Zander's Inside Voice

One of the things that makes me who I am is this intense curiosity I was born with. I remember asking why all the time when I was young, like beyond the normal stage of asking why to everything. It was like this crazy thirst to find out more. I have always needed to know who things work and how everything comes together. The internet was probably the single best creation in my lifetime because now I can find out the why of pretty much anything. I’m going to blog about one of my many questions each day and see if I can find the answer. Just a warning, this will be really random depending on what’s going on that day and where my mind takes me. I don’t ever have a set topic that I wonder about.

Today I wondered about cake frosting. When did people start putting frosting on cakes?

According to bakerpedia.com, the first published recipe for frosting was in The Experienced English Housekeeper in 1769 and credited to a woman named Elizabeth Raffald. But frosting was probably made at least 200 years prior to that.

The theory is that it was more likely applied to harden a cake and give is a sheen, as well as increase the self life of baked goods.

Buttercream was made in Germany in 1915.

How cool!! I’m not sure when I thought frosting was first used, but it’s much earlier than I realized. I was also sure there was some other functional reason, other than to make the cake taste sweeter/better.

So today and maybe tomorrow I will remember all about cake frosting! I think I might always remember why it started, because that makes a lot of sense to me. But the dates won’t stick, that I am sure!!