Cake

Biography & Overview

Cake is a baker's confectionery made by combining flour with a liquid, a fat or both, and usually with a leavening agent. Cakes are usually baked, but can be griddled. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate and which share features with other desserts such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.
The most common ingredients include flour, sugar, eggs, fat (such as butter, oil, or shortening), and a leavening agent (such as baking soda or baking powder). Common additional ingredients include dried, candied, preserved or fresh fruit; nuts; cocoa; and flavor extracts such as vanilla, with numerous substitutions for the primary ingredients. Cakes can also be flavored with fruit preserves, nuts, or dessert sauces (like custard, jelly, cooked fruit, whipped cream, or syrups), covered with icing or frosting, and decorated with marzipan, piped borders, or candied fruit.
Cake is often serve...