CAKES: Butter or Foam
By Brittany Bousquet
June 27, 2012

They come in a wide variety of flavors, shapes and sizes. There’s a wide variety of holidays that celebrate them, and they’re featured at many celebrations. They can feature, or not feature, any number of ingredients. This article focuses on the wonderful world of cake.

Cakes date back to ancient times when they were more bread-like and sweetened with honey. The original icing was a boiled composition of the finest available sugar, egg whites, and, on occasion, flavoring. It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that modern cake appeared, and modern frosting didn’t appear until the early 20th century.

There are two main categories that cakes can fall into. They can be butter cakes, which contain fat, or they can be foam cakes, which do not contain fat. From these two categories spring a variety of different cakes and fun facts. Angel Food Cake, for example, contains no egg yolks, while Wacky Cake contains no milk, no butter and no eggs. Canned tomato soup can be found in some spice cakes, and Red Velvet Cake was originally a “rich man’s food” because the ingredients were so expensive to buy.

The largest cake ever made weighed 128,238 pounds and 8 ounces. It had 16,209 pounds of icing. It was made in the shape of Alabama to celebrate the 100th birthday of Fort Payne, Alabama. The tallest cake ever made was 101 feet, 2.5 inches tall and 100 tiers. It was made at Shiawasse County Fairgrounds, MI, and was completed on August 5, 1990.

There are a multitude of cake holidays that one could celebrate if they wanted to. National Cake Month is February; National Cake Day is November 26. January 27 is Chocolate Cake Day; February 3 National Carrot Cake Day. National Coffee Cake Day falls on April 7 and National Pineapple Upsidedown Cake Day is April 20. There are many more cake holidays that can be celebrated, and remember that December is National Fruitcake Month.

If looking for another reason to have cake, consider coming to downtown New London. At Sweetie’s Bakery and Cafe the cakes are becoming more and more popular. Everything is homemade; the red velvet and carrot cakes are especially popular. Muddy Waters also has cakes, brought in from bakeries around the state.

So take some time to come to downtown New
London and enjoy the cake. And remember to come back next week to read more about desserts.