The Birthday Cake

Over past the few weeks, several of my friends, including myself, have had their birthdays. Most of my friends have been turning twenty-one years old, so obviously there has been much celebrating and alcoholism. Nonetheless, there is also another constant, birthday cakes. Have you ever celebrated someone’s birthday without some form of cake or desert with candles placed in it? Well maybe you have, but I bet it’s rare that you are at a birthday event without cake. Personally I enjoy a good chocolate mousse cake, but I have begun to enjoy red velvet cake as well. All these birthdays have got me thinking, why cakes on someone’s birthday? Why not cookies? Why not chicken and other poultry items? So, I did a little research. With a little help from tokenz.com I would like to share with you the history behind the birthday cake.
One theory is that the history of the birthday cake can be traced back to the ancient Greeks who made moon or round shaped honey cakes or bread and took it to the temple of Artemis (the goddess of the moon, this explains the round shape of cakes). Another theory states that birthday cakes originated during the middle ages in Germany. To commemorate Jesus’ birthday, Germans would take sweetened bread dough and form it into a shape of Jesus swaddling a cloth (I would definitely like to see a picture of that). The special cakes were eventually given for Kinderfest or a young child’s birthday. The Germans also made another type of cake called a Geburtstagorten, which was a cake baked in layers (the start of layered cakes, I like seven layer chocolate cake, do you?). Now, what about the candles?
Some believe the tradition of placing candles on the cake also started with the Greeks. They would place lit candles on top of their round cake so it would make the cake glow like the moon. Another theory states that the candles were placed on the cake because while in the temple of Artemis, they believed the smoke from the candles would carry their wishes and prayers to Gods who lived in the skies (this also probably explains where blowing out the candles and making a wish originates). Some also believe that the Germans started the custom by placing one large candle in the center of their cakes to symbolize the light of life.
However the custom started, I’m happy someone did it. Health wise, it is not a smart idea to eat cake everyday, but if everyone could, they probably would. Who does not enjoy cake? Who does not enjoy the festivities behind a birthday cake? Singing happy birthday followed by the how old are you now song. It gets a little cheesy as you get older (like us wise 21yr olds) but its tradition, so you have to do it, right? That brings a whole other question to the table; let’s put that aside for the time being. Birthday cakes are delicious as well as meaningful; I wish I could make a wish everyday.
(Some info provided by tokenz.com)