The one dessert delicacy that almost everyone cannot give up on is the cake. Cakes are mostly eaten on celebratory days, as a dessert or if you’re just craving it. With the perfect amount of sweetness and softness, cakes can easily make anyone’s day. There are a variety of cakes with its unique flavour and appearance. Each country has its dessert and most of the countries are known for their delicious cakes.
1. Black Forest Cake, Germany
The Black Forest Cake is a cake which is native to Germany. It is called the Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte which means “Black Forest Cherry Torte”. The cake consists of chocolate sponge cake layers with whipped cream between them. The cake is decorated with whipped cream along with cherries on top. The preparation for this cake is different as it is native to Germany. They make use of Kirschwasser, which is a colourless fruit made from sour cherries. It is a mandatory law in Germany that they use the Kirschwasser when they make the Black Forest Cake. If this ingredient is present, only then the cake can be called as Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte. Original Black Forest cakes have black cherries for decoration.
2. Lamingtons, Australia
Lamington is a type of cake which is native to Brisbane, which is a part of the country Australia. This cake gets its name from the Lord Lamington who was the governor of Queensland. It is made using two square sponge cakes which are coated in chocolate sauce or raspberry sauce and rolled in the coconut shavings. A layer of cream or strawberry jam is placed between the two halves of the chocolate sponge cakes and it is kept aside for some time for it to settle. This cake is well known and loved snack in Australia and there is a national day called National Lamington Day, specially dedicated to it.
3. Pandan Cake, Malaysia
Pandan Cake has its origins in Indonesia and Malaysia with a Dutch influence. The key ingredient to make this cake is the pandan leaves, used as a flavouring and colouring agent in South Asian and South East Asian cooking. The juice from these leaves gives the cake a unique and natural green colour. The cake is soft and spongy to eat and is popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, and China. Coconut milk is one of the main ingredient, which brings out the sponginess of the cake and is also called as Pandan Chiffon.
4. Victoria Sponge, Great Britain
Victoria Sponge is a variation of sponge cake. Named after Queen Victoria as this is the cake she always had with her afternoon tea. It is a layered sponge cake, which is native to Great Britain. This cake consists of two pieces of sponge cake filled with cream, raspberry jam and topped with icing sugar. This cake is very hard to make as it is sensitive to time and temperature.
5 Pavlova, New Zealand
Named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, Pavlova is a meringue based dessert. The creation of this cake was to honour the Russian ballerina. It’s made the same way you bake the meringue. It is crunchy and crispy on the outside while the inside is soft and marshmallow-like. This dessert is delicate because it will deflate when left outside, after baking it should be left inside the oven till it is cooled. Topping the desserts with fruits like kiwi, strawberries, and passionfruit will enhance its taste. This cake is mostly eaten during the summer time and Christmas time.
6. Princess Cake, Sweden
Princess Cake or the Prinsesstarta is native to the country of Sweden. It is made using alternating layers of sponge cake, pastry cream and whipped cream in a dome shape. The cake is topped off with a marzipan, employed in confections. The marzipan used here is green coloured and gives a smooth round top shape to the cake. The decoration is with powdered sugar and a tiny pink marzipan rose in the center. This cake was initially called as the Green Cake but was later renamed to Princess Cake because the princess of Sweden were said to be immensely fond of it.
7. Lapis Legit, Indonesia
Lapis Legit or Spekuk originated from Indonesia and is a type of layer cake. This cake has 18 layers and can be done easily with hard work and patience. They make use of exotic Indonesian spices and in English it is called as the Thousand Layer Spice Cake. The original cake has brown and white layers whereas the variation is made using pandan leaves that give the green colour and the cake has green and brown layers. During the colonial times of the Dutch East Indies, emerged this cake. It is served during local festivities, birthdays or wedding days.
8. Kransekage, Denmark/Norway
This cake has its origins in both Denmark and Norway. It is eaten only on special occasions like Christmas, baptisms, new year’s eve, birthdays, anniversaries or weddings. It’s also called as a wreath cake in Danish and tower cake in Norwegian. They are a series of ring-shaped arranged one on top of the other, in a sloping manner. Usually, there are 18 layers or more, which look hard but are soft and chewy and decorated with either Denmark flags or Norway flags. A variant of this cake is used only for weddings and is called Overflodighedshorn meaning horn of plenty. It is horn shaped like a cornucopia filled with sweets and chocolate.
9. Postre Chaja, Uruguay
This cake is an Uruguayan dessert. The cake is light and fluffy because of the sponge cake, cream and meringue. This dessert gets its name from the bird Chaja, because of the similar traits it shares with the cake. The fruits used in this cake are peaches and strawberries. The two variants of this cake are with milk and chocolate.
