WEBVTT - Selects: Cake: So Great. So, So Great 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.640 Hi, everybody, do you want to learn about cake? 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:09.400 It's called cake So Great, so so great. 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.360 That had to be a Josh title Cake colon So 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.800 Great period, so comma so great. 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:17.160 Yeah, that's Josh. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:21.120 This is from November thirtieth, twenty seventeen. This is supersize 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:24.680 because somehow we did seventy three minutes on cake, probably 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:27.840 because we talked about cake a lot beyond just the 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:32.200 facts and figures. I know, our personal opinions came around 0:00:32.240 --> 0:00:34.199 in this episode. So I hope you enjoyed as much 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:43.599 as you enjoyed pie. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:51.040 a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.960 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.279 there's Charles W Chuck Bryant, there's Jerry. Three of us 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.000 are together, which means it's time. There's stuff you should know. 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.880 About cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake. 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:07.039 Cakeke cake, cake cake cake. 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.000 Cake. Uh. 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.440 This made me just frankly want to put my face 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:14.160 in a cake. 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:16.000 I know, sheet caking. 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.039 Oh man, Yeah, I know. 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.120 We had a discussion about cake or pie quite a 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.680 while ago, and I don't remember exactly where you landed 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:23.960 on that. 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:26.840 I'm surprised you can only think of one. 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:28.560 You one time, we've done that. 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.720 Yeah, cake or pie? Both? 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:32.800 Yeah? Same here? 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.600 Why choose between two wonderful things that you don't have 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:37.399 to choose between? 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:38.039 Agreed? 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:40.520 As a matter of fact, every once in a while 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.560 you'll hit like the birthday party jackpot where they'll have 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.040 like cake and pie and you're like, looks like I'm 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:50.720 in heaven. But today, today, Chuck, we're not talking about 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:52.880 pie now. Although we can't talk about one pie in 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:55.440 particular because we're talking about cake. It turns out I 0:01:55.480 --> 0:02:00.720 saw this somewhere that Boston cream Pie is actually a cake. 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:05.160 Oh really, Yeah, surprise, Boston, Sorry to ruin your day. 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.520 They're probably the ones that are like that are saying that, 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:11.040 Oh yeah, probably maybe I don't. 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:14.000 Know it's a cake. Huh. The article on it was 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:19.320 written in a thick Boston accent. Yeah, yeah, it is 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:21.440 a cake. I'm not sure why, but I just know 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:23.120 it's a cake now. And I want to give a 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.440 hat tip here. I mean, we both worked off of 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:28.920 the house Stuff Works article, but I also found a 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.920 lot of good stuff on a site called What's Cooking America. 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:33.720 Did you run across them? 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:34.519 I did? 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.000 They are good man. They have. You know, clearly their 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:42.160 niches cooking, baking, all things like culinary. But they've got 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.520 some really well researched articles on their site about like 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:47.200 the history of cakes and things like that. 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:48.480 Yeah, that's good stuff. 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:53.760 Kudos to you. You remember kudos the granola bar. Those 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:54.200 are great. 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:56.520 Oh yeah, are those not around anymore? 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:00.799 No? No, no, those are gone. And then rip also 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:02.600 bonkers candy, So. 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.200 Kudo went the way of the Dodo. I never heard 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:06.919 of bonkers. 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:10.679 They were like a fruit chew, but like really had 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:12.960 some chew to it, not like starburst, you know, just 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.040 to cintegrate. So these were like they were chewy. They 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:17.919 were good. They're about as good as it gets really 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:18.480 candy wise. 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:20.600 Yeah, they need I know, you've noticed they need to 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:24.359 chill out here with the sweets at work. Oh dude, 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.960 Like they have little Debbie Star crunches and Swiss cake 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:28.360 rolls and. 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.639 Stuff all over the place. I know, I don't need 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:31.040 that in here. 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:33.880 There's like three or four people who are like walking 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:37.600 around toothless. Now, well I'm just rotten right out of 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:38.240 their heads. 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:44.280 Well and also not you. My toothlessness is for different reasons. 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.160 Yours is from a Christine. 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:49.720 And I've also noticed, though, there's this weird mix in 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:51.400 our office now because they try to. 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:52.240 Get super healthy. 