Home Today Is Philadelphia’s Eliza Leslie, Published The Earliest Chocolate Cake Recipe In 1847

Philadelphia’s Eliza Leslie, Published The Earliest Chocolate Cake Recipe In 1847

National Chocolate Cake Day celebrates the cake more people favor. And more often than not, we celebrate our special occasions like anniversaries, birthdays and weddings with cake. Why not enjoy chocolate cake on January 27th every year?

  • According to the Dover Post, the chocolate cake was born in 1765 when a doctor and a chocolate maker teamed up in an old mill.  They ground up cocoa beans between huge millstones to make a thick syrup. The liquid was poured into molds shaped like cakes, which were meant to be transformed into a beverage.
  • A popular Philadelphia cookbook author, Eliza Leslie, published the earliest chocolate cake recipe in 1847 in The Lady’s Receipt Book.  Unlike chocolate cakes we know today, this recipe used chopped chocolate.  Other cooks of the time such as Sarah Tyson Rorer and Maria Parloa all made contributions to the development of the chocolate cake and were prolific authors of cookbooks.
  • The first boxed cake mix was created by a company called O. Duff and Sons in the late 1920s.  Betty Crocker released their first dry cake mixes in 1947.
  • German’s chocolate cake has nothing to do with Germany. The cake itself is from the United States, and bears the name of Samuel German. German developed a formulation for the dark baking chocolate used in his cake.
  • A chocolate cake is also known as a Mahogany Cake.
  • It has been the most popular cake since Pillsbury introduced the flavor in 1948. Before then, there were only a few flavors of cake mixes such as yellow, white, spice, and ginger, made by General Mills. The mixes were very easy for cooks to use because all they had to do was to add water, mix, and bake.
  • The proverb ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it’ first appeared in the early 16th century. The proverb ‘a piece of cake’ was not coined until the 20th century.
  • The word ‘cake’ comes from Middle English kake, and is probably a borrowing from Old Norse.
  • The meaning of ‘cake’ has changed over time, and the first cake was: A comparatively small flattened sort of bread, round, oval, or otherwise regularly shaped, and usually baked hard on both sides by being turned during the process.
  • In Scotland, and parts of Wales and northern England, cake took on the specific meaning of ‘a thick, hard biscuit made from oatmeal’.
  • The world’s largest wedding cake weighed 15,032 lb and was made by chefs at the Mohegan Sun Hotel and Casino, Uncasville, CT in February 2004.
  • The world’s tallest cake stood 108 feet, 3 inches high. Students and staff members at the Hakasima-Nilasari Culinary School in Jakarta, Indonesia baked it for their annual Christmas celebration.
  • The world’s most expensive cake, christened the “Pirates Fantasy,” cost a whopping $35 million. Crafted by Chef D.K., Group Skills Development Chef at Aitken Spence Hotels. It was adorned with ten different stones belonging to the sapphire family with the most expensive and the rarest one being a “Padmaraja” or the ‘King Sapphire.” It also included ten pieces of jewelry ranging from necklaces, bracelets, rings, brooches pendants, tie pins, cuff links to nose rings and toe rings.
  • More than 29% of U.S. school districts have banned bake sales due to anti-obesity regulations.
  • The saying “You can’t have you cake and eat it”(originally “eat your cake and have it”) is first seen in print in 1562 in John Heywood’s ‘Proverbs and Epigrams.’
  • The first birthday cake was originally a cake given as an offering on a person’s birthday. The first reference to ‘birthday cake’ came in 1785.
  • During the 17th century, in England, people believed that keeping fruitcakes under the pillow of those who are unmarried will give them sweet dreams about their fiancee.
  • The word ‘cake’ comes from Middle English kake, and is probably a borrowing from Old Norse.
  • The meaning of ‘cake’ has changed over time, and the first cake was: A comparatively small flattened sort of bread, round, oval, or otherwise regularly shaped, and usually baked hard on both sides by being turned during the process.
  • In Scotland, and parts of Wales and northern England, cake took on the specific meaning of ‘a thick, hard biscuit made from oatmeal’.
  • The world’s largest wedding cake weighed 15,032 lb and was made by chefs at the Mohegan Sun Hotel and Casino, Uncasville, CT in February 2004.
  • The world’s tallest cake stood 108 feet, 3 inches high. Students and staff members at the Hakasima-Nilasari Culinary School in Jakarta, Indonesia baked it for their annual Christmas celebration.
  • The world’s most expensive cake, christened the “Pirates Fantasy,” cost a whopping $35 million. Crafted by Chef D.K., Group Skills Development Chef at Aitken Spence Hotels. It was adorned with ten different stones belonging to the sapphire family with the most expensive and the rarest one being a “Padmaraja” or the ‘King Sapphire.” It also included ten pieces of jewelry ranging from necklaces, bracelets, rings, brooches pendants, tie pins, cuff links to nose rings and toe rings.
  • The first birthday cake was originally a cake given as an offering on a person’s birthday. The first reference to ‘birthday cake’ came in 1785.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Albert On Record

Coffee House Writers

Vocal Media

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