List of cakes facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

A cake is a sweet treat often enjoyed during celebrations like birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries. Most cakes are made with flour, eggs, and sugar, but there are so many different kinds around the world! Let's explore some of these delicious dessert cakes, learning about where they come from and what makes them special.

Cakes from Around the World
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Cakes from Around the World

European Delights

German Cakes

Apple cake is a tasty German cake that features fresh apples. Sometimes, it's even topped with a yummy caramel icing!
Baumkuchen is a German "tree cake." When you slice it, you'll see rings that look just like tree rings! This cake is also very popular in Japan.
Bienenstich (Bee Sting cake) is a yeast cake with a sweet, caramelized almond topping. It's filled with a creamy center.
Black Forest cake (or Black Forest gâteau) is a famous German cake with cherries, chocolate, and whipped cream. It often has layers of chocolate sponge cake and cherry jam.
Butterkuchen is a simple, sweet, and buttery German cake often baked on a tray.
Frankfurter Kranz (Frankfurt Crown Cake) is a beautiful sponge cake. It's filled with buttercream and red jam, then covered with nuts and toasted almonds.
Marble cake is a fun cake where two different colored batters, usually vanilla and chocolate, are swirled together. This creates a cool marble-like pattern inside!
Streuselkuchen is a German yeast cake topped with a crumbly, sweet topping called streusel.

French Favorites

Buche de Noel (Yule Log) is a traditional Christmas cake shaped like a log. It's often decorated with mushrooms and berries to look like a woodland scene.
Charlotte is a cake made by lining a mold with bread or sponge cake. It's then filled with fruit puree or creamy custard.
Dacquoise is a cake often made with layers of almond and hazelnut meringue.
Financier is a small, fancy French cake. It's shaped like a rectangle and made with almond flour and browned butter.
Gâteau magique (Magic Cake) is a special cake that forms three distinct layers while it bakes: custard, cream, and sponge.
Mille-feuille is a classic French cake with three layers of flaky puff pastry. These layers are separated by two layers of creamy pastry cream. It's also known as a Napoleon.
Molten chocolate cake is a popular dessert that's like a mix of a chocolate cake and a soufflé. When you cut into it, warm, gooey chocolate flows out! It's also called a lava cake.
Opera cake is an elegant French dessert. It has layers of rich chocolate ganache and sponge cake soaked in coffee syrup.
Petit Gâteau is a small chocolate cake. It's usually served warm with ice cream.
Petits fours are tiny French sponge cakes. They are often cut into small cubes and covered with sweet fondant icing.

Italian Sweets

Cassata is a colorful Sicilian cake. It has round sponge cake layers soaked in fruit juice, filled with ricotta cheese, candied fruit, and chocolate. It's covered in marzipan and bright icing.
Castagnaccio is a simple cake made from chestnut flour.
Genoa cake is a fruit cake likely from Genoa, Italy. It's made with sultanas, raisins, and candied cherries.
Genoise (Genoese cake) is a light sponge cake made with whole eggs.
Mimosa cake was created in Italy in the 1950s. It gets its name from the small pieces of sponge cake on top, which look like mimosa flowers.
Panettone is a sweet bread from Italy. It contains candied citrus peels and raisins.
Tiramisu is a famous Italian dessert. It has layers of ladyfingers (a type of biscuit) dipped in espresso, along with a creamy mascarpone cheese mixture. It's often dusted with cocoa powder.
Zuppa Inglese is an Italian layered dessert. It features sponge cake soaked in a special liqueur and creamy custard.