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.280 Yeah, so there will be like Swiss cake rolls next 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.800 to a bag of like clam chips or something, what chips? 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.080 To know, I have chips sound kind of good? 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:03.160 Seaweed seaweed strips? 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:05.040 Oh yeah, yeah, no, I know what you mean. Or 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:06.200 like just figs. 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:09.480 Yeah, you know, it's like a fig Newton without the 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:10.360 good tasting part. 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:13.840 We take figs and we mash them up, then we 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:15.720 wrap them in cell a phane and you eat them 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:16.960 for five dollars. 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.360 Apiece, and your child spits them out because they know better. 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:24.760 Right, no today, Yes, I'm with you. I do think 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:27.240 it's gotten a little out of hand, Like it's basically 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.960 just a huge test of willpower at the office, like 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:31.400 every moment. 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.000 You know, Yeah, I don't, I don't indulge. I'm not 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:36.600 getting into those Swiss cake rolls. But it is tough 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:39.360 to walk by the miniature candy bar section, right and 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.120 not be like, well just one of those little guys, 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:42.000 Look how tiny it is? 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:43.560 Right? And then the next thing, you know, you get 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.280 like ten rappers laying around your desk thinking like what 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:47.000 have I done. 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.480 I know it's post Halloween stuff too, so maybe it'll 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:50.880 die down. 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.400 I don't. I don't think that's gonna happen. But yeah, 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:59.279 but again though, today, I guess if if you replaced 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.560 all of those candies bars with cakes that were just 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:03.400 sitting around, you get zero complaints. 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:03.680 For me. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.120 Well, and at my house at Halloween, we gave away 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:10.000 two things. We gave away whole slices of pound cake 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:11.080 and just pigs. 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:14.120 It's the worst house in the block. 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:16.520 Did you you a pound cake fan? 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:19.359 Not? 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:22.719 Typically, like I would never order a pound cake or 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:26.200 say hey, can someone bake me one for my birthday? 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.080 You wouldn't say, like, clark me a pound cake? 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:29.960 No, And I would never ask someone to clark me 0:05:30.000 --> 0:05:33.640 a pound cake. But occasionally, like in my life, someone 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.039 has had pound cake and said, would you like some 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:36.680 pound cake? 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.359 And it's you know, it's good. It's good, sugary and 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:41.279 dense stuff. 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:43.920 Yeah. I like it because you can just eat it 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:44.680 with your hand. 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:46.159 Sure, just pick it up and eat it. 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:47.520 Yeah, it's like cake on the go. 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:49.200 Yeah. 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.599 I am not a fan of lemon cakes. Oh really, 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:56.240 so like a lemon pound cake I'm not into Well. 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:58.040 Okay, let's just get it out there. What's your favorite 0:05:58.080 --> 0:05:58.840 cake of all time? 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:06.200 Oh geez, I'm gonna toss it up between a carrot 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.000 cake with cream cheese frosting. 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:09.919 That's Bill Clinton's favorite. 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:16.560 Well, you know, as Bill goes so ghost chuck, which 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:22.000 is not true, the. 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:26.960 Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, or I like a 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:28.119 red velvet cake. 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:35.599 Yeah, well that's the or cream cheese frosting either way. Yeah, 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.920 Emily's favorite of all time, hands down is the Waldorf 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:43.880 Astoria Red velvet Cake, which is red velvet cake with 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:49.840 a frosting that is basically only like shortening, vanilla and sugar. 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:52.560 It's not a cream cheese things. 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:57.720 What's your favorite favorite of all time? Well, everybody knows 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:02.400 that cake perfection was achieved sometime in the twentieth century 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:07.520 when Public's grocery stores started selling their yellow cake with 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:11.320 buttercream frosting. Oh yeah, there's no better cake on the plane. 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:12.480 It's like a yellow sheet cake. 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:17.480 It's simple, but it's tasty. It doesn't need any dressing up. 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:19.720 But if it does, we'll just put like some add 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:22.160 some more frosting in the shape of balloons on top. 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:22.520 Right. 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.120 It's just it's just perfection. It's a perfect cake. I 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.400 love it. I can eat it morning, noon and night. 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:30.800 I can eat stale stuff I found in the dumpster 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:34.640 behind Publics. I can eat the fresh stuff right out 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:36.600 of the oven, so hot that it burns my mouth. 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:40.040 I would eat it anyway that it was given to me. 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:41.160 Uh. 