50 Fun Facts About Cake

The English word 'cake' comes from kaka, a word in which language?

The oldest cakes were basically breads with sweet ingredients added, and the Greeks used beer as a leavener.

Which ancient people are credited with first using beer as a leavening agent for cake?

Their plakous, from the word for 'flat', was baked with flour, milk, nuts and honey.

A famous early record of a birthday cake with one candle per year comes from a 1746 party in which country?

Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf's cake was said to be as big as an oven could make it.

By tradition, a birthday wish comes true only if what happens?

A second superstition says the wish must be kept secret or it will not come true.

What new name did the white topping on Queen Victoria's wedding cake acquire?

White had long been used on bride cakes as a sign of purity, but the queen's cake made it fashionable.

The first completely edible tiered wedding cake was made for the 1882 wedding of which royal?

Earlier tiered cakes had used non-edible supports; a London baker had modelled the tiered look on St Bride's Church.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, what dessert with a hidden glass ring was served at most weddings?

The maiden who found the ring would be the next to marry, like catching the bouquet today.

The phrase 'Let them eat cake' can be traced to a 1765 work by which writer?

Marie Antoinette was nine years old at the time and had never set foot in France.

The original French of 'Let them eat cake' actually refers to which food?

Brioche, enriched with butter and eggs, was a luxury; there is no evidence Marie Antoinette ever said the line.

Which spirit is the essential flavouring in an authentic Black Forest gateau?

The name Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte was first printed in 1915, and a 1927 recipe survives in a Radolfzell archive.

Sachertorte, the Viennese chocolate cake, is layered with which jam?

Franz Sacher is said to have created it in 1832 as a teenage apprentice for Prince Metternich.

Which Viennese pastry shop fought the Hotel Sacher for decades over the 'original' Sachertorte?

The dispute even covered how many sponge layers the original had: the hotel says two, the shop said one.

Battenberg cake, with its pink-and-yellow chequered cross-section, is wrapped in what?

It was reportedly named for the 1884 marriage of Queen Victoria's granddaughter to Prince Louis of Battenberg.

The Victoria sponge became possible after Alfred Bird created which product in 1843?

Baking powder let bakers add butter and still get a high rise.

Which New York hotel has served red velvet cake since the 1920s and claims to have invented it?

Canada's Eaton's department store makes a rival claim to the recipe.

Devil's food cake gets its reddish-mahogany colour from cocoa reacting with what?

Its name is thought to be a play on the light, airy angel food cake popular at the same time.

Angel food cake is made with which part of the egg only?

Egg whites, sugar and flour go in at roughly a 3:3:1 ratio by weight, with no butter or oil at all.

The lamington is named after a governor of which Australian state?

His French-born chef reportedly improvised it from leftover sponge to feed unexpected guests.

The pavlova, disputed between Australia and New Zealand, is named after a Russian what?

Anna Pavlova toured both countries in the 1920s, and each claims the meringue was created in her honour.

Tres leches cake is soaked in evaporated and condensed varieties plus which third liquid?

Recipes spread through Latin America partly because Nestlé printed them on its canned-milk labels.

Baumkuchen, the German 'tree cake', is baked how?

Each brushed-on layer bakes to a golden line, so a slice looks like tree rings; it is hugely popular in Japan.

A king cake is traditionally associated with which Christian feast?

Whoever finds the hidden fève, often a tiny baby figure, wins a prize or has to buy the next cake.

Panettone, the Christmas sweet bread, is associated with which Italian city?

A popular legend credits a poor baker named Tony, whose 'pan di Tonio' won a noble's approval.

Dresden stollen was first mentioned in an official document in which year?

Only 110 Dresden bakeries may produce the 'official' version, sealed with the image of Augustus the Strong.

Which town has hosted the Great Fruitcake Toss every January since 1995?

Johnny Carson used to joke that only one fruitcake exists in the world, passed from family to family.

