Welcome to Childrens Food Guide
FREE SHOPPING GUIDE
Great Gift Ideas For Christmas!
==> Click Here To Download It FREE! <==
Featured Childrens Food Article
For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
The Story behind Birthday Cakes for Children
from: ParentingKidsToday.comCakes have been around through the centuries and were derived from the Old Norse word kaka which refers to a flat round loaf of bread. Like men and animals, cakes also have their own experience of evolution. Archaeologists have discovered remains of an early form of cake in excavated Neolithic settlements (last part of the Stone Age around 10,000 BC). These cakes were made from crushed grains and most likely cooked on a hot stone oven. These old cakes are now famed as oatcakes or cookies. Fast-forward to our age of computers and fast-living, the cakes have evolved from a simple little cookie-like food to our present day delicious and sometimes over decorated confection.
Birthday cakes are said to have been discovered by the Greeks as a form of offering during the feast day of the goddess Artemis (goddess of the hunt and the moon). But children's birthday cakes, as some scholars perceive, were started by the Germans during the Middle Ages. Medieval Germans formed sweetened bread dough in the shape of the infant Christ wrapped in cloth. These cakes were given to young children during their birthday celebration. The tradition of putting candles in cakes was said to have originated from the Greeks.
It was believed that the smoke from the candles deliver their prayers to the gods in Mount Olympus. Nowadays, sparklers have become popular rather than the usual numerical birthday candle but we still keep the tradition of wishing for something before blowing the candles or sparklers.
In the past only the wealthy can afford to eat cakes and only baking experts can bake this sweet delicious confection. It is because ingredients for cakes in the past are hard to come by and they are usually expensive. For instance, butter is not only expensive but it takes a couple of days to make it into the soft creamy finished product. So, only noblemen can afford to eat cakes back then.
But in this day and age, cakes are cheaper and easier to make. Simple cake ingredients are now relatively inexpensive and just a stone's throw distance within the nearest grocery store. Cooking tools have become simpler and easier to use and even quick minute recipes are now available. Even children can bake their own birthday cakes, under adult supervision of course.
The technological advances of today's machines have now allowed us to create intricate designs of birthday cakes and cake flavors have become more varied. From fairytale castles to the in vogue cartoon character, cakes of all shapes and sizes are now available and, of course, edible! There are even cakes in which the celebrant's picture can be placed on top, and it's edible too.
Some birthday cakes have eventually become costly with the intricate expertise of bakers. The latter are able to make edible pearls and crystals that are used to decorate extravagant cakes. But whatever the socio-economic status of an individual some flavors of birthday cakes has always been popular.
As we all know, based from our own experiences, children just can't get enough of chocolate cakes. But the creamy cheesecakes are not far behind from being on the children's top lists of cakes, and then there is also the easy to bake funnel cake, the cool mouth-watering ice cream cakes, carrot cakes, and the list goes on. As long as it's sweet and attractive, the children will love it. As the French queen Marie Antoinette would say, let them eat cake!
Childrens Food News