Cakes have always been an integral part of any celebration. But the evolution of these delicious sweet treats has been pretty long and quite interesting. Cakes have seen it all-the transformation from baked-hard-on-both-sides to the current mushy and soft delicacy! 

The choicest, yummiest cakes we eat today trails their way back to the 8th century with so many beliefs and customs attached to it. In fact, there’s a National Cake Day on November 26th too. It’s time for you to be enlightened with some interesting cake facts that we bet you would never forget after reading!

1. Kake to Cake: The term ‘cake’ originated from the North Germanic word ‘kaka’.

2. The Basic Cake: Romans initiated the concept of cakes and back then in the 8th century, cakes had a simpler version, unlike the modern ones which are a mix of flavourful ingredients. The basic bread was used and given the consistency with butter and eggs. Honey was used as a sweetener.

3. Blowing Out The Candles Has A Story: Earlier, people used to blow candles one at a time so that the smoke carries their prayers to heaven. Besides, the cake was offered to the Goddess of Moon and the candles were symbols of the moon’s shining light. Although such a tradition is not believed in modern times it is definitely followed.

4. We Just Got Lucky With Red Velvet: One of the interesting cake facts about Red Velvet is rather interesting. Once a woman ate the Red Velvet cake in the restaurant and got quite fond of it. She asked the restaurant for the recipe and they charged $100 for the same. She got furious and circulated the recipe widely as revenge.

5. Could Cakes Help In Finding A Soulmate Too? Long back in the US, keeping a fruit cake under the pillow was considered auspicious. Because of this belief, many bridesmaids would follow the concept to get married soon or find a good husband.

6. The Cakewalk Dance: The African-American communities in Southern United began the cakewalk dance competition which meant graceful walking. Whoever did the cakewalk best was given a cake as the prize.

7. There’s A Record For The Tallest Cake Too: The world’s tallest cake was baked for Christmas by students and staff members of Hakasima-Nilasari Culinary School in Jakarta, Indonesia. The cake stood 108 feet, 3 inches high.

8. Not the Bouquet Toss, It’s Pulling Out The Charm That Would Get You Married: In some parts of the US, it was a tradition for single women to pull out the ribbon from inside the bouquet. One of the ribbons was attached to the charm and whoever pulled out the charm was the next one to marry.

9. We Are The Blessed Generation: Earlier when the craze for the cake had just begun, people used to travel far and wide to get birthday cakes. At that time, baking tools, techniques and ingredients were very expensive and owned only by a few high society bakeries.

10. The Fun Cake Stack Custom: The cake stacking custom was very popular in weddings earlier. Each guest was expected to bring a layer of the cake and it was stacked with apple butter. The higher the cake was, the more popular the couple was believed to be.

So, there you have it! Interesting cake facts and the delicious history. Like everything else, cakes have evolved with time too. So the next time you indulge in this little luxury, think awhile about the journey of cakes over time!