 So many cakes, so little time. This delectable mousse cake with a caramel topping is from FinancierPastries.com.
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Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Cookies, Cakes & PastryCake GlossaryPage 4: G - K
There are thousands of different types of cakes in the world today; each culture has its specialties, most of which never reach our shores. Here, we present some of the more popular types one is likely to encounter—or at least hear about—in the U.S. If your favorite isn’t represented, tell us about it. After you’ve checked out the cakes, take a look at our other food glossaries—an easy way to get up to speed on more than fifty different food categories. Most related to this Cake Glossary are our Chocolate Glossary, Custard Glossary, Dessert Sauce Glossary, Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts Glossary and Sugar Glossary. You can click on the letter of the alphabet in the bar below to get to a term a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z This glossary is protected by copyright and cannot be reproduced in whole or part. GANACHEIn the cake world, ganache refers to a very rich, thick icing made with melted chocolate and heavy cream. It is semi-firm and has a nice sheen. See the definition for ganache in the chocolate glossary. GALETTE
GÂTEAUGâteau is the French word for cake. It is generally a more delicate and complex confection than an American layer cake, with a génoise base and a cream or buttercream filling. It can be light or rich, rectangular or round, and often has fresh decoration such as fruit or whipped cream that makes it perishable. Gâteau can also be very elaborately decorated with spun sugar and chocolate. GÉNOISEGénoise is a type of sponge cake, so-called because it was invented in the Italian city of Genoa. A light mixture of whipped eggs and sugar, with flour and butter folded, it is the base for most French Gâteau. Citrus juice and zest, cocoa powder, nuts and other flavors can be added. GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKEA chocolate layer cake with a rich coconut pecan filling and a chocolate frosting, topped with more coconut. German chocolate cake does not come from Germany or from GROOM’s CAKEA southern tradition, a separate wedding cake was baked called the “groom’s cake,” to HUMMINGBIRD CAKEAnother southern tradition, the recipe was first submitted by a reader to Southern Living magazine and published in the February 1978 issue. There was no explanation of the name, but FoodTimeLine.org cites a 1985 article in the Arkansas Gazette that says the cake also was called Cake That Doesn’t Last, Cake That Won’t Last, Granny’s Best Cake and Never Ending Cake. The batter includes bananas, crushed pineapple and pecans or walnuts, and the cake is filled and frosted with cream cheese frosting and typically topped with more chopped nuts. Thinks banana nut cake with pineapple and cinnamon. ICE BOX CAKE ICINGSee Frosting. ITALIAN MERINGUEItalian meringue is a stable soft meringue that is made with sugar syrup instead of granulated sugar. It is used to frost cakes and pastries, and added to buttercream to make mousseline, a lighter frosting. JAMJam is a popular cake filling. Almost any flavor can be used; common flavors include apricot, blackberry, black and red cherry, black currant, orange, peach, pineapple, raspberry and strawberry. JELLY ROLLSee Roulade. KING CAKEThe king cake is a Mardi Gras tradition in New Orleans, made only during this time of year—and people all over the country purchase them by mail order. It is a Danish ring (some are elaborately braided). Some are covered in bright sanding sugars representing the Mardi Gras colors: green (faith), gold (power) and purple (justice). Others are filled with candied or glazed fruits; some wear gold paper crowns. The custom was brought to New Orleans in the late 1870s by French settlers, in whose homeland the cakes had been used to celebrate the Feast of Epiphany, or King's Day. More recently, a small plastic baby gets baked into some cakes; the person who gets the piece with the baby is named king or queen—and must host the following year’s party. KUGELHOPF or KOUGELHOPFFrom the Alsace region of France, this is a rich yeast cake, similar to brioche. It contains raisins and lemon peel and has a glaze topped with sliced almonds.
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A galette is an open-face pie or tart (depending on the tart), although some classify it as a cake. It is flat, with a flaky, turned-up crust that creates a bowl around the fruit inside (see photo at right of a blackberry galette).
German immigrants. German chocolate is a milder, sweeter baking chocolate (milk chocolate would not be invented until 1876, by Daniel Peter in Vevey, Switzerland). According to Kraft Foods, which now owns Walter Baker & Company, German chocolate cake was created in 1852 by Sam German, an Englishman who worked in the U.S. for Walter Baker & Company. Originally called Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate, the apostrophe-s was later dropped, adding to the confusion. The popular recipe for German Chocolate Cake was submitted to a Dallas newspaper almost 100 years later, in 1957, by a Texas housewife who may or may not have invented it. In light of the resulting demand for German chocolate, General Foods (since merged with Kraft) sent the recipe to newspapers nationwide, and the cake became a national hit. Numerous recipes can be found that are called “German Chocolate Cake” but contain none of the differentiating ingredients (German chocolate, coconut, pecans).
be sliced and boxed for the unmarried women attending the wedding. The cake would taken home and placed under her pillow, with hopes of dreaming of one’s future husband. (The “cake under the pillow” to engender dreams is a continuation of an old European tradition, but there was no separate groom’s cake.) Today, the groom’s cake reflects his tastes in cake, and a design that reflects his interests (chessboards, cowboy boots, sports themes). It tends to be a much smaller cake than the wedding cake, often just two large layers, and often chocolate.
An ice box cake requires no baking. It is composed of cookies or lady fingers and whipped cream or pudding (some recipes used Jell-O), and set in the refrigerator. Chocolate and lemon are popular flavors. One famous recipe, printed on the Nabisco Chocolate Wafers box, stacks whipped cream and the wafers, and is called a zebra cake. 
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