43 articles
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Chocolate cake
Chocolate cake, or torta al cioccolato-style layer cakes, is a cake flavored with cocoa powder or chocolate. Early 19th-century American versions were yellow cake with chocolate frosting; the 1828 cocoa press and 1902 recipe pamphlets popularized chocolate-flavored cakes.
Clafoutis
Clafoutis, a baked French dessert from Limousin made of cherries in a flan-like egg, milk, sugar, and flour batter; also called clafouti in English. Word coined in the 19th century from clafir, 'to fill'; other fruits make a flaugnarde.
Colin the Caterpillar
Colin the Caterpillar is M&S's chocolate celebration cake, sold since 1990 and made by Park Cakes in Oldham; over 15 million sold, known for the M&S v Aldi Cuthbert trademark dispute, Connie the Caterpillar, and Arctic Colin.
Cupcake
Cupcake: a small individual cake baked in a muffin tin, named for the early 19th-century "cup cake" measured by the cup; first printed by Eliza Leslie in 1828; gourmet boom from Magnolia Bakery, 1996.
Entremet
Entremet (plural entremets): French term for a sweet course served after cheese, and in modern patisserie a layered mousse-based composed cake, frozen and mirror-glazed; historically a medieval between-courses spectacle, now central to 2026 texture and mini-portion trends.
Fruitcake
Fruitcake, also called Christmas cake or plum cake, is a dense cake of dried and candied fruit, nuts, and spices, often preserved with brandy or rum. Known for Roman origins, extreme shelf stability, and holiday and wedding traditions.
Genoise
Genoise (génoise), a Genoa-named French sponge cake: whole eggs and sugar warmed and whipped to the ribbon stage, flour and melted butter folded in, no chemical leavening; sturdy base for tortes, bûche de Noël, and syrup-soaked layer cakes.
German chocolate cake
German chocolate cake is an American layered chocolate cake with coconut-pecan frosting, named after Samuel German, creator of Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate in 1852; the 1957 Dallas recipe popularized it.
Gingerbread
Gingerbread: spiced baked goods from crisp cookies to cakes and decorated Christmas houses. From Old French gingembrat (preserved ginger); earliest English recipes had no ginger, using honey, breadcrumbs, saffron, and pepper.
Gooey butter cake
Gooey butter cake, also called ooey gooey butter cake, is a St. Louis, Missouri specialty: a flat, dense cake with a yeasted or cake-mix base and a buttery, underbaked, pudding-like topping, born by legend from a 1930s German baker's mistake.
King cake
King cake (galette des rois, gâteau des rois) is a ring-shaped cinnamon or brioche pastry eaten from Epiphany (January 6) to Mardi Gras, famous in New Orleans with a hidden plastic baby, purple, green, and gold sugar, and over 500,000 cakes sold per Carnival season.
Kürtőskalács
Kürtőskalács (chimney cake, Baumstriezel) is a Székely-Transylvanian spit cake of wound yeast dough with a caramelized sugar shell; first recorded 1679, first recipe 1784, Hungarian Hungarikum since 2015.
Lamington
Lamington: Australian and New Zealand square of sponge or butter cake coated in chocolate and desiccated coconut, sometimes jam- or cream-filled; named after Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland 1896–1901; first printed recipe 17 December 1900.
Mochi (餅)
Mochi (餅, mochi) is the Japanese rice cake made by steaming and pounding glutinous rice (mochigome), also called niangao-like sticky rice cake. Known for Yayoi-era origins, New Year kagami-mochi and zoni customs, east-west shape differences, and elderly choking risk.