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.640 I'm a big frosting and icing guy too, so a 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:48.320 corner piece of sheet cake is pretty much heaven. 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.160 Yeah, that is the tops. 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:52.960 What is Yumi's favorite cake? 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:55.840 Yuma's is actually the same as mine. We both are 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.080 junkie for Public's cake, to tell you the truth, Although 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:00.800 I have to say she is introduced me to the 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:05.760 wonder of Japanese cakes. And there's this little known fact 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:09.640 about Japan. It loves to take I shouldn't say it's 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:10.960 a little known. Probably a lot of people know this, 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.400 but it loves to take things that other cultures came 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:17.080 up with and then improve them ten thousand percent. And 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.040 one of the things that they've done that with is 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:22.040 the French bakery. So if you go to Japan, you'll 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:26.440 see all these cute, little kind of Provence style French 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.720 bakeries everywhere. That's still the best bake good you've ever 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.240 had in your life, right, and Chris, yes, oh, by far, 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.320 by far. That's very controversial, it is, But I'm telling 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:40.439 you you would just be like, Josh's right. 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:41.040 This is better. 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.000 I'm not kidding. They've improved on it, and they're all 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.400 they're very deferential still, they're like, oh, well, this is 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:49.920 crap compared to what the French are making. However, you 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:53.600 would say that in Japanese. But they're actually wrong. It 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.120 actually is better. But one of the things that they 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.160 make that's just top notch is this what they call cheesecake. 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.320 It is not what you or I will call cheesecake 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:06.040 at all. It's more like a yellow spongy cake. I 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:08.560 don't know where the cheese thing comes in. Maybe there's 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.400 a little cream cheese in there. I'm not quite sure, 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:13.800 but you and I would call it like kind of 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:17.360 a dense yellow sponge cake. But it is very, very tasty. 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.800 And that's a kind of a Japanese tradition that I 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.360 would guess Umi would say is one of her favorites. Okay, 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.240 and just a little shout out, there's a place in Toronto. 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.240 Next time we're there, I'm gonna take you there, all right. 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:30.920 Actually that's not true. I brought you a cake from there, 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:36.120 from Uncle Tetsu's Oh Cheesecake Bakery. Yeah, that's a Japanese cheesecake. 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:37.240 Oh that was good. 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:38.240 Yeah, they're the bomb. 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.640 All I know is, get out of my face with 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:43.559 any coconut or any pineapple. 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:45.040 I'll take that you. 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:47.400 I'll just slide that over to your desk. 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.280 Then, yes, not into them coming. 0:09:49.400 --> 0:09:52.199 I don't even like German chocolate cake. Really, I love. 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.960 German chocolate all right. Well, have you ever heard the 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:57.760 German chocolate cake and red velvet cake are the same. 0:09:58.400 --> 0:09:59.520 It's actually not true. 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:00.920 I haven't heard that. 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.360 I had heard that many times. It's not true. But 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.880 that German chocolate frosting is like, Man, that's good. 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:09.160 I'm not into that. See, I think that's what it does. 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:12.400 That's what it is that I don't like. I like 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.319 sort of a tradish butter creamy or just good old 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:18.360 fashioned birthday cake icing type thing. 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:23.280 Yeah, pie mean yeah, and surely you agree. Publics is 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:24.160 the pinnacle of that. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:26.600 I don't know if I've ever had a public's cake. Oh. 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:28.640 I go to publics three times a week, so next 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:29.800 time I'm just gonna. 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:31.760 Well, now that you say that, it might be best 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:34.280 that you stay away, well, because you're gonna start adding. 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.680 Is they sell it by the slice, which is dangerous. 0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:39.760 Oh, they do, because that's the only way I would want. 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:39.960 To do it. 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:41.840 They sell it by the slice, chuck, like I. 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:43.320 Can't bring a whole cake in my house. 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.200 Fun be sure you look closely, because they have Yeah, 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.679 it would be. They sell also the same kind with 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.040 like a cream cheese frosting. You want yellow cake with 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.480 butter cream frosting. Okay, just give it a shot and 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:57.280 let me know what you think. 0:10:57.320 --> 0:10:59.240 All right. The funny thing is we really haven't even 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:00.200 started yet though. 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:01.240 Do you want to take a break? 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.839 No, Let's at least give out like three facts first. 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:06.520 Oh okay, well, I think we just gave a lot 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:08.920 of facts about what the greatest cakes in the world are. 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:09.920 All right, how about this? 