The Birth of the Birthday Cake

What did the ancient Romans eat for their birthday? And how was the birthday cake with candles born? Learn more here.

Today, birthday cakes are quite common. But did you know that even the ancient Romans knew them? It was a cake made of flour, yeast and nuts, sweetened with honey and served for special birthdays. The single-layer birthday cake was first made in Germany in the 15th century. And in the 17th century, the relatively simple cake was transformed into a multi-layer cake decorated elaborately with candles.

This more or less completed the development phase of today's birthday cake, although at that time only the very rich could afford such works of art. This only changed during industrialization, when cakes became affordable for a large population.

Speaking of the rich: in 1746, a birthday party was organized for Nikolaus Ludwig, Count of Zinzendorf. A guest wrote at the time that the birthday cake was as big as the largest oven that could be found to bake it and that it had 46 holes for candles.