The Birthday Cake:
Its Evolution from a Rite of the Elite to the Right of Everyone

History of Cakes
Cakes and celebration now seen so inextricably linked that itiis not surprising to read that it was traditional in Roman times, especially for those reaching 50 years of age, to be feted with special cakes. But the cakes of Roman times, and for many centuries after, bore little resenblance to what we define as a cake today. They consisted mainly of cereal grain meal moistened with water or wine, perhaps leavened with some form of yeast and sweetened with honey, usually shaped into flattened rounds, and baked by being turned over on a griddle. The term "cake" apparently referred to something relatively small to be eaten out of hand and, for several centuries in Northern Europe, there was little distinction made between bread and cake. Both were leavened with yeast, and sweetness was not an important characteristic.

It was not until the late 14th century in Europe that professional cooks were able to create immense yeast-leavened cakes or breads filled with dried fruits for special occasions. In the 16th century, Italian and French pastry cooks began to develop baked goods using batters based on egg-and-sugar foam instead of yeast. As their methods spread to other parts of Europe, cakes began to change rapidly. By the 18th century, expanded world trade had led to an astounding increase in the quantity and variety of available foods and a decrease in the prices of previously costly items, such as the Arabic spices mentioned in a German manuscript cookbook of the 14th century. Bakers had access to most of the other ingredients still used today, such as nuts, lemons and oranges, vanilla, chocolate, and sugar. Indeed, England's sugar plantations in the Americas were so successful in making their product cheap and available that the British appetite for sweets was permanently affected.

For the purposes of this paper, a contemporary American cake is defined as a baked, sweetened creation leavened with eggs or chemical leaveners so that it is relatively tender, light, and porous in texture. Usually, but not always, it contains wheat flour or a substitute like finely ground nuts. It may contain a substantial amount of fat or none at all. It may be baked as a loaf, in one or more layers, or in a tall "tube" pan.

Cookbooks
Until the 15th century, most people were illiterate, and printed cookbooks were available only to the elite. The invention of the Gutenberg press made printing of cookbooks commercially viable and, eventually, housewives, unless they were incompetent of illiterate, kept their own recipt books with handwritten copies of recipes received from family or friends. By the 18th century cookbooks were being printed not only for professional cooks but also for home cooks. Two in particular were popular in the American colonies. The Compleat Housewife, published in London in 1727, included several great cake recipes that used ale yeast, sack, or brandy as leaveners, and one recipe that was leavened with eggs and butter.

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy appeared in London in 1747 and also had several recipes for cakes leavened with ale yeast, sack, and/or brandy. It included two recipes for cakes leavened only with eggs and butter; one was a "Pound Cake." In 1796, American Cookery, the first cookbook written and published in America, included recipes for cakes that were yeast-leavened, but also for a pound cake and another that were butter-and-egg leavened.

Chemical Leaveners
Of greater importance, this cookbook is the first known publication of a recipe - for gingerbread - calling for a chemical leavener, pearlash, or potassium carbonate, which caused baked products to rise rapidly in the oven. Although later American cookbooks also specified pearlash as a leavener, most cooks found this substance, which was a refined form of the potash derived by leaching wood ashes, most unsatisfactory because of the unpleasant flavor it imparted to more delicately flavored baked goods. Further refinement of pearlash produced saleratus, or potassium bicarbonate. That, too, imparted a bitter flavor but its use, as well as that of ammonium carbonate and other alkalis, in combination with tartaric acid, all known generally as "yeast powders," continued. In the 1840s, they were being sold everywhere, but not always eagerly accepted. Gradually, as tartaric acid was refined to cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda replaced potassium bicarbonate, that combination produced an acceptable flavor.

Baking powder was invented in 1863 by two pharmacists in Indiana, who found a balanced mixture of baking soda and cream of tartar. By 1889, double-acting baking powder had been developed by another pair of American experimenters and soon was being sold. In the American South's hot, moist climate, products that ensured quick rising and baking were welcomed and by the 1920s when Southern cooks had been convinced that baking powder was safe and reliable, their experiments in its use resulted in a number of extravagant new layer cakes.

Other Ingredients
Baking a cake of any size in the early 19th century was a laborious project. Cooks had to pulverize suger into granules or powder, sift flour to remove the larger particles, churn butter, grate spices, seed raisins, and shell nuts. Spoilage was always a danger, particularly in hot weather when the wheat germ in flour became rancid. If freshly churned butter was unavailable, preserved butter had to be washed several times to remove the salt, and eggs needed careful inspection to be certain they weren't rotten.

