For many of us, the offer of cake brings pleasurable expectations of sweet, tender layers with a complementary filling and swirls of cloudlike, fluffy frosting on top. In addition to tasting heavenly, cakes can do wonders for the soul.

Cake, in one form or another, has been part of the world’s culinary landscape throughout recorded history. The earliest types, probably from Egypt, were modified from round disks of bread, a fundamental food. Cake was viewed as a celebratory food offered in gratitude to the deities during religious ceremonies and at annual events like the harvest festival. The cake’s traditional round shape symbolized continuity, the sun and moon, and the cyclical nature of the seasons and life.

The peoples of ancient Greece and Rome added honey, dried fruits, nuts, and spices to their bread-like cakes. Fig, raisin, and honey cakes are mentioned throughout the Bible. More than 2,000 years ago, the Greeks made a prototype cheesecake called plakous (“flat mass”). Baked in honor of the Olympian goddesses, cheesecake was served at the first Greek Olympics Games in 776 B.C.

The Persians infused cakes with rosewater, adding pistachios, cardamom, and almond paste. The moon cakes of China’s Han Dynasty (202 B.C. - 220 A.D.) were made with red bean paste or lotus paste; today, they are likely to be made from Häagen-Dazs ice cream and chocolate.

When did the boundary between bread and modern cake become fixed? The English word cake comes from the Old Norse word kaka, which is still used in Sweden. Vikings who invaded the British Isles spoke the North Germanic language. Cake was often defined as an enriched, flattened, white bread cooked on both sides.

Many British cakes originated from religious festivals and were of vital importance to the church sacraments like Holy Communion. William Shakespeare wrote, “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?”

Cakes evolved rapidly throughout medieval Europe. Sugar was a luxury beyond the reach of the masses. Few homes had ovens, so honey-sweetened dough was carried to the closest bakehouse. Gingerbread was the iconic cake of the Middle Ages; each country produced its own variation. Skilled craftsmen molded it into elaborate shapes and then covered the surfaces with gold leaf.

Early Britons adopted the Roman custom of breaking wheat and barley cakes over a bride’s head for good luck. This evolved into a towering display of spiced buns. Plum or “plumb” cake, which is fruitcake with currants and double icing, eventually became the prevailing wedding tradition. Marzipan-covered fruitcakes coated with sugar icing remain popular today. In 1840, a special type of sugar coating called “royal icing” was created for Queen Victoria’s wedding cake. It is used to decorate many types of cakes through piping, a French innovation.

Elaborate medieval court cakes were gilded with gold leaf, silver, and gemstones. Elizabethan “great cakes” made with 14 pounds of white flour and copious spices were leavened with barm — the froth of fermenting ale. Covered in an opaque glaze, the enormous cakes were a great luxury for the upper class.

Sugar was an expensive rarity for all but the wealthiest Britons. Necessary for making tender cakes, it was viewed as medicine as much as a sweetener. Eating sugar in excess darkened the teeth from cavities, which was considered a status symbol during that time. German visitors to the royal court of Queen Elizabeth I wrote about her blackened teeth from overconsumption.

Cake’s transformation accelerated through the 16th and 17th centuries. Baking molds for cakes were developed as well as boiled frostings. Spanish sponge cake became popular in Europe; Portuguese traders introduced it to Japan, where it was called kasutera. Tea and sugar emerged as a “power couple” and began to keep company with plum cakes, seed cakes, bun-like spice cakes, and gingerbread made with breadcrumbs.

The colonists baked America’s first cakes: golden pound cake, yeast-raised spice cake, sponge cake, and rich plum cake (fruitcake), which became an annual Christmas tradition. English and German gingerbread evolved into a soft gingerbread cake.

After sugar colonies were established in the New World, sugar slowly became affordable for all classes. In 1796, Amelia Simmons’ American Cookery became the first cookbook published by an American. The title page promised, “… All Kinds of Cakes From the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake Adapted to This Country …” One appealing “receipt” is a buttery Queen’s Cake perfumed with rosewater. Making cakes was laborious work, and they were denser and less sweet than those to which we are accustomed.

American cakes were leavened with yeast (e.g., Election Day Cake) or by whipping air into cake batters and egg whites — no easy task. Martha Washington’s Great Cake required the whites and yolks of 40 eggs to be whipped separately. They were combined with 8 pounds of butter creamed with sugar and 5 pounds of flour, mixed entirely by hand.

Cakes took on new flavors and ingredients in the New World: pumpkin, cranberries, hickory nuts, molasses, huckleberries, rum, and Indian meal or cornmeal. Coconut arrived later and was used to make Coconut Cakes, Lane Cakes, and German Chocolate Cakes. The elegant Lady Baltimore Cake has close historical ties with Charleston, South Carolina.

Cupcakes appeared in the early 1800s; teacups were used as both measuring cups and baking molds. Within a decade, enterprising homemakers were baking cupcake batter in a single, large pan using the formula: one cup butter, two cups sugar, three cups flour, and four eggs. A spinoff from the pound cake, this butter cake would become the basis for the uniquely American layer cake.

Major cake advancements occurred in the mid 1800s with the hand-cranked eggbeater and development of leavening agents. Pearl ash, or potassium carbonate, worked well in heavily spiced cakes that masked its bitter aftertaste. It was soon replaced by saleratus, a precursor to baking soda. In 1856, baking powder became the most reliable form of chemical leavener. Many of America’s favorite cake recipes appeared in recipe booklets published by baking powder companies at the turn of the century.

In 1933, Pittsburgh’s P. Duff and Sons Company was granted a patent for canned gingerbread cake baking mix. The company planned to use up a surplus of dehydrated molasses. Cake mixes took off in the 1950s after homemakers were inspired to “glorify their cakes with frosting” and add further embellishments. During this time, the art of cooking was in general decline and culinary skills were not being passed down from mothers and grandmothers. Novice bakers often couldn’t discern the difference between a “scratch” cake and one from a mix, which did excel in height, lightness, and convenience. Culinary historian Laura Shapiro writes, “Cake mixes have redefined what home baking really means.” The quality of cake mixes is constantly improving, and new artisan mixes with natural ingredients offer superior flavor. Cake mixes can be a boon for people with busy lifestyles.

The basic lineup of American cakes offers endless variations including Tres Leche Cake, Raspberry Chocolate Icebox Cake, Butter Pecan Pound Cake, Salted-Caramel Chocolate Cake, California Grapefruit Cake, Lemon & Elderflower Sponge, Mango Cheesecake, Olive Oil Cake, Crepe Cake, Boston Cream Pie, and Chiffon Cake — an American original. Luscious cakes are made with figs, carrots, prunes, bananas, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, tomato soup, and peanuts (from South America via Africa).

Cakes may retain bread-like qualities or incorporate the best of other desserts: fruits, custards, whipped cream toppings, ice cream, and meringues. They range from a simple one-bowl cake to the sublime. Consider Julia Child’s Le Kilimanjaro, a flaming mountain of ice cream cake.