Welcome to
FlowersandCakes.com
|
|
No Matter How You Slice 'em, They're All Cakes
With the abundance of fancy cake shows on television these
days, the basic styles of cakes are getting buried. For
a TV viewing audience, they want to prepare an extraordinary
dessert. So they make these monstrosities of the Magic
Kingdom from Disney World or Captain Hook's pirate ship.
Lost in this era of skyscraper cakes and thousand-dollar
confections are the cakes that most people still bake
and eat regularly. The shows on television with these
fantastical cakes are like the shows where they build
a muscle car for someone. Or a customized motorcycle.
Only a privileged few can purchase or partake in these
endeavors. Most of the planet still has to "settle"
for a traditional style of cake. Or motorcycle.
At the forefront is the old-fashioned birthday cake. Birthday
cakes are usually round and covered with frosting on top
and on the circular sides. Their origin is unknown; who
really knows when the very first birthday cake was presented----or
where? Or to whom? Other cake styles are more traceable.
Birthday cakes are often adorned with candles that the
guest of honor is expected to blow out. The major ingredients
can vary, depending on the taste preferences of the guest
of honor.
Then there are more specific flavors of cake that have
stood the test of time. Styles such as coffee cake, chocolate
cake, pound cake, and the cupcake. These are some of the
more common cakes that are eaten on a more regular basis
than "special occasion" cakes.
Special occasion cakes would include not only the birthday
cake, but also wedding cakes and major holiday themes
such as Christmas and Halloween.
Our personal favorite has always been the sinful treat
of cheesecake. One of the more fattening cakes, cheesecake
uses cream cheese as one of its main ingredients. It can
be prepared with a graham cracker crust and its origin
is commonly thought to be the United Kingdom.
Let's not forget the collection that includes Angel food
cake, Black Forest cake, Devil's food cake, and Marble
cake. Each has its own unique style and flavor. Both the
Angel food cake and the Devil's food cake are recognized
as having their origins in the United States. The Black
Forest and Marble cake styles are known to have their
roots in Germany.
Finally there's the group of cakes with the somewhat odd
main ingredient. Carrot cake, sometimes assumed to have
originated in the United Kingdom, uses carrots as one
of its main ingredients. Then there are potato cakes and
fish cakes. Those are rather self-explanatory.
Of course, the works of art that the master cake chefs
prepare on the television shows all start with a base
cake. How they adorn and decorate the cake is what transforms
them into the amazing spectacles that we see. But they
all start off basic.
A notion that sometimes seems to get lost under all the
frosting.
|