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:13.920 Then I'll start you out with the word cake apparently 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.959 is an old Norse word kaka, which is kind of 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:20.679 funny because here I don't know where it came from, 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:21.320 but you're in America. 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:23.199 Coca can mean do doo. 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:28.640 Yeah, but kaka is where the original word supposedly came from. 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:32.760 Right, And a lot of English words have like Germanic 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:34.520 or Norse origins. Did you do you know that? 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:35.400 Yeah? 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.880 So cake, the word cake is of English origins. So 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:44.880 there's bread and apparently the bread and the cakes from 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.880 back in the day, say during the medieval era, they 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:52.199 were very, very similar. Probably the only difference was the 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:56.360 cake might be slightly smaller, Yeah, and it was definitely sweeter. 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:59.040 So cake was like a sweeter version of bread back then. 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.000 Yeah, they'd had a little to it, but it's not 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:02.480 like what we think of as cake today. 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.200 But that's not where the first cakes originate. They actually 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.319 go way, way, way further back than that, right. 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:09.160 Is that true? 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:14.120 Yeah, it's true. Toktok uh. That may be a little 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:16.920 too far back, Yeah, I think so so. But basically 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:24.319 around the time I believe Egypt, the Puronic Egypt, they 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.280 were making cakes using hot stones and honey and some 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:29.880 sort of grain mashed up. 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.280 Right, it seems like I bet the Chinese were doing 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:33.520 it too. 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.440 Didn't say in here, right, but it seems like anytime 0:12:36.480 --> 0:12:41.079 you're talking about who did stuff first, it's like Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:42.720 and Romans pretty much. 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:45.720 I mean, you know, ancient civilization. 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:47.640 But maybe not China because it doesn't seem like a 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:48.840 very cakey culture. 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.880 No, I'm not sure about Chinese cakes. I don't think 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:53.640 I've ever had one. 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:55.400 I bet you if someone knows, though, and I bet 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:57.480 you there's like one of the best things. 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.280 In the world. It is probably a Chinese cake, you know. 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:01.280 One of the other things too. That I didn't realize 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.280 that I learned from this article, Chuck, was that a 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:06.160 lot of the cakes you see around the world that 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:10.080 you would mistake for, you know, customary or traditional cakes 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.920 for that culture, they're actually relatively new. 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:15.360 Oh yeah, the cake that we. 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.840 Know and love and understand is very much a nineteenth 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:22.880 century American invention that came out of the Industrial Revolution. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:24.120 That's right. 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.080 I mean clearly, like in Germany, like you talked about, 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.400 in the fifteenth century, they were making cakes. They were 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:35.520 actually even serving cakes at birthdays, and by all accounts, 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:39.440 that's probably the first people to start the birthday cake Tradish. 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:43.560 But and I think they even put candles on top. Well, 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:45.960 none of the Greeks put candles on top. But it 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:50.280 wasn't like a happy birthday cake. No, it was more like, hey, 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:53.000 this cake is round like the moon, and we're going 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:54.559 to put candles on it. To make them glow, and 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:56.680 they're probably huge candles now that think about it. 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.520 Yeah, the Greeks gave us the round cake and putting 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:03.400 candles on the cake to honor Artemis, to make the 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:05.800 cake look like the moon, and Artemis was the goddess 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:08.160 of the moon. Right, so they were like, look, Artemis, 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.400 what do you think of this cake? She'd be like, 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.440 it needs some frosting, that's right. 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:14.800 And then the Germans and the fourteen hundred started doing 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.720 birthday cakes, and then the seventeen hundreds were full on, 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.680 like it's a kid's birthday party, it's got candles, it's 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.080 a cake, and we'll sing some depressing German song. 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:30.800 Right that makes you reflect on your own existence, that's right, 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:36.760 and it's eventual. But so by the time the people 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:40.360 were making birthday cakes in Germany, there was a long, long, 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.960 long tradition of cakes already, and the word cake had 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:49.440 started to originate in medieval Britain. But there was such 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.080 a thing as a cheesecake already. The Romans created that 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:58.040 and called it placenta. Seriously, really, yeah, the Greeks had 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:02.640 created something that was basically a prototype of the fruitcake plocouse. 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:04.600 I believe yeah, they called it feces. 