7 Lesser Known Facts About Cakes
Cakes have been an essential item during special occasions and events for centuries. However, there are certain facts about them that most of us don’t know. Here, we’ve put together some lesser known facts about these delicious treats. So, without further ado, let’s see what are they:
1. The original Christmas cake
The original Christmas cake was the ‘Twelfth Cake’, which people ate during the late 19th century. They ate it when the Christmas season neared its end with the feast of Epiphany. Today, these cake have been replaced by the fruity and iced cake that we enjoy around Christmas time. Today’s Christmas cake that you find on the festive dessert table is a fairly modern addition.
2. The first tiered wedding cake
Queen Victoria’s wedding cake was three yards wide and weighed 300 pounds. Despite this staggering size, it was only one tier. The first tiered wedding cake was made for her eldest daughter in 1858. She also carried the name Victoria. Queen Victoria became the first person to use pure white icing on her wedding cake. This is why it’s popular today as ‘royal icing’.
3. The first cake
It was not until the early 18th century that the closest resemblance to the modern cake appeared. The earliest versions of cake were compact, flat discs of grain. They were dried and then compacted together. Before the 18th century, the cakes were similar in appearance to the bread because of the use of yeast.
4. Fruit cake’s history
The Roman crusaders used to eat fruit cakes to keep themselves energized and full. Later, the ones filled with fruits that were soaked with brandy or rum became popular. This helped to preserve these cakes for a longer period. The older a fruit cake is, the richer its flavor becomes.
This is one of the reasons why fruit cake is an option for a traditional wedding cake. As refrigeration didn’t exist during those times, this made sure that the cake lasted well.
5. Germany was not where the German chocolate cake originated
German chocolate cake is among the world’s most famous desserts. It will surprise you, therefore, that it didn’t originate in Germany. It actually came from an American whose name was Samuel German. He had created a dark baking chocolate in the mid-19th century. More than a hundred years later, it was used in a recipe published in 1957 under the title “German’s Chocolate Cake”.
6. Refrigeration makes cakes go stale faster
Cakes can become hard from the crystallization of starch. It is the addition of sugar and fat that keeps a cake from going hard. You can see an opposite effect on it with refrigeration. So, if you have leftover cakes or cookies, keep them at room temperature. Most of the other foods remain fresh if you refrigerate them, but this is not the case with cakes.
7. Most candles on a cake
A world record was created in 2016 for the largest number of candles on a birthday cake. Ashrita Furman and the Sri Chinmoy Center in New York were behind this world record. The cake was created to celebrate the birthday of Sri Chinmoy, who was a meditation teacher. The number of candles lit on his 85th birthday was 72,585. The center’s 100 members came together to achieve this world record.