United Kingdom Treats

Angel cake is a layered sponge cake, often decorated with cream and colorful food coloring.
Battenberg cake is a sponge cake held together with jam and covered in marzipan. When sliced, it shows a checkerboard pattern.
Butterfly cake is a fun cupcake variation. The top is cut off and cut in half to look like butterfly wings, then filled with cream or jam.
Carrot cake is a moist, sweet cake made with carrots. It's often topped with cream cheese icing.
Caterpillar cake is a chocolate Swiss roll decorated to look like a friendly caterpillar.
Christmas cake is a rich fruit cake popular in the UK. It's flavored with dried fruits like sultanas and raisins, and spices like cinnamon. It's often topped with decorative icing.
Coffee and walnut cake is a sponge cake made with coffee and walnuts.
Dundee cake is a Scottish fruit cake. It's known for not having glacé cherries and being topped with almonds.
Eccles cake is a pastry from the UK filled with currants.
Fondant Fancy is a small sponge cake topped with sweet fondant icing.
Fruitcake is a rich cake with candied fruit and spices. Many versions include currants, sultanas, and glacé cherries.
Gingerbread is a cake typically flavored with warm spices like ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Jaffa Cakes are biscuit-sized cakes with a sponge base, an orange-flavored jelly layer, and a chocolate coating.
Lardy cake is a traditional, rich spiced bread from England. It's made with lard, flour, sugar, spices, currants, and raisins.
Madeira cake is a light butter cake, usually flavored with lemon.
Plum cake in England has referred to fruitcake with dried plums and spices since the 1700s. Today, it often means a cake with various dried fruits.
Pound cake traditionally uses a pound each of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. The proportions can vary now, but it's still a dense, rich cake.
Queen cake is a soft, muffin-sized cake that became popular in the 1700s. It contains currants and is flavored with mace and orange or lemon water.
Rock cake is a small, rough-looking cake. It often includes currants and candied peel.
Simnel cake is a layered fruitcake that includes marzipan. It's often eaten during Easter.
Swiss roll is a roll cake with different colored layers, filled with jam or cream. Despite its name, it wasn't developed in Switzerland!
Tea loaf is a sweet bread with currants and sultanas that are soaked in tea.
Teacake is a baked good meant to be enjoyed with tea.
Tunis cake is a Madeira cake covered with a thick layer of chocolate and decorated with marzipan.
Victoria sponge cake is named after Queen Victoria. It usually has jam and whipped cream sandwiched between two sponge cakes, dusted with icing sugar.
Welsh cake is a sweet bread from Wales, often made with currants and traditionally cooked on a bakestone.

North American Favorites

United States Cakes

Angel food cake is a light sponge cake made with egg whites, sugar, and flour. It's very airy!
Applesauce cake is prepared using applesauce, flour, and sugar. It originated in early colonial times in the Northeastern United States.
Banana bread is a sweet bread made with bananas, sometimes with nuts or chocolate chips.
Banana cake features banana as a main ingredient.
Birthday Cake can be made with various ingredients, usually chocolate or sponge. It's often topped with icing and candles, with the number of candles showing someone's age.
Blackout cake (Brooklyn Blackout cake) is a rich chocolate cake. It's filled with chocolate pudding and covered with chocolate cake crumbs.
Boston cream pie is a yellow cake filled with custard and topped with chocolate.
Bundt cake is baked in a special Bundt pan, giving it a unique ring shape. It's inspired by a European fruit cake called Gugelhupf.
Chiffon cake is a light and airy cake made with vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, and flour.
Chocolate cake is a cake where chocolate is the main flavor.
Coconut cake is popular in the Southern United States. It's frosted with white icing and covered in coconut flakes.
Cookie Cake is cookie dough baked in a cake pan. It's topped with frosting and served like a traditional cake.
Cornbread is a cake that contains cornmeal, wheat flour, sugar, and a fat like lard or butter. It's popular in the US, Canada, and other parts of the Americas.
Cupcake is a small cake, usually topped with icing.
Depression cake was made without milk, sugar, butter, or eggs. It became popular during times when these ingredients were hard to find, like during World War II.
Devil's food cake is a dark, rich chocolate layer cake.
Doberge cake is a layered cake with custard filling from New Orleans, adapted from the Hungarian Dobos torte.
Flourless chocolate cake is a dense, gluten-free cake made with chocolate.
Gooey butter cake is a flat, dense cake made with butter, often topped with powdered sugar.
Halloween cake is a cake decorated with fun Halloween themes.
Hot milk cake is a butter sponge cake made with scalded milk.
Hummingbird cake is a sweet cake from Jamaica. It's made with bananas, pineapples, pecans, vanilla, and various spices.
Ice cream cake has at least one layer of ice cream.
Lady Baltimore cake is a white layer cake filled with fruits and nuts, covered with fluffy frosting. Its exact origins are debated.
Lane cake is a bourbon-laced cake with a fruit and nut filling.
Layer cake is a dessert with stacked layers of cake held together by a filling.
Moravian sugar cake is a sweet coffee cake from the colonial Moravian Church. It's made with yeast dough, mashed potatoes, and topped with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
Pancake is a flat, round cake made with eggs, milk, and flour. It's popular in the US and Canada.
Piñata Smash Cake is a sponge cake with a candy and cream filling. You smash it open, just like a piñata!
Pineapple upside-down cake is baked with its toppings (usually pineapple slices) at the bottom of the pan. Before serving, it's flipped over so the fruit is on top.
Pound cake is a classic cake, traditionally made with a pound of each main ingredient: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar.
Red velvet cake is a soft chocolate cake that's colored red. It's usually topped with creamy cream cheese icing.
Smith Island Cake is a dessert with 8 to 15 thin layers of cake. These layers alternate with chocolate buttercream.
Snowball cake is a chocolate cake covered with marshmallow frosting and coconut flakes.
Spice cake is flavored with spices like cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger, or mace.
Stack cake is a stack of cakes made with molasses and layered with apple filling.
Strawberry cake uses strawberries as a main ingredient.
Tres leches cake (Three Milks Cake) is a sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream.
Twinkie is an American snack cake, known for its "golden sponge cake with a creamy filling."
Wacky cake is made without eggs, butter, or milk. It might have been created during World War II when these ingredients were hard to find.
White cake is a vanilla-flavored cake made without egg yolks, giving it a light color.
Whoopie pies are a dessert made of two round pieces of chocolate cake with a sweet, creamy frosting in the middle.

