For thousands of years, people have celebrated birthdays all around the globe. Every culture contributes customs and unique baked goods to make these festivities delightful and unforgettable. Today, you can buy cake from almost everywhere in the world. The cake has a universal appeal and is the most common delicacy found across the globe. Let’s start with the lovely history of these delectable delicacies.
Cookies, Cakes And Candles
According to historians, birthday celebrations originated with the Ancient Egyptians. They celebrated the coronation of pharaohs with food, wine, and festivities like modern birthday celebrations, seeing it as the birth of a deity. “Khak” cookies were a popular birthday confection for regular Egyptians, who ate them to honor the sun god Ra and to mark the passing of another year. These mildly flavored cookies, which are still appreciated today, were made using flour, sugar, butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and milk.
Additionally, cakes played a major role in birthday festivities in ancient Greece and Rome. Romans offered spherical cakes sweetened with honey and composed of wheat, almonds, and leavened yeast. Greeks ate moon-shaped cakes decorated with lighted candles to commemorate their birthdays, which fell on the sixth day of the lunar month. The moon goddess Artemis received these pastries, and the candles stood for moonlight.
Candle-making on cakes was a persistent ritual in many ancient Pagan societies, including Greece. It was thought that the smoke conveyed petitions to the gods while the flames of the candles warded off bad spirits. During birthdays, there was the custom of making noise and burning candles to keep the celebrant safe.
Evolution And Commercialisation
Birthday cakes have changed dramatically throughout time. German bakeries started offering Kinderfest, or sweet cakes designed especially for children’s birthday celebrations, in the early 1400s. Geburtstagorten were formerly considered a luxury for the affluent, but as the Industrial Revolution progressed, they became more and more common.
German children began to get birthday cakes with candles, tiers, frosting, and decorations during the 1700s. Confectioners and granulated sugars were used to make these cakes sweet. These cakes had symbolic candles on them that represented the child’s age plus one and offered optimism for a healthy new year.
The oldest mention of the custom of blowing out the candles on birthday cakes dates back to 1881 in Switzerland. In a festive ceremony, each candle was blown out one at a time, symbolizing a year of life.
The Industrial Revolution made birthday cakes a universal ritual. Making birthday cakes got simpler and more economical as ovens proliferated in homes and refined sugar, flour, and baking powder became readily accessible. The custom became even more widely accessible with the mass manufacturing of baking supplies and pre-made cakes, and individuals from all social classes began to celebrate birthdays with it.
A (Nearly) Universal Tradition
Many Americans of European origin still use adorned cakes and candles as part of their birthday celebration rituals. These cakes have developed throughout time to include fillings, many layers, and a range of flavors. Cupcakes and other varieties are very popular in the United States. Even while celebration cakes vary greatly across countries, birthday cakes, with their rich and sugary past that dates back to Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, have become a global staple.
Birthday cakes have always been confections with a sweet batter, usually prepared with sugar or honey. Birthday cakes get their distinctive appearance and smooth texture from the use of confectioner’s sugar in frostings, fondants, and icings. A last sugary touch to this birthday custom comes in the form of decorations like fruits, sweets, and sprinkles.
The history of birthday cakes is also a reflection of the use of sugar in baking and festivities, more generally. Sugar has always been an essential component of celebratory foods, from the sweet Khak pastries used by the ancient Egyptians to the intricate cakes of today covered in icing and sugar flowers. Whatever the time period, nation, or culture, sugar is always a necessary component for making a delicious delicacy to add sweetness to birthday festivities.
Contemporary Celebrations
The endless varieties of forms, sizes, and flavors available today for birthday cakes reflect the wide range of tastes and cultural backgrounds of the celebrants. Personalized themes, elaborate decorations, or dietary modifications like gluten-free or vegan options—the cake often provides an opportunity for creativity. A holdover from earlier times when people believed in the power of fire and the importance of marking time with light and sweetness is the custom of blowing out candles and expressing a wish.