Sugar, fat, eggs, and flour are probably the most common ingredients for any dessert, including (most) cakes. There is often a fine line in baking between cake, bread, and even cookies.

The actual word “cake” was borrowed from the Old Norse word “kaka,” which is also related to the modern English term “cook.” Meanwhile, the French “gâteaux” and German “torte” are used for cakes, but they are typically more specific than the broad English use of the term “cake.”

History of Cake

Originally, cakes were essentially a form of sweetened bread; some people still define cake as such. During Roman times, eggs, butter, and sweeteners, like honey, were added to a basic bread dough to give it a cake-like consistency and sweet taste.

For early English cakes, their main distinguishing feature from bread was their shape – round and flat. This basic shape led people to call other foods “cakes” like fishcakes and pancakes. In Scotland, Wales, and northern parts of England, cakes were described as crackers (hard biscuits) made from oatmeal (now referred to as oatcakes).

During the medieval and Elizabethan times, English cakes were usually quite small. However, by the seventeenth century, cake making and cake size increased. In the eighteenth century, dried fruits and even icing were used. As the notion that cakes had to be round and flat faded, the term “cake” broadened into something less strictly defined.

Cakes in America

Many famous American desserts have a European origin. For example, pound cake, a dessert commonly associated with Southern cuisine, was actually a British creation. Some of the cultural recipes brought by British, French, Dutch, and Spanish settlers had to be significantly adapted for the new food environments of North America, such as different climates and new native plants. The creation of new blended foods, including cakes and other desserts, emerged from the

innovations, interactions, and influence from Indigenous tribes, various settler groups, immigrants, and slaves shaping the food culture of modern America.

Documentation of early colonial recipes is sparse, since many relied on imported British, French, and Dutch cookbooks. It took time for distinctly American recipes to be recorded, but the first American cookbook, Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery, was published in 1795 and included cakes such as plumb cake, rich cake, queen’s cake, johnny cake, and potato cake.

History of Boxed Mixes

Despite common perception, boxed cake mixes were not invented during the convenience era of the 1950s, nor because of a flour surplus. Boxed cake mixes were a Great Depression-era (1930s) invention by John D. Duff of P. Duff and Sons, a Pittsburgh molasses company. Duff was looking for a way to utilize his company’s molasses surplus, so he dehydrated it. John D. Duff combined the dried molasses with flour, shortening, powdered egg, baking soda, sugar, salt, ginger, and cinnamon, allowing home cooks to make gingerbread simply by adding water.

Believing they had found the future of baking, P. Duff and Sons used a dehydrated flour mixture method to create the first boxed cake mixes. Their patent (no. 1,931,892) was granted in October 1933. However, there was somewhat of a delayed consumer acceptance to purchasing these “just add water” cake mixes since customers preferred fresh eggs. Two years later, P. Duff and Sons were granted another patent (no. 2,016,320) for their cake mix that required water and fresh eggs.

Nonetheless, boxed cake mixes didn’t achieve widespread popularity until after World War II. Many women who had replaced soldiers returned to domestic life; even so, about one in four married women were employed. American gender roles had been permanently altered. Big flour companies, focused on wartime efforts, turned to busy customers’ needs. Taking a cue from P. Duff and Sons, flour companies developed mixes for a busier modern life. These companies weren’t just selling flour anymore; they were selling convenience.

By the late 1940s, more than 200 companies were selling cake mixes, including Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, and Duncan Hines. In the 1950s, sales plateaued, and several companies closed. This was in part due to home bakers wanting to feel more involved in the creative process; the inclusion of fresh eggs was not enough. During the mid-1950s, cake decorating and icing helped boost the boxed cake mix industry.

Food Safety and Cake

When making a cake, whether from scratch or from a mix, avoid eating raw batter. Flour, despite its appearance, is a raw product that is not treated to kill pathogens. Techniques such as grinding or bleaching do not eliminate bacteria such as E. coli that can contaminate flour and baking mixes. Raw eggs, which are also commonly used in cake batter, can also carry pathogens like Salmonella; consequently, eating raw or improperly cooked eggs can also lead to foodborne illness.

Introduction to Cottage Foods Webinar

Want to make cake and sell it too? Celebrate International Cake Day with us as we learn about food safety, permissible foods under Florida’s cottage food laws, and the basics for starting a food business from the comfort of your own home kitchen. Don’t miss this food-tastic webinar!

Date: July 20, 2026

Time: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Eastern

Cost: $10 + Fees

Registration is required.

Article originally published in the Tallahassee Democrat on June 15, 2026.

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