Another serious problem was the rempant adulteration of foods by processors. Substances such as chalk, alum, pipe clay, or plaster of Paris were added to flour, brick dust or potato starch to chocolate, and water and chalk to milk. Eventually adulteration became so flagrant that the Pure Food and Drug Law was passed in 1906.

Inventions and Technological Advances
Cooks' efforts to improve the quality and safety of their ingredients were accompanied by their search for better baking equipment. In urban centers, particularly in the South, townhouses were equipped with wood-burning cast iron ranges as early as 1820. The cast iron stove and chemical leaveners speeded up the cake baking process, but made new demands on cooks. Oven temperatures could only be controlled by knowing the kind and quantity of wood needed. Once the cake was in the oven, no wood could be added without suddenly changing the temperature and ruining the cake. In 1913 an elementary oven regulator was invented, and oven thermostats gradually became more reliable.

By the 1890s cast iron stoves began to be replaced by gasoline stoves, and then by lighter- weight and safer kerosene stoves. By this time, in the cities where there was a municipal gas system, natural gas ranges were being installed in homes.

Simple ice boxes were in use by the 1840s but it was not until 1913 that the first successful air-cooled refrigerator was ready for sale. Electric refrigerators were available within four years and by 1927, when their average price had decreased by half, sales were booming just as the Depression hit. Then World War II caused a further delay in home refrigeration. In the first four years after the war, 20 million refrigerators were sold.

In 1896, the publication of The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook by Fannie Farmer established standardized measurements used in American cookbooks ever since. Cups and spoons conforming to her specifications began to be manufactured, as did standardized cake pans.

Because any cake leavened with eggs requires extensive whipping or beating to incorporate air, inventors began to develop various kinds of mechanical egg beaters as well as other time saving tools. When the first Dover rotary egg beater was patented in 1870, it was possible for home cooks to try out a new kind of cake, leavened entirely by a large quantity of whipped egg whites, and called angel food. Electric mixers for commercial use were being sold by the 1920s, and later, they became commonplace appliances in American homes. In 1948 another new form of cake appeared, leavened by eggs and salad oil instead of solid fat. Advertised breathlessly as "the biggest cake-making news in a century," the chiffon cake had instant success. Prepared cake mixes, first introduced in 1949, required only the addition of water but, when it was determined that home bakers felt that they were contributing almost nothing to these cakes, the package instructions were changed to specify that one egg also be added. Cake mixes began to fly off the grocers' shelves. By 1957 more than half of all American home-baked cakes began with a mix. Soon prepared icings also could be purchased and baking a cake required only a bowl, a stirring implement, a baking pan or two, access to an oven, and about an hour of time. Even the busiest person, an ill- equipped new bride, or a child could produce a cake to celebrate a birthday simply by adding candles. Or with more time and effort, a glorious and memorable confection with color and elaborate decorations could be created.

Cake Decorating
In medieval Europe, the practice of adding color to food had been borrowed from Arab cuisine, and in 14th-century France and England, food served at banquets often was more admired for its colorful presentation than for its ingredients or flavor. Early European settlers in America brought the use of food coloring with them and soon learned from the American Indians about cochineal as a source of red dye. Directions for making other food coloring also were included in American 18th- and 19th-century cookbooks: red from beetroot or alkanet; yellow from egg yolk or saffron; green from spinach or parsley.

Not only food coloring but also three-dimensional decorations were in use very early. Gum paste was being made in the Middle East before the end of the 12th century and recipes for it and for marzipan appeared in a 1584 English cookbook. In the fierce competition to impress and outdo, 15th- and 16th-century English banquets featured dishes adorned with elaborate sugar work and sculptures in gum paste and marzipan. Both substances, with only slightly changed ingredients, are still used by commercial and home bakers.

By the end of the 19th century, cake decorating was in full bloom and the editor of The Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery, published in London, was moved to declare, "There is no other class of culinary goods in which the ingenuity and skill of the cook, pastry-cook, or confectioner finds more scope for practice than in making and decorating cakes. In many cases the art does not lie so much in the making or baking of the cake as in their ornamentation and adaption." American home cooks took his words to heart. By the 1920s, glorious cakes competed for attention, and a 1927 newspaper ad promised a free cake decorator set with every purchase of Airy Fairy Cake Flour.