Asian & Oceanic Treats

Filipino Cakes

Bibingka is a traditional rice cake from the Philippines. It's made with ground glutinous rice and coconut milk.
Brazo de Mercedes is a traditional Filipino meringue roll. It has a custard filling and is often dusted with powdered sugar.
Buko pandan cake is a sponge or chiffon cake flavored with pandan leaves. It's frosted with cream and young coconut strips.
Cassava cake is a traditional Filipino moist cake. It's made from grated cassava, coconut milk, and condensed milk, with a custard layer on top.
Crema de fruta is a traditional Filipino fruitcake. It has layers of sponge cake, sweet custard or whipped cream, gelatin, and various fruits like mangoes and pineapples.
Flan cake is a chiffon or sponge cake baked with a layer of leche flan (crème caramel) on top, drizzled with caramel syrup.
Mango cake is a chiffon cake or roll topped with mango cream frosting and fresh mango slices.
Mango float is a no-bake dessert similar to tiramisu. It has layers of biscuits or graham crackers, whipped cream, condensed milk, and ripe mangoes.
Puto are steamed rice cakes, traditionally made from fermented rice dough. They are eaten plain or with savory dishes.
Sans rival is a cake with layers of buttercream, meringue, and chopped cashews.
Ube cake is a traditional Filipino chiffon or sponge cake made with ube halaya (purple yam jam).
Yema cake is a chiffon cake with a sweet custard filling called yema.

Indonesian Delights

Dadar gulung is a traditional coconut pancake filled with grated coconut and palm sugar.
Klepon are traditional green-colored rice cake balls. They are filled with liquid palm sugar and coated in grated coconut.
Kue cubit is a small cake eaten as a snack.
Kue lapis is a traditional cake with colorful layers of soft rice flour pudding.
Kue mangkok is a traditional steamed cupcake. It's made with flour, rice flour, tapioca, yeast, eggs, coconut milk, sugar, and salt.
Kue putu is a traditional cylindrical, green-colored steamed cake. It's made from rice flour, colored with pandan extract, filled with palm sugar, and served with grated coconut.
Serabi is a traditional pancake made from rice flour and coconut milk. It's eaten with thick golden-brown coconut sugar syrup.
Spekkoek is a multi-layered cake containing cinnamon, cloves, mace, and anise.
Spiku is a cake similar to spekkoek but with only three layers of vanilla and chocolate cake.
Wingko is a traditional pancake made mainly of coconut.

