Market basket: What's a birthday without an iced, sprinkled cake?
For some reason, the flavor of birthday cake now permeates all sorts of products. You can find cookies, ice cream and candy sporting the taste. Even candles are scented with the aroma of a freshly baked birthday cake. But how did it all begin?
The first recorded birthdays were around 3000 BC for kings of Egypt. It was rare for women, children or anyone else to have the day of their birth commemorated. Ancient Greeks copied the custom and used it as a reason to honor gods and goddesses.
Not to be outdone, the Romans decided to use birthdays to pay homage to important statesmen as national holidays. In the Christian era, the opposite occurred. Honored saints were celebrated annually on the day of their death signaling their transition to heaven.
It wasn’t until the 4th century when the church settled on a day of holiness centered around the birth of Jesus that things began to change. Christmas altered the thinking of a birth day and it was then commonly recorded and celebrated for everyone.
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Elaborately decorated cakes with candles on top were presented to German children starting in the 13th century. Those candles were changed out and kept lit throughout the day to honor the child. It was at the evening meal that the candles were supposed to be blown out in one breath and the wish made had to be kept a secret.
Today, birthday cakes come in a variety of flavors and the icing can be any desire of the honoree. I still like a basic white cake with white or slightly tinted frosting. My twin sister and I always had pink frosting colored by the juice of maraschino cherries. My husband insists that it be yellow cake and chocolate icing for his day. Whatever your preference, enjoy the day as well as the long path that brought us to the happy occasion.
You asked for it
Erica Rayborn of Mobile wants to know if she can use a pestle from her mortar set as a muddler.
Erica,
You can but it might be too cumbersome and large. You can certainly use the back of a spoon if you don’t have a muddler, which is a long rod with a flat end. The purpose is to mash or crush items like mint leaves to be used in cocktails.
Tammy Algood is the author of five cookbooks and can be seen on “Volunteer Gardener” on PBS stations in Tennessee. Follow her at www.hauteflavor.com
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Market basket: What's a birthday without an iced, sprinkled cake?
