The journey to modern cakes ♥

Cakes are used to celebrate and define important moments in your life like birthdays, weddings, anniversary's, holidays and much more. There are so many types of cakes, originating from all around the world. Whether its cheesecake or chocolate cake, most people will like some sort of cake. However, no one really knows who to thank for this traditional dessert.

It is believed that cake evolved from bread, and we know that the Ancient Egyptians were at the forefront of this evolution. For their time, they were good bakers and made dessert breads which were sweetened with honey. These early cakes were flat and dense, much different to cakes today.

To achieve the lighter consistency we associate with cake to day a leaven must be added. The Romans perfected this, adding yeast as a raising agent. In the 16th century, the Italians figured out how to leaven cake by adding whipped eggs to the batter. These two methods worked but were time consuming a tricky to master.

In the mid 1800's, the introduction of baking powder (bicarbonate of soda) made baking cakes a lot easier. It is believed that a German scientist, Alfred Stock, invented baking powder.

Also, the modern cake would not be as it is if supply and demand were not present. The availability of eggs, flour, sugar, fat and spices made it possible for cakes to be made and improved. The addition of a dessert course to mealtime also brought popularity to cakes and they became much more common in households. The word dessert comes from the french verb desservir, to serve/to clear the table.