Advent Day 18
Cake Decoration
Brief History Regarding Cake Decorating
It is very difficult to put an exact date on when baking, cake making and decorating began, although it is thought that the Babylonian’s taught the Egyptians the art of baking. A painted panel of around 1175 BC, depicted the court bakery of Ramesses III, illustrates the preparation of several types of cakes, as well some bread. There are also indications that confectionery sweetened with sugar was on sale in Egypt around 700 BC.
Today we serve specially decorated cakes to celebrate many different occasions: weddings, christenings, engagements, anniversaries, birthdays and Christmas. Christmas cakes have a long history and were baked by the rich in the eighteenth century as Twelfth Night cakes. A bean and a pea would be hidden and baked in the rich fruit mixture. Whoever found the bean was crowned ‘king of the feast’ and the finder of the pea ‘queen of the feast’. But it is wedding cakes that have the longest tradition and the story of their changing development the best illustrates the history of cake decorating as an art.
