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Abirthday cake is a cake eaten as part of a birthday celebration. While there is no standard for birthday cakes, they are typically highly decorated layer cakes covered in frosting, often featuring birthday wishes ("Happy birthday") and the celebrant's name. In many cultures, it is also customary to serve the birthday cake with small lit candles on top, especially in the case of a child's birthday. Variations include cupcakes, cake pops, pastries, and tarts.
Birthday cakes have been a part of birthday celebrations in Western European countries since the middle of the 19th century.[1] However, the link between cakes and birthday celebrations may date back to ancient Roman times; in classical Roman culture, cakes were occasionally served at special birthdays and at weddings. These were flat circles made from flour and nuts, leavened with yeast, and sweetened with honey.[2]
In Germany by the 18th century, the tradition of celebrating birthdays with a birthday cake and candles began. One of the most notable occasions where using a birthday cake with candles took form was during Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf of Marienborn's birthday party in 1746 in Germany.[3] His cake was said to be as big as an oven could make it, with candles stuck in it, marking the years of his age.[3] From the 18th century, elaborate cakes continued to take form, having many aspects of the contemporary birthday cake, like multiple layers, icing, and decorations. However, these cakes were only available to the very wealthy. Birthday cakes became accessible to the lower class as a result of the industrial revolution and the spread of more materials and goods.
The practice of serving cake on birthdays is commonplace in many cultures. In contemporary Western cultures, birthday cakes for children are often topped with small candles, secured with special holders or simply pressed down into the cake. In the Anglosphere, the number of candles often corresponds to the age of the individual being celebrated, occasionally with one extra for luck.[4] An increasingly popular alternative is to use candles shaped as the numeral digits of the celebrant's age. Sparklers may also be used alongside or instead of the traditional wax candles.
The cake is usually presented with all the candles lit, at which point it is customary for the guests to sing Happy Birthday to You in unison, or an equivalent birthday song appropriate to the country. Upon the conclusion of the song, the celebrant is traditionally prompted to blow out the candles and make a wish, which is thought to come true if all the candles are extinguished in a single breath. Another common superstition holds that the wish must be made in silence, not to be shared with anyone else, or else it will not come true.[5][6][7]
Though the exact origin of the birthday candle ritual is unknown, there are multiple theories which try to explain this tradition.
One theory explaining the tradition of placing candles on birthday cakes is attributed to the early Greeks, who used candles to honor the goddess Artemis' birth on the sixth day of every lunar month. The link between her oversight of fertility and the birthday tradition of candles on cakes, however, has not been established.[8]
In 18th century Germany, the history of candles on cakes can be traced back to Kinderfest, a birthday celebration for children.[9] This tradition also makes use of candles and cakes. German children were taken to an auditorium-like space. There, they were free to celebrate another year in a place where Germans believed that adults protected children from the evil spirits attempting to steal their souls. In those times there was no tradition of bringing gifts to a birthday; guests would merely bring good wishes for the birthday person. However, if a guest did bring gifts it was considered to be a good sign for the person whose birthday it was. Later, flowers became quite popular as a birthday gift.[10]
A reference to the tradition of blowing out the candles was documented in Switzerland in 1881. Researchers for the Folk-Lore Journal recorded various "superstitions" among the Swiss middle class. One statement depicted a birthday cake as having lighted candles which correspond to each year of life. These candles were required to be blown out, individually, by the person who is being celebrated.[13]
In June 2017 researchers at Clemson University reported that some individuals deposit a large number of bacteria onto the cake frosting when blowing out the candles.[6][7][14] They found that on average, the act increased the amount of bacteria by 14 times, but one of the researchers described this as "not a big health concern".[5]
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There are many variations of sweets which are eaten around the world on birthdays. Different cultures have different unique birthday cake traditions.
The Chinese birthday pastry is the shòu bāo (simplified Chinese: 寿包; traditional Chinese: 壽包) or shòu táo bāo (simplified Chinese: 寿桃包; traditional Chinese: 壽桃包), a lotus-paste-filled bun made of wheat flour and shaped and colored to resemble a peach. Rather than serving one large pastry, each guest is served their own small shòu bāo.
In Western Russia, birthday children are served fruit pies with a birthday greeting carved into the crusts. As well in Russia and Lithuania, rather than a birthday cake, Russian adolescents receive a pie with a sweet birthday message that is illustrated with icing on top of the birthday pie.[15]
The Swedish birthday cake is made like a pound cake that is often topped with marzipan and decorated with the national flag. Dutch birthday pastries are fruit tarts topped with whipped cream.
InIndia there are very few people who celebrate birthdays in the villages, but in cities and towns, birthday cakes are consumed similarly as in Western countries, especially among people with higher education.
Traditionally an English birthday cake is infused with artifacts that signify importance and good luck when baking the cake. To illustrate, adding a coin into the baking of the cake can represent financial success for the birthday individual.[16] Different artifacts within cake can be used to symbolize a wish for the birthday girl or boy.
Birthday parties in Egypt consist of two different birthday cakes for the birthday girl or boy. Often only one birthday cake has a set of birthday candles while the other is left untouched. While two birthday cakes are significant in Egyptian culture, other sweet treats can be seen at birthday parties such as cakes known as “ghettos”.[17]
In Israel individuals celebrate their birthdays with candles on their birthday cakes that align with the number of years the birthday individual was born. As well an additional candle is added to the birthday cake to represent a candle for the following year.[18]
In the United States lighting a birthday candle in correlation to the age of the birthday day recipient is mirrored off of German customs.[19] As well, singing happy birthday songs has become engraved in American birthday culture while the candles on the birthday are lit. In the 20th century a birthday trend became evident in American culture where a birthday want or desire would only be achieved if the birthday recipient blew the candle in one exhale.[19]
On average, blowing out the candles increased the amount of bacteria on the frosting by 14 times. But in one case, it increased the amount of bacteria by more than 120 times. "Some people blow on the cake and they don't transfer any bacteria. Whereas you have one or two people who really for whatever reason ... transfer a lot of bacteria." says Dawson."
They then lit the candles and blew them out before diluting the frosting with sterilised water and spreading it out on agar plates for the bacteria to grow.
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