Birthday Cakes and Candles
A contemporary American birthday cake achieves its distinctive appearance not by its traditional form but in other ways. It is usually, but not always, tall: composed of two or more layers or baked in a tube pan. Icing with elaborate decorations and the generous use of color add to the dramatic effect but aren't essential. Its primary distinguishing characteristic is that it is topped with candles. Candles are so totally associated with it that any depiction of a circular object, with one or more small flaming candles atop it, is immediately recognized as a birthday cake.

What is the origin of this odd custom of putting small inedible wax candles on top of a cake and then setting them ablaze before the cake can be eaten?

Light from the sun or from fire had very early religious and mystical significance. As a result, rituals using light in the form of candles developed on an unusual scale and became part of the religious ceremonies surrounding weddings, funerals, and other important events in human life. Over time, the idea of using a flame as part of an important or celebratory occasion spread beyond religious faith.

Candles also have a long association with the measurement of time. In the late ninth century, England's King Alfred had a timekeeping system that used candles to measure the hours of a day. Candles are still used in various celebrations, including birthdays, to signify the passage of time.

Lighting Christmas trees with small tapers is a German tradition that supposedly dates from the 16th century. German immigrants brought it to their communities in Pennsylvanis before 1750, about the same time that Moravian congregations there adopted a German Moravian custom of using small beeswax tapers in their Christmas Eve candle service.

Using small tapers to light a special cake for a birthday celebration also seems to have begun in Germany, in the 18th century or earlier. The tradition of Kinderfest, a birthday celebration for a child, with a birthday cake surrounded by lighted candles, was already well established by 1799, judging by a letter written by Goethe recounting the celebration of his fiftieth birthday. He wrote,

...when it was time for dessert, the prince's entire livery in full regalia entered, led by the majordomo. He carried a generous-size torte with colorful flaming candles - amounting to some fifty candles - that began to melt and threatened to burn down, instead of there being enough room for candles indicating upcoming years, as is the case with children's festivities of this kind.

By 1921, an American candle manufacturer was advertising its tiny "Lilliputian Candle in 6 popular shades" available in boxes of mixed colors. Six years later, cooks in rural areas and cities all over the U.S. could order cake candles and candle holders from the Sears Roebuck catalog.

Rituals Related to Birthday Cakes
A birthday celebration is a rite of passage marking an individual's progress through the life cycle. For any birthday the ritual objects of cake and candles are so emotionally loaded and deemed so essential that extraordinary efforts may be made to provide them, regardless of difficult circumstances. Stories about failed or successful attempts to create a memorable birthday cake experience are told at family gatherings, in books, and on the Internet. A group celebrating a birthday in a restaurant may arrange to bring a birthday cake or have it supplied there. Cakes are brought to offices to celebrate co-workers' birthdays, or to organization meetings for members' birthdays. An individual may have two or more cakes on a birthday, one at home, one at the office, and a third with a group of friends.

Because cakes are symbolic of life's dramatic moments, birthday cakes are expected, first of all, to be dramatic, especially if they are the centerpiece of a party. The drama is increased by adding an element of surprise. Often the cake has not been seen by the honoree before it is borne in with all its candles blazing. Some families have a tradition of providing the same kind of cake for all birthdays, while others may vary the cake depending on the honoree's preference - or the cake provider's inclination.

Like the banqueting foods of the Middle Ages, flavor and texture are of less concern than size and appearance. And even for children, one source of advice encourages busy mothers, "...if the frosting and candles are impressive enough, the quality of the cake will never matter."

The appearance of the cake is invariable accompanied by the singing of "Happy Birthday to You," whether the guests be children or adults. The "Happy Birthday" song was composed in 1893 as "Good Morning, to All." It is unknown who changed the original words, but since 1910, "Happy birthday to you," repeated three times, with the honoree's name inserted after the second repetition, has been sung at birthday celebrations. Probably it was children who were responsible for contributing a mocking additional verse, the last two lines of which are "You look like a monkey, And you act like one, too." And it is not uncommon for guests at an adult celebration to add their own second verse, also with a mocking tone, "How old are you?" sung four times.

After the song, the honoree is encouraged to make a secret wish and then attempt to blow out all the candles with one breath to ensure that the wish will be realized. Myths have grown up about the origin of this custom, one being that blowing out all the candles is symbolic of extinguishing the past; in contrast, the wish is for the future.

Among a group of friends or co-workers, a birthday cake may be regarded as a tangible measure of the affection felt for the honoree, and the provider of the cake may feel obliged to assure that, by means of its size, appearance, and cost, it is an adequate expression. Who provides the cake and whether it is homemade or from a bakery can indicate to the recipient just where he or she stands in others' regard. This is epitomized in a food writer's guilt-inducing comments in a recent article about baking birthday cakes: "Sure, you can make one out of a box of cake mix, or call your favorite bakery, but if you spend a little time with these cake recipes, your loved one will really have a happy birthday."

