Birthday Cake History

The birthday cake has been an integral part of the birthday tradition in Western cultures. The cake is served to a person on his or her birthday, and is often decorated with small novelty candles, with the person's name and/or a message of congratulations inscribed with icing. The phrase "Happy Birthday" did not appear on birthday cakes until the song Happy Birthday to You was popularized in the early 1900s.

Tradition holds that the person with the birthday may make a wish, which will come true if all the candles can be blown out in one breath. US patent 6319530 relates to a "method of photocopying an image onto an edible web for decorating iced baked goods." This invention enables one to ink jet print a food-grade color photograph on the cake surface.

History of Birthday Cake can be traced back to the ancient Greeks who made round or moon shaped honey cakes or bread and took it to the temple of Artemis -the Goddess of Moon. Some scholars, however, believe that the tradition of Birthday cake started in Germany in middle Ages. This special birthday cake later reemerged in Germany as a Kinderfest or the birthday celebrations of a young child. Germans also baked another special kind of a cake called Geburtstagorten as it was baked in layers. This was sweeter that the coarse and bread like cake that were usually made at that time.

In earlier times, Birthday cakes were mostly round in shape. Scholars associate religious beliefs and technical compulsions for the same. Greeks offered round shape cake to the Goddess of Moon - Artemis as it signified moon. They even placed candles on the cake to make the cake glow like the moon.

Technical reason given for the roundness of the cake is that most cakes we know off advanced from the bread. In ancient times breads and cakes were made by hand. Typically, these were fashioned into round balls and baked on hearthstones or in low, shallow pans. Hence, these naturally relaxed into round shapes. With the progress of times baking pans of various shapes were developed and today we see cakes in imaginative shapes and sizes.

In medieval times people of England used to place symbolic objects like coins, rings and thimbles in the batter of the cake. It was believed that those who found coin in the cake would be wealthy while the unlucky finder of the thimble would never marry. If the cake fell while baking it was considered to be a bad omen and signified bad luck for the person in the coming year.
Thus in the midst of many superstitions and beliefs, merged the tradition of Birthday cakes which is so popular all over the world today.

A History of the Elegant Flan

Mexican flan is one of the most popular and well-known desserts from south of the border. This dessert is a sweet custard topped with caramel sauce. It is made in the homes of rich and poor alike. It also has a long and colorful history that reaches all the way back to ancient Rome. Romans first began keeping chickens and when they ended up with a lot of eggs, they borrowed from the Greeks, mixed them up with cream, and came up with a custardy dish. They usually made theirs savory rather than sweet.

Rome shared this recipe as they conquered Europe. When Rome fell, the custard recipe they developed flourished throughout medieval Europe. As the recipe was adapted, more sweet versions were created. In Latin, this dessert was known as flado, for custard. In French, it became flaon and eventually it came to be called flan.

Eggs were considered to have healing benefits, so flan was served to aid the liver, kidneys, and chest as well as to increase fertility. Flan spread across Europe, satisfying hungry bellies everywhere. Spain developed a sweet version topped with a caramel sauce. The recipe was brought to the New World when the Spanish arrived in Mexico.

In Mexico, the flan was elevated to a new level. Mexican flans may be made in a special pan called a bain marie. This is a pan that has a spot for the flan as well as an attached outer pan for water. Using this pan, you can cook a flan either on top of the stove or in the oven. If you do not have a bain marie, you can use a dish made of porcelain, glass or any other material that will not cause the custard to stick. This dish can be set in a roasting pan with water inside and baked.

Ramekins are often used to make individual flans, even though the sight of a large flan is impressive. Flans are not difficult to make as long as the instructions are followed carefully. The ingredients are simple and the results are elegant. What more could you want from a dessert?

Vanilla is the traditional flavor of a Mexican flan. Only use fresh vanilla bean or the best of real extracts! You can find other flavors, however like pistachio, coconut, pumpkin, lemon, or almond. All flavors are topped with the delicious caramel sauce that is the true signature of a Mexican flan.

Flan is obviously one of the most famous Mexican desserts. It is known the world over for its creaminess that cools the palate after eating a spicy dish. Serve flan as a wonderful ending to any meal. Not only is it sweet, it is nourishing as well. Those eggs and milk are good for you.

So, try making a flan at home. Go ahead, do not be afraid. This simple dessert can take some practice to truly master, but it is worth it to give your family and friends an elegant dessert. Serve it up on special occasions or just because it sounds good. You will be adding flan to your list of desserts that are tried and true.

Grandma's Fruitcake

This is the recipe that my grandmother brought with her when she and her family left Russia in the early 1900's. As a child around the 1920's or so, while living on a farm in Pennsylvania which at that time there were a great amount of people coming from Europe, you needed to be able
to do things for yourself. She learned from her mother how to make a most delicious white fruit cake, a white fruitcake is a fruitcake that does not have any molasses, molasses which is very bitter, not having the molasses in the fruitcake gives it a lighter color, this gives it the name white fruitcake.

This fruitcake in the days in which my mother lived as a child with her parents was only
made during Christmas because the only time you could get walnuts, cherries, and some other ingredient's was in the fall of the year. Remember now they didn't go to the store to buy what they needed, they had to grow them. Raisins were dried by the people themselves, they even had to shell their own walnuts, and candy their own cherries, and such the pineapple and coconut I do believe they must have purchased.

To keep with tradition the only time of the year that I make or sell this fruitcake is during
the Christmas holidays, and in my mind you cannot get a better fruitcake.

Here we go now gather up your ingredient's and set them on your table, all ingredient's need to be at room temperature.

1 pound butter
12 eggs
1-pound sugar
1 pound flour all-purpose
1 pound white raisins
1 pound walnut meats
1-pound red and green candied cherries
1-pound bakers flaked coconut
1-pound candies pineapple
1 tablespoon of baking soda dissolved in 1/4-cup warm water
2 cups brandy--any brand
Soak the raisins, walnuts, cherries, coconut and pineapple with 2 cups brandy overnight in a stainless steel bowl.

In a 5 quart mixing bowl cream butter and sugar, then add eggs slowly, then add your flour and blend well, add the baking soda and water and mix a minute more, add all other ingredients and mix until well blended.

Mow you are going to bake it in 2 pound pan, or in the pan of your choice, foil or hard pan,
line the pan with wax paper or baking paper or better yet a pan liner the size of the pan.

For 2 pound pan:

Place 1 pound 12 ounces of the mixture in the pan and level it with a spoon, don't bang it
on the table.

Bake it at 350 degrees for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes depends on your oven and how brown you want it. It's done when a pick is placed in the center and it comes out clean.

Let it cool on a rack for a while and then sprinkle it with 1 ounce of brandy and then another ounce when it is cool and then pack it away for about 3 days in your refrigerator and then enjoy.