All the birthday cakes that have been prepared over the last week got me thinking about the origins of the
birthday cakes. After a bit of research I found that scholars can’t agree on who
the first civilization to bake birthday cakes. Some believe that the Ancient
Romans and Greeks were the first to practice this tradition when they would celebrate
special birthdays or give them as gifts to the gods. Unlike today’s cakes, the Ancient Greeks' cakes did not have sugar as a sweetener, but instead used honey
and nuts. Other scholars believed that the origins of birthday cakes originated
with the Germans in the middle ages. Despite the mysterious past the making of the traditional birthday cake has evolved. The elaborate ones that we are more familiar with emerged in the 17thcentury, and are continuing to evolve today! Chefs
are taking the birthday cake one step further by adding sculptures or pictures of
their customers’ favorite superheroes, cartoon characters, or even the customer’s
face photo shopped into different bodies or objects.
Keep the odd requests coming! I’m interested to what what the kitchen can make next!!