Another consideration for the cake provider is that the size and appearance of a cake for one person in a group ought to be roughly equal to the cake provided for previous birthday honorees. To have a significantly smaller and less impressive cake would signal to the honoree and guests that his/her birthday is of less consequence than for others in the group.

Unlike the ritual for wedding cakes, there is no commonly accepted rule as to who shall cut and distribute the portions of a birthday cake. One writer about birthday celebrations cites the "American tradition" of serving the first piece of cake to the birthday child. This may be true for small children whose main concern is to have plenty of icing, decorations, and a candle on their pieces. But some families, or groups of friends, develop their own rituals, like my family's custom of serving the first piece of cake to the person whose birthday occurs next, continuing on in calendar order until the honoree receives the last piece cut.

For young children, where the celebration is more focused on the age and growth of the child, the singing of "Happy Birthday" may be followed by attempts by child guests to spank the birthday child, each administering one spank and finishing with a pinch, while saying, "And a pinch to grow an inch." Although the origin of this custom remains obscure, I suspect that it has persisted partly as a permissible expression of childish hostility. My suspicion was corroborated by a recent newspaper account of an incident in an Iowa prison where guards had been disciplined for handcuffing an inmate in a stairwell "so he could be spanked by other inmates ... apparently because it was his birthday, officials said."

Development of an Industry
As with other formerly home-made festivities, we now have a birthday cake industry. As a custom spreads, and becomes embedded in a business culture like the United States, objects related to it are created, then mass produced, and soon an entire industry grows around them.

Today hundreds of kinds of birthday candles and cake decorating supplies are sold in supermarkets, small food stores, and variety stores everywhere. Huge warehouse-like stores sell retail, wholesale, through mail-order catalogs, and on the Internet.

The industry also has published hundreds of profusely illustrated hardcover and paperback instruction books describing how to use the tools and supplies to create fanciful cakes. Women all over the country have learned, by using the books and/or taking classes, to decorate cakes for family and friends, and many have gone on to establish a career in cake decorating. With the techniques, supplies, and equipment available to residents in the tiniest village or most isolated rural area, all that is required to produce an elaborate cake is the willingness to purchase the supplies and equipment and to acquire the necessary skills.

Of course, bakeries, pastry shops, and supermarkets have continued to supply elaborate birthday cakes. In 1947, a national supermarket chain displayed its cakes in a book of large, color photographs with detailed descriptions. Since then, this marketing ploy of providing pictures of standard models, from which would-be purchasers can choose, has expanded. Bakeshop cakes can be decorated with icing, gum paste flowers, or little plastic figures, and carry a standard message like "Happy Birthday," or they can be customized for special orders. Some bakeshops have equipment that can reproduce a photo or other graphic onto cake icing, perhaps the ultimate in customization.

Cakes can be provided in as elaborate a form as any purchaser's imagination and purse will permit. An example of the lengths to which this may be carried was described by a baker in a recent New York Times article: "...a customer ordered a three-dimensional Corvette convertible sponge cake, filled with white and dark chocolate, covered with almond paste and painted metallic blue with a silver tone. It was 40 inches long and 16 inches wide, served 100 and cost $2,220." Another baker stated that "customers having a party for 50 tend to order cake to serve 100. So it's more impressive," he added.

Birthday Cakes for Everyone
After the American Revolution, no state function of the new republic was complete without a cake. This tradition has continued with the now commonplace practice of institutions, organizations, and governmental units celebrating their anniversaries with birthday cakes. Today in the U.S., everyone, including the household pet, seems to be entitled to a birthday cake. Book stores carry recipe books that include instructions for a "Doggie Birthday Cake" formed of turkey, iced with mashed potatoes and trimmed with piped-on potato rosettes colored with beet juice, or a "Birthday Cake" for cats using fish. The recipes admonish, "Don't forget the candles."

Birthday cakes have changed greatly over the past four centuries, aided by the development of calendars and record-keeping; the printing press; the expansion of world trade; improvements in food refining; and the invention of chemical leaveners, stoves, refrigerators, and other equipment and tools.

From rare and impressive creations for the elite to the now easily available variety of cakes for "all creatures great and small," birthday cakes always have been dramatic symbols of an occasion's significance. Today, they continue to proclaim, "This is an important event!"