Let’s discuss the history of baking!! Baking is an art which brings out something delicious that is palatable to the taste buds. Many beautiful creations in the world can be traced back to the time of ancient period that we are trying to convey through our blog history of baking. By using the natural sweeteners available at that time, Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians used to prepare filo-type pastry which was a simple mix of flour and oil to create some wonderful delights like fruit pastries, honey cakes, a dumpling stuffed with nuts and dates. These baked goods were prepared for some special occasions and festivals. The witness of these delightful delights can be seen on ancient tomb paintings or specified in writings in the comic play of Aristophanes.
Along with bread and pastry, baking is also used to prepare tarts, pies, quiches, scones, pretzels, and many more. These items are generally termed as “baked goods” and are available in every bakery shop these days. Baking is a cooking method that uses long dry heating. It can be done on hot ashes, hot stones, or oven (modern period). Heat transfer from the surface of the batter to the center in the process of baking — the perfect transferring of heat results in baked goods.
Cake baking during Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians period!
The Egyptians
While digging into the history of baking evidence has already proved that bread was baked by the Egyptians in the years 2600-2100 B.C. It was believed that Egyptians had learned this skill from the Babylonians. At that time, bakers used to bake cakes which were in the shape of animals that were used for sacrifices. However, bread and cake were also prepared for eating purpose. Some other early records also showed the existence of honey flans and patterned tortes. According to Greek scholar Aristophanes (450-385 B.C), the ancient Greeks had a type of dough that was made from flour and honey named as “Dispyrus” which was a ring cake that immersed in wine and eaten up hot.
The Roman Empire
Romans created basic pastry dough that was used to cover the meat while cooking. The paste of oil, flour, and water was used as a safeguard to keep the meat moist and protect it from burning. It was never meant to be eaten. The main factor that was missing was the use of butter or lard to create the richness that we associate with today’s pastries. A pastry that was meant for eaten was richer small pastries containing eggs and was served during the feast.
Greek culture influenced the Roman Empire, and they both have struggled a lot in making a good pastry because they used oil in the cooking process and the oil causes the bread to lose its firmness. The sweet art of pastry baking emerged as a noble profession. Dating back to the 1st century A.D., inscription on a tomb of a Roman baker shows the different stages in the production of bread at that time.
Europe
The luxurious and joyful art of pastry baking became a sensation throughout Europe and the whole world. The famous painters Dutchman and Rembrandt had created a painting in 1635 depicting a pancake cook in the street that was surrounded by children who were eagerly waiting and hoping for the sample. However, such kind of pancake was favorite in the streets of Holland daily at that time.
Pastries gain a massive sale in the London streets. It became an accessible business and adopted by lots of people. Moreover, the first cafeteria which sold baked goods was established in Paris. Since the time elapses, in 1856 with the invention of baking powder and its perfect usage offered a decent fluffy texture to the cakes or pastries. Yeast came into the market in 1856 and was used as a fuzzy agent too.
Baking in the Modern Age
It would not be prudent to discuss history of baking if we do not consider the process of cooking needs in an enclosed space for heating like an oven which is used in the modern age. Commercial ovens are assembled with two elements. One for the purpose of baking and another for grilling. Now bakers operate the machine carefully and rest work of baking is done by automated machines. The high-tech machines have made the work easier and produce more quality products. The process of baking is a sensitive work which needs a lot of expertise and knowledge of different scientific and hygiene principles.
With the passage of time baking of cakes or pastries has passed through a lot of experiments, and these experiments are fruitful in producing cakes which you now called “Mouth-watering cake.” Even nowadays we are not only buying cakes on birthday, like the way people buy Valentine flowers on flowers day, teddy bears on teddy day similarly they also buy valentine day cakes on valentine day, Mothers day cake on mother day and anniversary cake on their anniversaries.
The primary ingredients that are used for cake baking are flour, baking powder, eggs, sugar, salt, butter, water, liquid milk, and extracts of any flavor. There are many different flavors of cakes like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, black forest, butterscotch, and many more are available to steal the heart of cake lovers. Nowadays, cake baking is as simple as measuring ingredients, mixing them in perfect order and right temperature at which the cake is taken out from the oven before it burns.
In the modern era, there is a never-ending variety of delicious cakes that are available in the market. The sweet taste of the cakes can make any taste buds go crazy. Now, cakes are prepared in different sizes, designs, and flavors. The advancement in the cake industry is currently producing egg-based cakes or eggless cake. Photo cake is one of the unique and great inventions in the cake industry. You can easily opt for any design like heart shape cake, 2 tier cake, 3 tier cake, cartoon cake and many more.
Now different cakes are available for various occasions like birthday cakes, wedding cakes, baby shower cake and many more. The cake is an extraordinary thing without which every celebration is colorless. You can’t rightly have a birthday or a wedding without a delicious cake.