The earliest fruitcake-like recipe, from ancient Rome, mixed raisins, pine nuts and which seeds into barley?

Modern fruitcake tradition owes much to a 1491 papal exemption letting Saxon bakers use butter in Lent.

Cheesecake is reputed to have been served to athletes at the first what?

Cato the Elder later recorded a Roman cheese-cake recipe called libum, baked over bay leaves.

American cream cheese was developed in 1872 by a dairyman trying to copy which French cheese?

William Lawrence of Chester, New York, ended up with something richer than the cheese he was imitating.

Carrot cake's popularity in Britain was revived by rationing during which conflict?

Medieval cooks had used carrots as a cheap substitute for sugar in puddings.

Pound cake is named because it traditionally used a pound each of flour, butter, sugar and what?

The French call it quatre-quarts, four quarters, for the same reason.

The earliest recorded pound cake recipe appears in a 1747 cookbook by which English writer?

Her book was The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.

Which cookware company trademarked the name 'Bundt' and made the fluted pans from cast aluminium?

The pan descends from the German Gugelhupf, known in the Rhineland as Bundkuchen.

Before his name went on cake mixes, Duncan Hines was famous as what?

A travelling salesman, he published his restaurant guide Adventures in Good Eating in 1935 at age 55.

Betty Crocker was created in 1921 by which company to answer customer letters?

She was never a real person; the company later became General Mills and added the red spoon logo in 1954.

In which year was the earliest known cupcake recipe, 'a light cake to bake in small cups', published?

It appeared in Amelia Simmons' American Cookery; the word 'cupcake' itself first shows up in print in 1828.

The Great British Bake Off is renamed in the US because 'Bake-Off' is trademarked by whom?

There it is called The Great British Baking Show; the series first aired on BBC Two in August 2010.

On which channel did The Great British Bake Off first air in 2010?

After seven series it moved to Channel 4 in a three-year deal with Love Productions.

Cake Boss follows Carlo's Bake Shop, a family business in which New Jersey city?

Buddy Valastro's show premiered on TLC in April 2009 and spun off Next Great Baker and Kitchen Boss.

The cakewalk dance took its name from what?

The dance's graceful ease may be why we call anything easy a 'cakewalk'.

The Italian name tiramisu translates as what?

Despite feeling ancient, the recipe does not appear in any cookbook before the 1960s.

The Twinkie's original 1930 filling was what flavour?

Wartime banana rationing forced the switch to vanilla; banana returned briefly for a 2005 King Kong promotion.

James Dewar invented Twinkies in 1930 to use machines idle when which fruit was out of season?

The machines normally made cream-filled strawberry shortcakes.

Boston cream pie, despite its name, is a cake; it is credited to a chef at which Boston hotel?

He reportedly made it for the hotel's opening in 1856, when cakes and pies were baked in the same pans.

In a 1991 UK tax tribunal, McVitie's argued Jaffa Cakes were cakes partly because cakes do what as they go stale?

They even baked a 12-inch Jaffa Cake to prove size was irrelevant, and the tribunal agreed they were cakes.

Jaffa Cakes, introduced in 1927, are named after what?

McVitie's never trademarked the name, so rivals sell their own 'Jaffa Cakes'.

Mooncakes are traditionally eaten during which Chinese celebration?

The Cantonese style, often filled with lotus paste and salted egg yolk, is the best known.

Which ingredient does a genoise NOT use, relying on whipped eggs alone for lift?

Angel food and Victoria sponge sit at opposite ends of the same sponge family.

Elaborate cake decorating first arose as a luxury for special occasions in which century in Europe?

Fondant, the smooth sugar paste used today, is rolled out with corn starch to stop it sticking.

The famous panettone brand Motta was started by Angelo Motta in which year?

The first printed panettone recipe had appeared in a Milanese cookbook in 1853.

Australia celebrates National Lamington Day on which date?

A 2014 Guardian Australia April Fools' story falsely claimed the cake was based on a New Zealand 'Wellington'.