10 Tiramisu, Italy
This famous Italian dessert means “pick me up” and is a coffee flavoured custard and adapted into varieties of cakes and desserts. It is a type of layered cake. A traditional Tiramisu consists of finger biscuits, egg yolks, sugar, coffee, mascarpone cheese and cocoa powder. The traditional recipes don’t use egg whites but the modern recipes might include them. The Tiramisu cake is usually round shaped but the cookies used are suitable for a rectangular type of cake. This cake is eaten cold for better taste. It is topped off with powdered cocoa along with a berry or two.
11. Madeleines, France
France is known for their delicious confectionary. Their most famous confection is the Madeleine. It is a small cake which originated from the North East region of France. These little sponge cakes are baked in a shell-shaped pan to give a shell-shaped cake. There are many theories as to how this cake came into existence but the authenticity of these arguments is not known. They include various grounded nuts to give a unique taste to the cakes. A variation of Madeleine uses lemon zest give the tangy taste.
12. Baklava, Turkey
This pastry has its origin from the great Ottoman Empire. Made using unleavened dough, sugar and finely chopped nuts all held together using syrup or honey. It has multiple layers, and each of these layers filled with chopped nuts and honey. There are numerous variations of this pastry using any ingredients. When served at room temperature, the dessert is delicious and its shape is a square or a diamond.
13. Kaiserschmarrm, Austria
This delicacy originated from Austria. It is called as the shredded pancake and got its name because of the king (Kaiser) Franz Joseph, who loved the soft and fluffiness of the shredded pancake. The pancakes are light and are split using forks into pieces while frying them and crown these pieces with powdered sugar, accompanied with applesauce or plum sauce. This dessert can be served as a meal as it is quite scrumptious.
14 Cheesecake, United States of America
This cake has originated from the United States of America. Cheesecake is one of the well-liked cakes by the people of the country. It is crumbly, soft biscuit as a base on top of which a mixture of various cheeses, which forms the primary layer of the cake. There are two ways to create this cake, baked and non-baked(refrigerated). Sweetened with sugar and various fruits or sauces that accompany it, the preparation of these cheesecakes can be in any flavour of our choice.
15. Dorayaki, Japan
Dorayaki is a Japanese confection which consists of two pancake patties made from Japanese sponge cakes filled with sweet Azuki red bean paste. The other name for this pastry is Mikasa. They taste best when they are served hot. There is a legend that states that a farmer created this dessert when he found a gong which was left behind by a samurai when he was hiding. He used the gong left behind to make the first Dorayaki and hence the name where Dora means gong or bell. The famous anime character Doraemon is known for his love for this pastry and the county appointed him as the official ambassador for this pastry.
16. Ma Lai Gao, Hong Kong
A Chinese steamed sponge cake, which is a part of the Cantonese Dim Sum meal. The Dim Sum meal is a type of Chinese cuisine which serves small bit sized portions of the dishes which usually goes well with tea or with a brunch. This sponge cake is soft and fluffy, served in a steam basket on occasions. This cake is tasty and healthy with a natural yellow colour or white at times.
17. Tres Leches, Mexico
In most of the Latin-American cities, you can find this type of cake. It is a sponge cake or a butter cake based on individual recipes, soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk and heavy cream with which the cake becomes creamy and sweet. This cake is very light unless they use a butter cake, in that case the cake will be heavy. Despite being soaked in three types of milk, this cake is not soggy at all due to its distinct texture. This cake is very popular in the Central, Southern and Northern America as well as the Caribbean and various parts of Europe.
18. Mawa Cake, India
The Mawa is the key ingredient used to make this cake. Also called as Khoya in Hindi and utilized in the making of Indian desserts. This mawa can be either made at home from milk or bought from a grocery store. This cake is well-known and easy to make. It is also possible to make this cake with or without egg. It is topped off with nuts to give a better taste.
19. Dundee Cake, Scotland
It is a famous Scottish fruit cake which is rich in flavour and texture and is native to the country of Scotland. To make this cake, the ingredients used are currants, sultanas, almonds and sometimes even fruit peels are added for extra flavour. They have almonds in concentric circles on the cake for decoration. This cake was preferred by Queen Elizabeth with tea.
20.
Yaksik Rice Cake, Korea
Yaksik is a famous rice cake variety in Korea. The ingredients used are honey, rice, dried fruits, and nuts. The cake’s name is derived from Yak, which means Medicine, and Sik, which gives the meaning of food. As honey is considered one of the best medicines and is used in the cake in considerable quantity, they would’ve named it Yaksik.
