Birthday cake Totally Explained

Everything about The Birthday Cake totally explained

The birthday cake has an integral part of the birthday tradition in Western cultures since the middle of the 19th century. Certain rituals associated with birthday cakes are common to many Western cultures. The intertwining of cakes and birthday celebrations stretch back to the Ancient Greeks and the development of the birthday, including contemporary trends such as the printing of photographs onto cakes cake follows, the development of confectionery technology. While throughout Western history, cakes in general were the privilege of the wealthy, birthday cakes are nowadays common to most Western birthday celebrations. Around the world however, many variations on the birthday cake, or rather the birthday pastry or sweets, exist.

Rituals associated with Birthday Cakes

Origins of the Birthday Cake

Development of the Birthday Cake

Contemporary Trends

The Greeks were some of the first to celebrate birthdays with cakes, however these were the birthdays for the gods and goddesses. The celebration for the Greek moon god, Artemis, included a cake topped with lit candles. In medieval England, tokens, such as coins and thimbles, were baked inside the birthday cake, a tradition which persists with the traditional Christmas pudding. Receiving a coin in one's slice predicted future wealth while it was believed that those receiving a thimble would never wed.
   The cake, or sometimes a pastry or dessert, 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" didn't 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. If the birthday boy/girl doesn't blow out all the candles in one breath, the he/she will have a bad year.

   For special birthdays and for when the number of candles might be considered impractical or a fire hazard, special candles are substituted for the many individual candles in the shape of a numeral. For example, on the fifth birthday, there may be one candle on the cake in the shape of the numeral five, and on the fiftieth birthday there may be two candles on the cake, one in the shape of the numeral five followed by the other in the shape of the number zero.

Cultural Variations on the Birthday Pastry

Variations on the birthday pastry exist outside of Western culture. The Chinese birthday pastry are sou bao (壽包), lotus paste filled buns made of rice flour which is shaped and coloured to resemble peaches. In Western Russia, birthday children are served fruit pies with a birthday greetings carved into the crusts. The Swedish birthday cake is made like a pound cake and is often topped with marzipan and decorated with the national flag. While birthday cakes are traditional in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, fairy bread, buttered bread covered with sprinkles, is commonly served at childrens' birthday parties. A popular Dutch birthday pastry are fruit tarts (taarties) topped with whipped cream . The Mexican birthday tradition involves a pinata, a coloured brittle containers object filled with sweets.

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