French Cakes

Baba Au Rhum (or Rum Baba)

 

Baba is called Babka in French or Polish and it means 'old woman' or 'grandmother'. The cake can be made in a bundt tin to make it look like the one in the image to the right.

 As you can see from its name, the cake has rhum in it which would be boiled with water, sugar and orange zest to make a syrup to drizzle over the cake.

 The cake is made up of yeast, milk, flour, butter, sugar and eggs. The Babas can be brushed with hot apricot jam if you choose to. The cake may take a while to bake and prepare but it depends on the recipe but I think if you take your time and do everything carefully, you'll be satisfied with your results and the quality.

You could also add raisins or currants to the Baba and soak it in wine and rhum (which was the original way they made it) and the currants would drop out of the cake after they were soaked after a while. It is also usually served with whipped cream.

The original Rum Baba was introduced in the 18th Century in France. The modern Baba Au Rhum, which is soaked in rhum and contains currants or dried fruit, was made in 1835 in rue Montorgueil Paris, France.


If you would like to see a written recipe of Baba Au Rhum, please follow this link http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/1859/2001/12/26/Baba-Au-Rhum/recipe.html
or if you would like to watch a quick video of the basics of Baba Au Rhum, please look at the video below.

Image from http://lh3.ggpht.com/_O47yecIgxvI/SyQRKlRc_pI/AAAAAAAACiY/RNwwg02CYMI/November%202009%20074_thumb.jpg

Video from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwzARd5RTkI

German Cakes




 
 Sachertorte

Sachertorte is a chocolate cake that is soft and fluffy in texture and is usually served with unsweetened whipped cream. The ingredients of the cake is made up of mainly chocolate and also butter, caster sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, flour and apricot jam. Some recipes may vary. 

The creator of the cake is Franz Sacher and was made in Vienna, Austria in 1832. On that same year, Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich (Austrian politician in Germany) wanted his personal chef to create something special for his important guests. The only problem though was that his head chef was ill so he could not prepare any food, and that's when he left his sixteen year old apprentice take over for him, Franz Sacher who was currently in his second year in Prince Klemens Wenzel's kitchen. So as you have probably guessed, Sacher created his trademark Sachertorte for the very important guests. The cake was a great success!

Eduard carried on the culinary legacy of his father, Franz Sacher, and perfected the recipe over the years. You can find the cake with the original recipe served at Hotel Sacher which was established in 1876 by Eduard himself in Vienna. So if you would like to try out the real thing, head out to Vienna and grab a slice!
The cake remains as one of the most famous culinary specialties of Vienna.


If you would like the recipe, please follow this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sachertorte_59630

Image from http://www.sacher.com/en-sacher-photos.shtml

Spanish Cakes

Tarta de Santiago (St. James' Cake)

Tarta de Santiago which translates to 'Cake of St. James' is a cake or type of almond cake that is originated in Galicia (north west of Spain) from the Middle  Ages in the honour of St. James, a saint of Spain.

'Tarta' is the Spanish name for cake but 'Torta' is the Galician name for cake. This dessert is popular in

Santiago. It's thick and rich cake that is traditionally served during Easter in Spain during 'Semana Santa' which is Holy Week (lasts for ten days during March/ April time).

The main ingredient in this cake is almonds, if you haven't already guessed. The pie is decorated with sieved icing sugar with an imprint of St. James' cross which can be made from a cardboard cut-out and by placing it on top of the cake, sieving the icing sugar on top you get the imprint of the cross. The filling consists of almonds, eggs, butter, flour, sugar, water, baking powder and lemon zest.

If you would like this recipe, please follow this link:
http://spanishfood.about.com/od/dessertssweets/r/tartadesantiago.htm

Roscón de Reyes (King's Ring)

Roscón de Reyes is a traditional Spanish ring cake that translates to King's Ring. It is a ring shaped cake that is decorated with candied fruit which symbolises the emeralds and rubies the three kings' robes had. A golden crown (that can be made from tin foil and cardboard) rests in the middle of the cake and inside the cake it usually contains a plastic or porcelain baby figurine which represents the baby Jesus. Whoever gets the slice of cake with the baby figurine contained within it gets to wear the crown where they are declared king or queen.

The cake is made up of yeast, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, flour, dark rum, orange juice, lemon and orange rind, butter, almonds and ofcourse the candied fruit.
 It is traditionally eaten to celebrate Epiphany ( Epiphany falls on 6th January and is a Christian feast day which celebrates the revelation of God the Son).The Spanish celebration is known as Día de Reyes where they eat the Roscón de Reyes.

The Spanish continue celebrating after Christmas time up to 6th January, which is also known as their Christmas. On the 5th January (twelfth night of Christmas), the Spanish towns have parades to celebrate where they wait for los reyes magos (the three kings) whose names are Balthasar, Gaspar and Melchior. They arrive on camels where they throw out sweets to the crowds of people viewing the parade.

In Spain, the children get their presents for Christmas from the three kings on the 6th January rather than from Santa Claus.

If you would like this recipe, please follow this link http://spanishfood.about.com/od/dessertssweets/r/roscondereyes.htm

  

Images from http://www.hispanickitchen.com/profiles/blogs/tarta-de-santiago-a-spanish and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosc%C3%B3n_de_Reyes

History of Cakes

Over the past centuries, techniques and ways of baking have changed and also the eating patterns of people. The word cake dates back to the Viking origin, from the Old Norse word kaka.  Cake can be seen as an evolved form of bread. This is because in Ancient Rome they would enrich basic bread dough with eggs, honey and butter to make the bread more sweet and in the process it made the bread into a cake-like consistency.

Ancient Egypt was the first culture to show evidence of skill in baking where they have made many kinds of bread like using honey to make sweet bread. The Greeks made cheesecake using goat's milk and the Romans developed fruitcakes by including nuts, raisins and other fruits. Eventually these methods of cake making made an appearance in 14th Century Britain.

I will include more information in my future posts about the history of cake in certain regions and countries.
If you would like more information on the evolution of cake, go to http://www.foodmuseum.com/excake2.html

Introduction

Hello, my name is Dana and I'm going to tell you all about cakes from some different countries.
I chose this topic because I like cakes and I would like to learn more about the different cakes while I also post what discoveries I have made about cake. I think cake is wonderful!

This is related to geography as I'll be looking at different cakes from around the world as my blog title says.
I'll be looking at how they make the country's traditional cakes, the history behind it and I'll also get some pictures of the cakes and maybe put up the recipes.
 I hope you'll enjoy my future posts!

What is cake?
If you're not sure what cake is, cake can be defined as a sweet baked food made of flour, liquid, eggs and other ingredients such as a raising agent and flavourings or a flat rounded mass of dough or batter, such as a pancake that is baked or fried.