Cakes: Dessert Of Choice For Many

Cakes are generally sweet and baked desserts. The typical ingredients used to make cakes include flour, a sweetener (usually sugar), fats (usually margarine or butter), a binding agent (usually egg), a leavening agent (i.e. baking powder or yeast), liquid (usually milk or water), and flavors.

Cakes are often the preferred dessert at a reception during ceremonial or formal events such as weddings and anniversaries but, for almost everybody, any occasion is best celebrated with cakes whether its birthdays, graduation days, Christmas and etcetera.

Certainly, there are thousands of ways to make a cake. Cake making used to be laborious and complicated but thanks to modern baking equipment and tools and the abundance of easy-to-prepare cake recipes, making cakes for dessert can be done by the average home cook or even by young bakers.

Some cakes are simple and resemble bread while other cakes are more elaborate and rich in flavor. There are modern cakes with new and flavors such as kiwi fruit and peach cake and fun or customized designs such as sugary butterflies or cartoon characters. Of course, old-fashioned cakes are still around such as banana cakes, chocolate cakes, and the white wedding cakes. Because cakes are centuries-old desserts, there are many cultures where cakes are associated with traditions such as the ceremonial cake cutting in weddings and the celebration of festivals.

There are many varieties of cakes. The small, cup-shaped versions are known as cupcakes. There are mini cakes, which are simply scaled-down replicas of standard cakes, popularly used as desserts in wedding receptions. These cakes dessert are meant for personal consumption. The standard cakes are meant for sharing. They are sliced and served often as desserts after a meal at a social gathering.

Cakes can also be described by the number of layers or tiers it has, normally, from one to six. Layered cakes may consist of not only layered cake sponges and icings but can also include fruits, custard, and other fillings. Cakes also come in a variety of shapes but traditional cakes are either round, square or rectangular. In modern baking, however, special shapes have emerged creating cakes not only in all sorts of geometrical shapes but in novelty shapes from suitcases to telephones, castles, animals, and so many others.

Finished cakes are usually decorated by covering it with icing, frosting, or other toppings such as sprinkles, chocolate shavings, fruits and etcetera. Royal Icing, Fondant Icing, Marzipan, almond paste and butter cream are used for icing cakes and to create embellishments such as piped messages and borders, sugar or fondant flowers, or crystallized fruits. There are even cakes decorated with edible photos. In decorating contemporary cakes, the baker’s imagination is the only limit.