While our family has been baking cakes for almost two centuries, the tradition of the birthday cake has been around since Ancient Rome. During the Roman Era the cakes were usually simple flat, round cakes of flour baked with nuts, leavened with yeast and topped with honey. The first cakes were more like bread versus the cakes we know. Those came in the 15th century from Germany.
The tradition of putting candles on top came from the early Greeks. They would put candles on top of the round cakes making them “glow like the moon” and offered them to the goddess of the moon, Artemis. The Greeks would say a prayer then blow out the candles and say a prayer so the smoke would carry these prayers to the heavens.
While the traditions have evolved and the cakes have gotten more extravagant, the idea of celebrating life has continued. We are happy carrying on these traditions by creating beautiful, custom birthday cakes for you and your loved ones. We’d love to see your favorite birthday memories! Feel free to share them on our Facebook wall or send us a tweet (@3brothersbakery) with your photos.
For more information on the origins of the birthday cake visit these sites:
http://books.google.com/books?id=pE4KAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA380#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Cakes/BirthdayCake.htm
http://www.tokenz.com/history-of-birthday-cake.html
http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/154808/cooking_recipes/birthday_cake_history.html