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.920 Right, So there were all these kind of cakes and 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.280 breads and things that were starting to be developed. And 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.880 I think even that pound cake that you're not so 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:19.240 hip on came before the Industrial Revolution too. 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:20.840 Okay, so there's stuff that you. 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:23.120 Would kind of recognize as cakes, but the idea of 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:25.920 a cake, what Americans call it cake and no one 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.920 love is a cake that came out of the Industrial Revolution. 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:33.840 The show sponsored by Cake Cake Eat Some today. 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:36.680 All right, so let's take a break. We definitely gave 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:39.560 way more than three facts. Yeah, we have earned our keep, 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:41.840 and we're going to come back and talk about a 0:15:41.840 --> 0:16:01.880 little chemistry right after this. All right, So we're back, 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:06.240 and we promised talk of chemistry, and I think we 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.720 talked about this briefly on one show. I have tried 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:12.040 to bake. I did a birthday cake for Emily a 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:14.600 couple of years ago, Red Velvet Waldorf Story of. 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:16.800 Cake, and it was okay. 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.560 It wasn't pretty, though, what do you mean, like it 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.520 like it was lopsided or there's a horn growing out 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:24.160 of it. 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:25.920 It just you know, it didn't look like a cake 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:28.760 you would buy in a store, but it tasted really good. 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:31.040 I'll bet it was made with a lot of love too. 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:31.600 Oh of course. 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:35.280 But my deal is is I'm not a great baker 0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:40.960 because baking requires you to be very precise with your ingredients, 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.320 because it is chemistry. I'm a much better cook because 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:46.120 I'm a fly by the seat of my pants and 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:47.480 throw a little of this in there, and throw a 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:48.480 little of that in there. 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:50.320 And there's a much you can't do that with. 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:53.600 No, there's much more forgiveness in general cooking than baking. 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.440 Yeah, cooking's in art. Baking is a science for sure. 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:57.600 Yeah that's what they say, right. 0:16:57.840 --> 0:16:59.160 Yeah, Well that's what I say too. 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:01.560 You didn't make that up, right. 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:06.480 I think I did. Okay, So with a with a cake, right, 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.199 what you're doing is producing a chemical reaction, and I 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:13.399 knew that, yeah, but I had no idea on this 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:17.960 granular level that this article gets into just how much 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:20.000 of a chemical reaction baking a cake is. 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.320 Yeah. This hes pretty neat the understanding of it too 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:22.600 to me. 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:27.119 So you want to start with a leavening agent, right, 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.159 That's how you get from batter which is kind of 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:34.280 flat and soupy and wet, to a nice tall cake. 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:37.280 The reason it rises is because of a leavening agent. 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.439 And way way way back in the day, they used 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:43.080 to use yeast. They use yeast for everything. They would 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:44.719 make some beer, they would make a cake, they'd make 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:45.240 some bread. 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:48.200 They would throw it into the eyes of their enemy. 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:53.320 They would in a fight, the dirty fight. And then 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:57.080 eventually yeast kind of fell to the wayside a little bit. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:01.400 Is they realized that there's other ways to you make 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:05.560 cake rise. One of the big ways is to actually 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:09.800 introduce air into it. And if you say, you know, 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:14.119 beat some eggs, what you're doing you're not just breaking 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:17.040 the eggs down into their kind of components or like 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.800 a mishmash of all of their components. You're also introducing 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:23.840 air into that mix, which will eventually, as we'll see, 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:25.840 transfers into the cake to make it rise. 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:26.720 Yeah. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.200 And like when you're following a recipe, if you've never 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.960 baked a cake before and it says cream the butter 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:36.399 and sugar or sift the flour, you can't just say, eh, like, 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:38.919 I don't have a sifter, so I'll just throw the 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:40.720 flour in here, Like your cake is screwed. 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:43.440 Yeah, Because it's not just like, oh, that makes a 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:47.399 flour pretty yeah, the sifting flour introduces air into the 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:48.280 whole mix too. 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:50.800 Yeah, this is all very important stuff. So you can't. 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:53.160 You can't cheat any of these steps. 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:55.080 No, you can't. You really need to follow a cake 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:56.200 recipe pretty closely. 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:57.760 I mean, I guess if you're a master baker and 0:18:57.760 --> 0:18:59.679 you know what you're doing, you can do something in 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.040 lieu something else. Sure, But if you're just an ordinary 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:05.960