Other Asian & Oceanic Cakes

Batik cake is a non-baked dessert from Malaysia. It's made by mixing broken biscuits with a chocolate sauce or custard.
Bánh bò is a spongey Vietnamese cake with honeycomb-like structures. It's typically made with coconut milk, rice flour, water, and sugar.
Bánh cáy is a Vietnamese dessert from Thái Bình Province. It's made of sticky rice, sugar, gac, sesame, carrots, mandarin orange peel, and lard.
Bánh cốm is a Vietnamese dessert made from flattened, chewy green rice and mung bean.
Bánh gai is a Vietnamese dessert made from sticky rice, ramie leaf, and mung bean.
Castella is a moist spongecake from Japan made with flour, sugar, eggs, and mizuame (a type of syrup).
Chhena poda is a cake from Odisha, India. It's made from milk solids (chhena) and semolina, and is a regional specialty.
Crystal cake is a traditional Chinese dessert from the Song Dynasty. Its name comes from the shiny look of its filling.
Funing big cake is a Chinese cake made with sticky rice, white sugar, and refined lard (though vegetable oil is sometimes used now).
Ghevar is a disc-shaped cake from India. It's made from flour and ghee, soaked in sugar syrup, and topped with saffron, spices, and nuts.
Hedgehog Slice is a cake from Germany that contains crushed biscuits or rice puffs.
Khanom farang kudi chin is a Thai cake topped with raisins, dried sweet gourds, and white sugar.
Mooncake is a Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Pandan cake is a light, fluffy, green-colored sponge cake from Malaysia and Indonesia. It's flavored with pandan leaf extract.
Pineapple cake is a popular Taiwanese sweet pastry. It contains butter, flour, eggs, sugar, and pineapple jam or slices.
Red bean cake is a cake made with hardened red bean paste, popular in Japan and China.
Sachima is a Chinese pastry made of fried batter strands held together by sugar syrup.
Sesame seed cake is a cake made of sesame seeds, often sweetened with honey. It's found in the US and Asia.
Sfouf is an almond-semolina cake from Lebanon. It's flavored with turmeric, sesame paste, anise, and pine nuts.
Snow skin mooncake is a type of mooncake from Hong Kong. It's a modern alternative to traditional mooncakes, made with less sugar and oil.
Suncake is a popular Taiwanese dessert from Taichung. It has a condensed malt sugar filling and is often sold as a souvenir.
Ul boov is a layered biscuit from Mongolia, stamped with a unique design and served with aaruul (dried dairy product).

Other Interesting Cakes

Beer cake is any cake made with beer as a main ingredient. A chocolate bundt cake infused with stout beer is a good example.
Birthday Cake can be made with various ingredients, usually chocolate or sponge. It's often topped with icing and candles, with the number of candles showing someone's age.
Brazil nut cake is made with Brazil nuts. It's common in the Amazon region of Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru.
Cucumber cake is prepared with cucumber as a main ingredient and is popular in Goan cuisine.
Fanta cake is a sponge cake made using Fanta or sparkling mineral water.
Fig cake is a cake prepared with figs as a main ingredient, popular in Egypt.
Fudge cake is a chocolate cake that contains fudge.
King cake is a cake associated with Epiphany in many countries. It often has a small charm or "fève" hidden inside.
Lekach is a honey-sweetened cake made by Jewish communities, especially for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.
Lemon cake is a cake with a refreshing lemon flavor.
Lolly cake is a log-shaped cake from New Zealand. It's made from malt biscuits, butter, condensed milk, and fruit puffs, usually rolled in coconut.
Onion cake is a savory or sweet cake prepared with onion as a main ingredient, found in East, Central, and Southeast Asia.
Pavlova is a cake named after ballerina Anna Pavlova. It's made with meringue, a light and airy baked egg white dessert.
Poffertjes are small, fluffy pancakes from the Netherlands, made with yeast and buckwheat flour.
Rum cake traditionally contains dried fruit soaked in rum. It's popular in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Soufflé are fluffy cakes traditionally served in the ramekins they were baked in. They are mostly made of beaten eggs and sugar.
Spit cake is a term for hollow, cylindrical cakes prepared on a rotating spit over an open fire in several European countries.
Sponge cake is a light cake made with egg whites, flour, and sugar.
Tuxedo cake is a cake with layers of chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, and whipping cream. Sometimes it has a vanilla sponge layer. Its dark and light colors look like a tuxedo.
Wedding cake is traditionally served at weddings. In some cultures, it's displayed and served to guests at the reception.
Wine cake is a cake made with wine.