cake

Cake is a form of sweet food made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, that is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, and that share features with other desserts such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.

The most commonly used cake ingredients include flour, sugar, eggs, butter or oil or margarine, a liquid, and a leavening agent, such as baking soda or baking powder. Common additional ingredients and flavourings include dried, candied, or fresh fruit, nuts, cocoa, and extracts such as vanilla, with numerous substitutions for the primary ingredients. Cakes can also be filled with fruit preserves, nuts or dessert sauces (like pastry cream), iced with buttercream or other icings, and decorated with marzipan, piped borders, or candied fruit.

Cake is often served as a celebratory dish on ceremonial occasions, such as weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays. There are countless cake recipes; some are bread-like, some are rich and elaborate, and many are centuries old. Cake making is no longer a complicated procedure; while at one time considerable labor went into cake making (particularly the whisking of egg foams), baking equipment and directions have been simplified so that even the most amateur of cooks may bake a cake.

The ancient Greeks called cake πλακοῦς (plakous), which was derived from the word for "flat", πλακόεις (plakoeis).

Early cakes in England were also essentially bread: the most obvious differences between a "cake" and "bread" were the round, flat shape of the cakes, and the cooking method, which turned cakes over once while cooking, while bread was left upright throughout the baking process.

Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance, possibly in Spain.

During the Great Depression [大萧条], there was a surplus of molasses [糖浆] and the need to provide easily made food to millions of economically depressed people in the United States. One company patented a cake-bread mix to deal with this economic situation, and thereby established the first line of cake in a box. In so doing, cake, as it is known today, became a mass-produced good rather than a home- or bakery-made specialty. Cake mix in plastic packets:

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. The timing of the Great Depression varied across the world; in most countries, it started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s.

Why did the farmers dumped their food and milk instead of giving it away during the great depression? With so many poor people who did not have money for basics like food, the prices dropped. In order to keep the prices up, the producers dumped the food rather than donating it to feed the poor. Once Franklin D Roosevelt was elected, he developed government programs like the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation and Drought Relief Services to buy these products and distribute to the needy, thereby helping the producers and the poor.

The Milk Strikes of 1933 Were the Worst Year for Wisconsin Dairy Farms, and Culminated in a Farmer's Death

A mousse (French: [mus]; "foam") is a soft prepared food that incorporates air bubbles to give it a light and airy texture. It can range from light and fluffy to creamy and thick, depending on preparation techniques. A mousse may be sweet or savory. Sweet mousses are typically made with whipped egg whites, whipped cream, or both, and flavored with one or more of chocolate, coffee, caramel, puréed fruits, or various herbs and spices, such as mint or vanilla. Savory mousses can be made from meat, fish, shellfish, foie gras, cheese, or vegetables. Hot mousses often get their light texture from the addition of beaten egg whites. “木司蛋糕的做法”——还土司呢。慕斯者，泡沫也。

Hair mousse [摩丝], also referred to as styling foam, is a hairstyling product to protect, stiffen, or style hair. "Mousse" originates from a French term meaning foam. Hair mousse originated in France and was brought to the North American retail market by L'Oreal in the 1980s, the first mousse product coming out under the label "Valence".

Jianbing is a traditional Chinese street food similar to crêpes. It is a type of bing generally eaten for breakfast and hailed as "one of China's most popular street breakfasts". The main ingredients of jianbing are a batter of wheat and grain flour, eggs and sauces, cooked quickly by spreading the batter on a large frying pan or a specialized flat hotplate. It can be topped with different fillings and sauces such as bocui, ham, chopped or diced mustard pickles, scallions and coriander, chili sauce or hoisin sauce depending on personal preference. It is often folded several times before serving.

A crêpe or crepe /kreip/ is a very thin type of pancake. Crêpes originated in Brittany, a region in the west of France, during the 13th century, and are now consumed around the world. Crêpes are usually one of two varieties: sweet crêpes or savoury galettes. They are often served with a wide variety of fillings such as jam and Nutella. Crêpes can also be flambéed, such as in crêpes Suzette.

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