"Whether you buy a fancy cake at a store or personally bake one at home with love, celebrating any birthday is not complete without a cake glimmering with candles! So why is a birthday cake an absolute requirement for a birthday celebration? The answer to this goes way back to the beginning of written history!
This article details the origins of the first birthday cake and follows it through the history of humankind to the present day.
The birthday cake by ancient Greeks.
The ancient Greeks originated the idea of having cakes when celebrating another year of life as we know it today. The Greeks got this idea of celebrating birthdays from something the Ancient Egyptians did. They had a tradition of commemorating a pharaoh’s coronation as a god or goddess, which they called their “birthday.”
In Ancient Egypt, cakes were considered sacred and were created as unburnt sacrifices and bloodless offerings to deities, kings, and heroes. This was an alternative to, or in addition to, animal sacrifices.
The Greeks, inspired by the Egypt birthday rituals, first offered cakes to Artemis, their moon goddess. This was according to the ancient writings of Philochorus.
The Greek’s sacred birthday cakes were made as baked pieces of bread, biscuits, baked goods, and honey-sweetened sponges called meli. In addition, they also placed candles on the cake to make it glimmer like a full moon in honour of the moon goddess, Artemis.
The birthday cake’s first actualization.
Since the Middle Ages, Germans have celebrated Christ’s birth with Nativity displays, Christmas trees, and a birthday cake. The birthday cake was then added to children’s birthday celebrations after it became a part of the conventional method to commemorate Jesus’ birth.
In the 1400s, children’s birthday parties were called “kinder fest” in Germany. The kids’ parents made the cakes in the morning for Kinderfest. They then put a candle on the cake to indicate the child’s age and year.
The mass adoption of birthday cakes.
Birthday cakes experienced a tremendous rise in popularity, and the concept of “modern cakes” was born. In today’s world, there has been a substantial rise in commemorating various unique milestones, achievements, or festivals. Every occasion deserves a cake, after all!
Six Sweet facts about modern-day birthday cakes.
1. The first slice of your birthday cake in Mexico must be given to the person you love the most.
2. Koreans have a different version of birthday cake called tteok, it is a steamed rice cake with various stuffing and is usually served with Korean seaweed soup.
3. Traditional Danish birthday cakes are in the shape of the person having the birthday and are called “Kagemand” for a cake man and “Kagekone” for a cake woman.
4. Mawa cake is a traditional birthday cake in India made out of milk and nuts and is considered to make the birthday celebrant extra special because it takes a long time and effort to make.
5. A Revani is a gooey birthday cake famous in Greece and Turkey, which is made of lemon and semolina with a thin layer of orange syrup on top that gives it a sweet flavour.
6. The iconic Jewish birthday cake is known as ugat yomledet, a chocolatey, moist sponge cake with lots of frosting or whipped cream on top, and it must be eaten with milk or dunked in it like an Oreo.
Thanks to the Ancient Greeks for introducing cakes, Germans for embracing the tradition of cakes on birthdays, and most especially, to the hands and creativity of bakers since the 1800s who incorporated sweetness into cakes that we got to enjoy until these days!
Celebrating a birthday may vary from country to country; however, there comes a similarity – cakes on birthdays.
Julia Child once said, “A party without a cake is just a meeting.”
Cakes, indeed, make an occasion extra special for everyone!"
Words above from article here
All the best Jan
27 comments:
...a number of things that I didn't know.
Thank you for sharing!! So many facts I didn't know. : )
I had cake on my birthday- the first time in several years.
That cake looks good
How interesting to read about the history of the birthday cake. I never gave it much thought before!
This was so interesting-thank you-and I did not know any of this before, I need to ask my husband about the Jewish chocolate cake.
thanks for the low carb recipe too Kathy
Lot of interesting history.
Coffee is on and stay safe
Interesting facts. I like Birthday cake ... all cake really. Ginger cake is best.
God bless.
In a little over a week it will be time for my birthday cake. This is such a fun post.I really enjoyed it.
I love birthday cake and icing and I know I should not. Interesting facts.
Good and interesting facts which I never knew and the history of how is all began was also good to read.
Fun article, thanks for sharing! Valerie
So good to know about birthday coming from Ancient Egyptian time!
Interesting and fun post. The cake looks yummy, thanks for the recipe.
Take care, have a great day!
I didn't know the origins of why we eat cake.
Thank you for sharing the information.
Best regards.
As always lots of valuable information.
The birthday cake looks delicious.
Your dishes are always delicious!
Hugs and greetings.
I loved it, Jan, so interesting! It is my nephew's birthday today so I'll share it with him. And, yes, there will be cake :-)
Amalia
xo
Interesting facts that I didn'tt know. Thank you for posting (and that low carb chocolate cake looks wonderful).
Wow what a great post. Some things I never knew. Have a great day today.
Interesting about cake
Icing makes the cake. Only one bakery made my favorite frosting. Sadly it closed decades ago.
Interesting facts. No birthday is complete without the cakes.
What a fun post. I love the Julia Child quote.
xx oo
Carla
I really enjoyed your history on cakes, and birthday cake in particular! I did not know that it went all the way back to the Egyptians. Thank you for sharing the recipe for the keto chocolate cake. My husband and I are doing the no-sugar lifestyle, and it has been such an eye opener to see how much sugar is in EVERYTHING. We feel so much better doing this too. Truly makes one wonder how much of disease in our world could be solved if sugar was removed from most of our foods! Blessings to you dear friend, always enjoy your posts, and your visit to my blog so much!
Siempre es interesante tus reportajes. Besos.
That was interesting and I learned a LOT as a result of this informative post, Jan.
I knew absolutely zero of this, so a big thank you for enlightening me! I think I'll send this to my cousin whose birthday is next Tuesday1
that is so interesting, I never thought of why we have birthday cakes, so neat to hear how things started!
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