes took on their modern fluffy form. Instead of using yeast, baking soda or baking powder was added to the batter to leaven a cake and give it a light and airy consistency. In addition to refined white sugar, bakers had access to refined white flour. In the twentieth century, boiled icings were replaced with American buttercream frosting made with butter, powdered (confectioners) sugar, milk, and flavorings.
In the 1930s, processed cake mixes were introduced. These required only the addition of certain ingredients such as water, oil, and eggs. They were inexpensive and more convenient because they did not require people to stock all of the ingredients needed to bake a cake. They also required little to no measuring; just add the eggs, oil, and water to the mix and stir. Boxed cake mixes remained popular into the twenty-first century; however, they began to see a decline in the 2010s, as people sought fresher and healthier ingredients and foods over processed ones.
Topic Today
Despite the slump in cake mix sales, cakes remained popular into the twenty-first century. Their flavors became more elaborate and their designs more ornate. Instead of decorating simple round cakes with buttercream and flowers, cakes were transformed into custom designs. Wedding cakes became grand tiered centerpieces of all shapes and sizes. Birthday cakes could be sculpted to look like everything from a Disney princess to a truck to Elmo. Additionally, fondant, which is an icing that can be rolled flat to cover cakes and manipulated like clay, became the top choice for icing, as it could be molded and shaped into dimensional designs. Cakes became more like works of art than special birthday treats. Some were almost too beautiful to eat.
During this time, reality shows featuring bakeries and cake baking and decorating competitions became popular. Previously unknown bakeries were thrust into the limelight, making their owners reality television stars. These shows included Ace of Cakes, featuring pastry chef Duff Goldman, and Cake Boss, featuring baker Buddy Valastro. Shows involving bakers and pastry chefs vying to be named the best for their creations included Top Chef Desserts, Last Cake Standing, Cake Wars, Ultimate Cake Off, and The Great British Bake Off.
Another trend also emerged: cupcakes. While cupcakes had been popular since their advent, they exploded in popularity in the 2000s and into the early 2010s. Cupcake bakeries, known as cupcakeries, specializing in the petite cakes popped up many cities. Some, including Magnolia Bakery in New York City and Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills, California, became tourist attractions, with lines spanning blocks.
Reality television shows dedicated to cupcakes followed and included the cupcake competition Cupcake Wars and the reality television show DC Cupcakes, which featured sisters Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis, owners of Georgetown Cupcake. However, just as quickly as the cupcake trend arrived, it waned. Many cupcake shops were forced to close due to oversaturation of the market and decline in popularity, among other factors. Cakes, however, continued to remain popular throughout the 2010s, with new trends and designs emerging each year.
Bibliography
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