Christmas Cake

Thousands of years ago the ancient Greeks were baking cakes with fruits and honey to please the gods and celebrate fertility and luxury. These cakes did not have any decoration on them, in fact, if these Greeks were to look at the cake we bake today they would not recognize them. “The vast number of tools and techniques that have since developed have grown to define our current notion of cake decorating.”(Beckett Craftsy) Cake decorating has changed over the years, but today in modern society you still will find people who stick to the more traditional cake decorating and contemporary cake decorating. No matter what style is used cakes is used to honor people and life at birthdays, weddings, and many more events. Early cakes were almost always

While at large events two cakes were usually made, one for the host to eat and one decorated very fancy only for display. During this period of time cakes were only baked to celebrate moments in life or rich families. One very popularity cake made for the rich during the 17th century was the Christmas Cake “ Christmas cakes had a bean or pea baked into the cake and the person who found the bean would be named “King of the feast” and the person who finds the pea would be named “Queen of the feast” (Nolan pg.8). Early celebrations had very plain looking cake because it was not until the 18th century that cake decorating took off. “The earliest decorations were nuts, seeds, and preserved/candied fruits. Sweet, colored, artfully shaped almond paste.” (Alan) but as technology and tools improved more options become available. The iron stove was one of the inventions that played a huge role in the rise in cake decorating in the early 18th century. The Iron stove was invented by Count Rumford. This invention allowed multiple pots to be cooked at once and could cook each pot at a different temperature. The introduction of temperature controlled ovens helped promote creativity when it came to desserts making. This

Modern tools and techniques have changed the way cakes look today compared to the more traditional cakes. Now many contemporary cake bakers move away from traditional frosting guides and the only round cakes. Bakers now spend days or weeks when creating a single cake when back in history cakes were a one day kind of thing. This times is used to come up with every aspect of the cakes and fully draw out how they want these cakes to look like their goal. Fondant is one of the most commonly used items in contemporary cake baking. It is made up of a mixture of sugar and water that is cooked to become soft. Fondant “ is a soft flexible paste that is extremely adaptable. Fondant is very easy to color making the possibilities endless for its use.”( The Essentials pg.13) Fondant helps give contemporary cakes a smooth and clean look for another overall effect. Another type fondant that is most commonly used is rolled fondant. Rolled fondant is just like regular fondant but has been rolled out so that it can be used to make decorations. Most types of rolled fondant are used to make flowers and patterns into a cake. The flowers are then colored to have a more realistic look. The process of making these items is not for everyone because making them can be very time-consuming. The purpose of these items is to make the cakes look