History of Birthday cake
Birthday is the celebration of the onset of one more incredible year of life. A birthday celebration is incomplete without a cake. A birthday cake is often decorated with small novelty candles with the person’s name inscribed with icing. The phrase “Happy Birthday” didn’t appear on birthday cakes until the song Happy Birthday became popular in the early 1990s. There is a favorite tradition that blowing of birthday candle in one breath will fulfill the wish of the birthday person. We have become so used of birthday celebration with a birthday cake that we ask just how birthday cakes come into existence.
The birthday cake has its root to ancient Greeks who made round shape honey cake or bread, and it was an offered to Artemis, the Goddess of Moon. They also place a candle on the cake to make the cake shine like the moon. Some other scholars believe that the tradition of Birthday cakes started in middle age in Germany. This special birthday cake was originated as a Kinderfest or the birthday celebration of a young child. At that time, Germans also baked a special type of cake called Geburtstagorten as it was baked in a number of layers. It was sweeter as compared to that course and bread like a cake that was usually made. Earlier, birthday cakes were often round in shape.
Earlier, bread was made by hand for base shape different flat stones was used or in low shallow pans. As the time elapses, we had different plans for baking which result in experimenting with different shapes & size and nowadays you can see the cake in any shape as well as size. During the medieval period, people of England place a symbolic object like thimbles, rings, and coins in the batter of the cake with a myth that if someone found the coin in the cake would be wealthy while the unlucky founder of thimble would never marry. While preparation of the cake, if it falls, then that was considered as a symbol of misfortune for the coming year. With a lot of superstitions and beliefs, the tradition of birthday cake had become so popular in the world.
Birthday cakes in today’s era
The wonderful idea of baking has passed through a lot of experiments that have resulted in yummy birthday cakes like car Barbie doll cake for your real doll’s birthday celebration, heart-shaped cake for your special one’s birthday celebration and many more. One can experiment with the different flavors of cake to produce something unique that is palatable to the taste. Icing with different sweeteners, berries, cherries, cashew, nuts, chocolates spread all over results a lip-smacking and eye pleasing look. Now, one can have a birthday cake of its imagination.
History of Wedding Cake
The wedding cake is delightfully and proudly placed during the wedding reception. Those who wish a flair for the dramatic, the wedding can be wheeled into the place at the end of the reception offering a grant entrance for everyone to see. These kinds of moments remain eternal in everyone’s mind. The wedding cake is meant to bring good luck to all the guests and the couples. From then to now, the wedding cake has transformed itself into an artistic tradition that can have many different aesthetic perceptions.
Tracing back to Romans time, they used to throw grains of wheat at the bride and groom to wish fertility to the new couples during the wedding ceremony. This culture finally emerged into bringing little cakes which were made from wheat and was used on a wedding occasion. This cake was crumbled over the head of the bride to wish the couple “many children.” The guests ate the fallen crumbled pieces of the cake as a symbol of sharing the couple’s good fortune.
During the middle age, sweet rolls had replaced the wheat cake, but it was still customs for guests to bring these delicious treats to the wedding ceremony. It is placed between groom and bride in a huge pile and if a newlywed couple can kiss over a huge stack of what it is said that they will be blessed with many children.
It is a myth that the next step in the invention of the traditional cake was executed by a French pastry chef in the 17th century. He had observed the “cake piling” ceremony during his trip to London. After his return to France, he scattered the stacks of buns with sugar and then mixed it properly into one tasty art form. This was one of the great inventions of the tired and frosted wedding cake and originator as to what was to come in the years ahead.
It’s a ritual that the classic style of the modern day wedding cake was inspired by the spire of the 14th century Saint Bride’s church in London. Many-valued wedding traditions have brought by Victorian England. For instance, Queen Victoria herself said that she had a cake weighed in at 300 lbs. with time, bakers and confectioners became more skillful and their creations become more appealing and embellish. In 1947, when England’s Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip were married, their wedding cake was 9 feet tall and weighed in at a whopping 500 lbs.
Wedding cake in today’s era
Now, the appealing wedding cake is no longer reserved for the rich and famous. The specialties of today’s wedding cake are that it is available in N number of flavors along with different size and shape. Gone are those days when you have a limited choice of a white cake with white frosting. White cake is probably favorite due to its traditional meaning. However, today’s couple is limited to only their imaginations and budget when it comes to their wedding cake.
The reason for the white color of the wedding cake goes back to Victorians time. The more exceptional ingredients of the wedding cake were sacred and hard to come by. If the white icing is done, then it revealed the fact that the most expensive white sugar was being used. Brown sugar was less costly, and it was available easily. So, the more the white color of the cake, the richer the people.
Growth in Cake and Pastry Market
The increase in cake and pastry market is expected to reach $60 billion by the year 2020. Urbanization has resulted in higher purchasing power. Moreover, the working population prefers to go for foods like cakes, pastries, sweet pies, which will push the market growth during the forecast period. Cake pops, a new type of cake based snack is gaining fame, and it is available in bakeries as well as coffee shops. These are bite-sized cakes like lollipops and offered in a range of designs. With more experiments with food, the cake and pastry market has seen many deviations usually in frosting and flavors. The customized cakes and pastries will drive the cake industry during the forecast period.
