History of the Birthday Cake

History of the Birthday Cake

Always the highlight of any birthday party, the origins of the birthday cake date back to Ancient Roman times where flat rounds made with flour, nuts, yeast and sweetened honey were served up at special birthday celebrations.  

The ritual spread throughout Europe and in the 15^th Century bakeries in Germany began making one-layer cakes for birthdays and weddings.  Moving into the 17^th Century and the birthday cake began to look much as it does today with multiple layers, filling, icing  and decorations, although they were generally only eaten by the wealthy.  18^th Century America added the tradition of birthday candles on top of the cake to symbolise the person’s age and by the 19^th Century the birthday cake was integral part of a birthday celebration for most Western cultures along with the singing of ‘Happy Birthday’.

The adding of candles to the birthday cake originated in Ancient Greece, where the candles were thought to represent the glow of the moon, the Greeks used to take cakes with candles to the temple of the Goddess of the Moon, Artemis.  It was thought at the time that the smoke from the candles carried their wishes and prayers to the Gods.

Nowadays, the custom is to make a wish before blowing out the candles on the cake, with the wish coming true if all the candles are blown out all at once.

Birthday cake is served up whilst singing “Happy Birthday to You” in most English speaking countries, and indeed most other countries have their own version of this song.  Once the singing has finished the person celebrating their birthday will blow out the candles and then serve up the cake to everyone.

Today’s birthday cakes have moved on again, with fancy designs, colours and even individual cupcakes being the trend.  The highlight of many children’s birthday parties is the revealing of the cake, which is often a themed cake based upon their favourite TV or film character or a hobby they have.  Older children may prefer cakes with a sporting or fashion theme.  Advancements in cake design mean that any design is possible and cakes are getting more and more elaborate. The flavours have tended to stay the same however, as chocolate or vanilla sponge tend to be the most popular types of birthday cake with ganache, buttercream, fondant icing or glacé icing on top, depending on how the cake has been decorated.