111 articles
Alfajor
Alfajor (from Arabic al-hasu, "filling"): a confection of thin baked dough pieces joined by dulce de leche or, in Andalusia, a honey-almond-spice paste. South American staple, especially Argentina, with regional varieties and Medina Sidonia PGI in Spain.
Angel food cake
Angel food cake: a fat-free American sponge cake (also called angel cake) leavened only by whipped egg whites, named 1880–85 for its white color, baked in an ungreased tube pan and cooled upside down to prevent collapse.
Antwerp hands
Antwerp hands (Antwerpse handjes) are hand-shaped almond biscuits from Antwerp, Belgium, created in 1934 by Jewish Amsterdam-born baker Jos Hakker, referencing the Brabo legend, not Congo atrocities.
Anzac biscuit
Anzac biscuit: eggless oat, coconut and golden syrup biscuit of Australia and New Zealand, originally called Soldiers' Biscuit, renamed after the 1915 Gallipui landings; name legally protected under the Protection of Word 'Anzac' Act 1920.
Apple crisp
Apple crisp is a North American baked dessert of spiced apples under a flour, sugar, butter, and oat topping, distinct from the British crumble; first printed in 1916, popularized in 1920s cookbooks.
Apple pie
Apple pie, a baked dessert of spiced apple slices and thickener in a pastry crust, is a 14th-century British invention that became an American icon. Key facts: 1381 English recipe, 1924 'as American as apple pie' ad, filling thickening science.
Apple strudel
Apfelstrudel (apple strudel): Viennese pastry of hand-stretched, paper-thin dough rolled around apples, rum-soaked raisins, cinnamon, and buttered breadcrumbs; Ottoman-derived dough, oldest recipes dated 1696/1697, baked at 180 °C.
Babka
Babka, also called krantz cake (עוגת קראנץ), is a sweet Eastern European Jewish yeast bread twisted with chocolate, cinnamon, or poppy seed filling; Polish in origin, chocolate-filled since New York, revived by 2010s bakeries.
Baklava
Baklava, also known as baqlawa or pakhlava, is a layered pastry of buttered filo sheets, nut filling, and syrup, made across Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Battenberg cake
Battenberg cake, also spelled Battenburg, is a British teatime cake of pink and yellow sponge joined with apricot jam to show a chequered slice, wrapped in marzipan.
Baumkuchen
Baumkuchen (バウムクーヘン), German "tree cake," is a layered spit-roasted cake with tree-ring cross-section. Introduced to Japan by WWI POW Karl Juchheim in 1919, it symbolizes longevity there; Salzwedel Baumkuchen holds an EU PGI.
Beignet
Beignet (French, plural beignets): a fried pastry. In France a batter-coated fritter; in New Orleans a square, holeless fried dough dusted with powdered sugar, Louisiana's official state donut since 1986.
Birthday cake
Birthday cake: frosted celebration cake with lit candles, one per year of life, blown out with a wish. Originated in 18th-century Germany's Kinderfest; also a vanilla-sprinkle flavor.
Black and white cookie
Black and white cookie, also called half-moon or Amerikaner: a soft, cake-like New York City bakery cookie frosted half chocolate, half vanilla fondant; origin debated between Glaser's Bake Shop (1902) and Utica's Hemstrought's Bakery.
Black Forest gateau
Black Forest gateau (Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte), also called Black Forest cake, is a German layer cake of chocolate sponge, sour cherries, whipped cream, and Kirsch, which German food rules require; credited to Josef Keller in 1915.
Boston cream pie
Boston cream pie is a sponge cake, not a pie: two cake layers with pastry cream and chocolate glaze, created at Boston's Omni Parker House around 1856-1865 and Massachusetts' official state dessert since 1996.
Bundt cake
Bundt cake: cake baked in a fluted tube pan trademarked by Nordic Ware, invented 1950 by H. David Dalquist in Minneapolis from a German kugelhopf mold; famous after the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off Tunnel of Fudge cake.
Butter tart
Butter tart, a classic Canadian pastry with a filling of butter, eggs, and sugar, often with raisins or nuts; first printed recipe 1900 in Barrie, Ontario; related to tarte au sucre and pecan pie.
Buttercream
Buttercream, also called buttercream frosting, is a butter-and-sugar cake frosting in styles such as American, Swiss meringue, Italian meringue, French, German, and ermine, differing in egg base, sweetness, and heat stability.
Cake
Cake: a sweet baked food of flour, sugar, eggs, fat, and liquid, from Old Norse-derived English word kaka descendant. Covers batter and foam types, leavening history, pound cake, cake mixes, Bundt pan, sugar reduction, and clean-label reformulation.
Canelé
Canelé (also cannelé, Occitan canelat): small fluted cylindrical pastry from Bordeaux with a caramelized crust and custardy interior, baked in beeswax-coated copper molds; one-n spelling trademarked in 1985.
Carrot cake
Carrot cake, also called carrot loaf or Rüeblitorte in Switzerland, is a spiced oil-based cake of grated carrots with cream cheese frosting; 84% of recipes use oil, and its printed history runs from 1827 to wartime Britain.
Cassata
Cassata, or cassata siciliana, is Sicily's layered Easter cake of liqueur-soaked sponge, sweetened sheep's-milk ricotta with chocolate, green marzipan, white glaze, and candied fruit; modern form codified by Salvatore Gulì in 1873; name from Arabic qas'at or Latin caseus.
Castella (カステラ)
Castella (カステラ, kasutera) is a Japanese sponge cake of Portuguese origin, from pão de Castela, introduced via Nagasaki in the 16th century; made with eggs, sugar, flour and mizuame, no butter, with a crunchy zarame-sugar bottom.
Charlotte (cake)
Charlotte (cake): a molded dessert lined with ladyfingers, sponge cake, or buttered bread. First printed 1796 as baked apple charlotte; Carême's cold Bavarian-cream version became the Charlotte Russe.
Cheesecake
Cheesecake, also sernik (Polish), Käsekuchen, a tart-like dessert of sweetened curd or cream cheese on a pastry or crumb base; recipes run from Cato's Rome and the 14th-century Forme of Cury to New York, Basque, Japanese, and Polish styles.
Chess pie
Chess pie, also known as Jefferson Davis pie, is a very sweet Southern American dessert pie with a dense custard filling of eggs, butter, and sugar.
Chiffon cake
Chiffon cake, an American oil-based foam cake invented by Harry Baker in the 1920s and released by General Mills in 1948 as "the first new cake in 100 years," combines whipped egg whites, baking powder, oil, and egg yolks for a tall, moist crumb.
Choco pie
Choco pie (초코파이) is a Korean marshmallow-filled, chocolate-coated snack cake launched by Orion in 1974 and also made by Lotte, Crown, and Haitai; the name is generic, and Orion's version sells in 60+ countries with 84% of sales overseas.
Chocolate brownie
Chocolate brownie: dense American bar cookie of chocolate, butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. Credited to Chicago's Palmer House for the 1893 World's Fair; fudgy, chewy, and cakey styles differ by fat, flour, and leavening ratios.