When we intend to honor a particular event, we initially arrange a cake for the preparation of the commemoration. Also, we welcome someone with a cake when our aim is to surprise them. Right now, the whole world is attempting to supply its foodstuffs, such as cakes and chocolates, in the most leading and most possible varied practice. For this reason, people are on absolute welfare. Have you ever wanted to know the history of cakes? Why do we name it cake? In this article, we intend to analyze the complete history of the cake and share it with you.
Origin of cake preparation
The origin of the cake returns to Europe. The Europeans used four major components in baking the cake: flour, eggs, sugar, and butter. After combining these components together, they place it in the oven to change spongy and bake. As time passes, they applied components such as starch, oil, fruit, milk, water, juice, and bulking agents, such as sourdough or baking powder, in cake recipes. The Oxford Dictionary presents a definition of a cake; Oxford contemplates cake as a sweet-tasting food made from a mixture of eggs, flour, butter, and sugar. The Cambridge Dictionary interprets it as the Oxford Dictionary, but it also declares oil in its ingredients. Longman’s dictionary also represents a definition for a cake that contemplates the cake as sweet and soft nourishment that is made by baking in the oven.
Besides all these explanations in different dictionaries, Webster’s dictionary for cake meaning has two major definitions and one emblematic definition. One of the leading definitions in Webster’s dictionary about cake is that this bread-like substance is made by baking dough and water dough in the oven in various sizes. The second of Webster’s key explanations expresses cakes as sweet-tasting nourishment cooked in the oven with the components of sugar, eggs, dough, thick water paste, liquid fat, and baking powder. The last meaning, which refers to Webster’s emblematic definition of cake, is named any round-shaped nourishment that is made by baking and frying; In this meaning, foods such as cutlets or fish cakes have also contemplated a kind of cake.
An interesting fact
An appealing point is in 1991, a court with the name of Jaffa Cake was in charge of separating cakes from various kinds of sweets. In this court, McVeigh’s company claimed that his commodity was a type of cake and people should not call it a biscuit. For this reason, he would not have to pay taxes. Actually, biscuits were contemplated opulence nourishment at that time. On the other hand, The UK Tax organization refused the claim. At the end of the assembly, McWittis won and was capable to describe the major difference between a cake and a biscuit; The company had faith that if you leave the cake out for a long time, it would dry out; But the biscuits would soften by time passes. By declaring this reason, he was capable to conquer the court.
Analyzing the word “cake”
The Persian name for cake, which we state, originates directly from the English word “Cake”. The English word itself was inspired by ancient Norwegian, which itself was patterned from West German. From 1300 AD, the word “cake” was interpreted in the English dictionary, which before that was nominated “kaka” or “Koko” cake.
The history of baking cakes
According to archaeologists, people prepared cakes in various ways thousands of years ago. From the middle of the 18th century onwards, they supposed that cakes have a sugary, light, spongy flavor. Baking and preparing cakes come from bread, which is why the history of cakes is mixed with bread. The most significant ingredient that differentiates cakes from bread is yeast. Bakers apply it in the preparation of bread, but it is not the main raw material for baking a cake. In 1727, a cookbook was put out for the first time, which also explained how to prepare a cake. The cake instruction in this book said that if you apply too many eggs to the cake combination, it would no longer be necessary to use yeast.
As time passed and the expansion of the food oven industry, the quality of cakes also enhanced more and more each day. In 1780, Fardari ovens were first manufactured, which obtained baking cakes much more simple than before. About the initiation of the nineteenth century, people baked another kind of cake; This kind of cake was famous as pound cake. The primary reason for titling the pound cake was that all the ingredients in it weighed 1 pound or 453 grams. About eight eggs had to be applied to the cake to make the eggs weigh a pound. Combining and mixing pound cake ingredients was so complicated and time usage made it almost impossible to combine these ingredients without people with high physical stamina.
The last decision
The last action in baking tasty cakes was to manufacture chemical goods. In the mid-1790s, the Americans first applied a material named potassium carbonate to make cakes. Bypassing time, baking soda was created in the 1840s, which had a much faster function than yeasts. Taking advantage of baking soda, the cake was baked in a shorter time. With the manufacturing of baking powder in 1850, they were capable to make a soft, spongy texture in the cake and bake more tasty and fashionable cakes.
The major ingredients for preparing cakes
As we stated above, we use 4 major ingredients for baking cakes, and each of them plays a vital role. In the following, we intend to analyze the role of these four kinds of substances in more detail.
1) Flour
The flour applied in the cake instruction is the same as wheat flour. Starch and carbohydrates are the primary ingredients of flour. Based on the amount of protein of flour, weak flour with 7 to 8.5% protein, medium flour with 8.5 to 10.5% protein, and substantial flour with 11.5 to 13.5% protein are separated. When you mix flour protein with other liquids, you have created a new substance named gluten.
The percentage of gluten is directly related to the toughness of the substances manufactured. Actually, the lower the gluten measure in the cake ingredients, the more spongy and soft the cakes will be. In conclusion, strong flour, which has a high percentage of protein and high gluten, will not be appropriate for baking tasty cakes.
2) Eggs
An average egg weighs 50 grams, which is approximately 30 grams is white, and 20 grams is the yolk. If you preserve eggs in the refrigerator; ensure to heat the cake before baking. Because cold eggs do not foam well when combining components. You can buy eggs in powder and dried shape in the markets. Actually, you can have whole egg powder, white or yolk according to your necessity. Consider that when applying egg powder, combine it roughly with water. Utilizing this powder will make your cake have suitable quality and color.
3) Butter
In the confectionery business, butter plays a vital role, and bakers greatly utilize it in this field due to its three features. The first feature is that it combines simply with flour, and it causes the pastry to be crispier than before. Another feature is its ductility while being solid, and the third traits of the sphere are its capability to absorb huge amounts of air in its texture. The third feature makes the cake lighter in weight. The significant tip is that once you melt the butter and the butter solidifies again because of exposure to the cold, it will no longer have these three features.
4) Sugar
Sugar is not only utilized for the sweet flavor of the cake, but also plays a more significant role in baking the cake. Sugar can keep the bubbles in the egg fixed and also give the cake a unique color and smell. Many of us may suppose that sugar is not useful, but a balanced amount of usage of it is essential because sugar is formed of fructose and glucose, the existence of glucose will be urgent for the greater performance of your brain. The brain is not capable to keep glucose in the body, and this causes the situation that you meet the body’s needs by eating foods having glucose during the day; That’s why sweets are so suitable for your brain.
Endorphins are substances that are set free in the brain by eating sweets. Scientists recognize endorphins as brain drugs that resolve resentment. By consuming sweets such as cakes, endorphins relax the whole body system and decrease your anxiety. Just keep in mind that these impacts are short-term, and that is why scientists call it a brain drug. Everything has a useful impact when consumed reasonably, and if you use up too much sugar, you will experience some difficulties such as obesity and tooth decay. About 99.98% of sugar is carbohydrates, and you get about 387 kcal of energy per 100 grams of sugar.
Conclusion
At the first of this article, we described the various definitions of cake that came in different dictionaries, and then expressed the history of the cake. Then we described the history of baking cakes and the instruction of traditional cakes in old aged times. In the end, we declared the features and applications of the four major components of cake making. Thank you for following us to the end of the article. We wish you can have appealing information about cakes by reading our article. Also, for sending cakes to Iran, just click here and check out the Shahrekado website.
