When is National Sponge Cake Day in 2024? Can you answer this question immediately? Or perhaps you would like to take some time for thinking about. Well, there is a small secret. – Unfortunately, as a rule, the most part of contemporary men and women answer both questions negatively. Are you among them? It is a real pity! This holiday deserves being famous as a sponge cake is a favorite desert for many of us. Today we are going to represent it to you in details. Do you want to join? We are starting.
History
Talking about the matter what day Sponge Cake Day in 2024 is, we can’t but mention the historical background of this event. As a rule, this question is of the greatest demand among our followers.
The first mentions of biscuits are kept in the logs of sailors from England. Gathering on a long voyage, the sailors filled the holds with significant stocks of “ship biscuits”, or, as they were also called, “sea biscuits”. “Sea rusks” were an indispensable attribute of the ship’s life, a nourishing and long-stored product intended for long sea voyages. In the Middle Ages, it was the main food of the English seafarers.
The dried biscuit did not spoil for a long time. It did not grow moldy for a long time even in wet conditions. Having no butter in its composition, the biscuit remained edible until the end of the long voyage. In addition, it was very satisfying, nutritious and did not take up much space. All these properties made “sea biscuits” indispensable for travel.
It began to be used as an exquisite treat relatively recently. When one of Queen Elizabeth’s courtiers tasted the food of ordinary seafarers, it was struck by the delicate taste. So the biscuit got into the palaces and became a treat for the nobility, and not the daily food of commoners. Ship bakery have ceased to be sea biscuits and turned from dried pieces of dough into the most delicate cakes with jam and cream layers.
Meaning
What does Sponge Cake Day mean? – Well, we are not sure whether we can answer this question instead of you. Why? – You see, we don’t know every our follower, so we can’t even predict his or her attitude to this special occasion. However, at the same time we would like to mention that a sponge cake or biscuit is in the list of the most favorite things of many modern people.
As it has already been mentioned above it appeared a long time ago. At the first sight it is even difficult to imagine, but its history is more than 500 years old. From linguistic point of view, the second name of its tasty dessert, the word “biscuit”, is of French origin. It means twice baked. Frankly speaking, “biscuit” is its literal translation from the Old French language.
The British especially loved this kind of bakery. They even made it a part of the famous “five-o-clock”, when they were having tea in the middle of the day. By the way in the days of Queen Victoria, no tea reception was complete without a biscuit prepared by the best English pastry chefs.
Of course, nowadays it is the freshest sponge cake with fillings and layers, intended for immediate consumption, not long-term storage. In the 21st century sponge cake has become the most popular addition to English afternoon tea. And to this day, a cup of tea with a sponge cake served at 17.00 is considered a symbol of English tea drinking.
Interesting Holidays:
Definition
The question “When is International Sponge Cake Day 2024?” is not as easy as it may seem at the first sight. It involves a lot of amazing pieces of information, known to the most part of contemporary consumers.
For example, the greatest part of contemporary people has never heard that in about XVIII-XIX centuries the sponge cakes were considered “light, nutritious, healthy food”. It sounds terrific but the doctors of that time mistakenly believed that “the bite of these with good old wine is an excellent, heart and stomach tonic”.
Following this ridiculous advice, the aristocracy of the 18th century often replaced the ordinary bread with biscuits. It almost always led to the premature death of many writers, poets, philosophers of the late 18th-19th centuries.
So, for example, because of the exceptional nutrition of biscuits, Byron died prematurely, who had excellent health for up to 25 years and at the age of 21 swam across the Hellespont Strait, separating Europe from Asia. However, having begun to eat only biscuits with wine upon arrival in Italy, Byron three years later fell ill with a severe form of kidney and then heart disease and died at the age of 36, that is, ten years later.
Traditions
When is Sponge Cake Day in 2024, calendar will surely remind you. This holiday has a fixed date, so if you want to remember it, you won’t definitely forget about it the next year as well. The occasion is held on August 23rd. As you perhaps there is no need that the local authorities will organize something special devoted to this holiday. However, some local bakeries may know about it and propose their visitors a lot of tasty things. As a rule, on August 23rd there are a lot of sales, so with a bit of luck you will get a chance to try much more little things for the same money.
National Sponge Cake Day Facts
Investigating the question “What is the date of Sponge Cake Day in 2024?” we discovered a lot of amazing pieces of information. Today we are going to share some of them with our followers.
In about 17th century, this kind of bakery began to be used in France. However, here we should mention that the locals didn’t associate it with the previously known sea product at all. In the course of time, these sweet small things spread throughout all European countries. After the expansion of the significant part of English colonies, sponge cakes were used all over the world.
We should tell that approximately at the same period this bakery conquered Australia as well. In 1865 a little confectionery called “Arnott” started its business here. And by the way, up to the present moment, Arnott is considered to be the largest biscuit producers of the planet, which is known quite well in more than 40 countries. In France sponge cakes have long become a significant part of not only the traditional cuisine, but also the local culture.
Well, it is not everything, of course. Sponge cakes are popular in Japan. How did they get there? – Well, this story is really amazing. Japanese cakes are known under the name “castella”. They were brought there by Portuguese sailors and traders. In about 16th century, the large port of Nagasaki was considered to be only one available for the international trade. The ships with Portuguese merchants came there in the 16th century. They proposed the locals many different things, previously unknown in Japan. Among them there were high-quality tobacco, various guns and tasty castella.
In Portuguese the word “castella” means literary “bread from Castile”. The small biscuits are given in the particular boxes of about 30-35 cm long. Because of the high cost of sugar, the dessert was considered to be an expensive dessert. However, it was presented as a gift to the emperor. In the course of time, under the influence of local tastes, the recipe of sponge cakes changed. Today, the Japanese Castella is cooked only from natural products. It has an exceptional delicate taste and can be of quite different shapes. As a rule, it comes with green tea. Sometimes honey and brown sugar are added as well.
