Whether it’s a simple cake or a double layer cake, here are Signature Aromatic “A” Cakes From Around the World and Their Stories

Cakes, especially double layer cakes, are the darlings of the dessert world and different pockets of the world have their different versions and no two cakes are the same. In fact, different cultures shape different cakes, which is why the way a cake looks, tastes and the sentiments behind it, will also differ from one home to the other.

Not all cakes are spongy and dripping with chocolate—some are made of rice, are sticky and subtly fragrant. Most of the time they use one particular ingredient that forms the essence of the cake. For example, apple growing regions will make apple cakes, and almond growing regions will have a signature almond cake. So here is a list of cakes from around the world that start with the letter “A”.

Angel Cake

Kicking it off with the tiny island nation of the United Kingdom, angel cake has three distinct layers – pink, yellow and white. It’s different from the US’ angel food cake, which likely sprouted from the angel cake itself. Angel cake is made into a loaf and is a sponge cake that is usually sandwiched with vanilla buttercream frosting between the three layers. It's as good as a tea cake and oftentimes served with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Amandine

Amandine was born before the dawn of the 21st century and is of Romanian origin. It's a simple chocolate cake that is made out of a sponge cake, a chocolate or almond filling, rum-laced sweet syrup and a glaze made with rich ganache. It is topped with a swirl of chocolate creme and a tiny cube of chocolate. Romanian has been baking this cake since the 1960s and has been said to have been inspired by the baking spree that Europe was high on, at that time. Mousse cakes and the French opera cake share similarities with this delicious Romanian dessert.

Aranygaluska

Ever heard of monkey bread, because Aranygaluska is quite similar to that, at least in how it looks. This Hungarian cake’s name translates to the golden dumpling cake and Jewish immigrants from the country have been making it forever. However, it didn't always look like the pull-apart cake like it does today. It probably started looking quite similar to the dumpling-like German cake called Dampfnudeln. Today it looks like someone baked a bunch of Dampfnudelns together and then you pull them apart and eat them. It has some kind of sauce or jam that sweetens it further and it's eaten typically with custard after pulling it apart from the main cake.

Apple Cake

Germany is famous for its sunken apple cake or Versunkener Apfelkuchen, and nearby countries of Austria, Poland and Hungary, not to mention the UK, Ireland, and the Scandinavian countries, also have their own versions of the apple cake. It's like a fruit cake to which nuts and dry fruits can be added, but the traditional version just uses fresh apples in its batter. The German sunken cake just has apple halves, which are finely sliced and “sunken” into the sponge cake batter. The baked result looks like a cake motif with the apples carving rune-like patterns on the cake’s surface.

Amygdalopita

From the country of Greece, Amygdalopita is a simple almond cake that makes use of locally growing almonds. Almonds and Greece go way back to the 3rd century BC, ancient Greece, and were touted to have medicinal properties. The almond blossoms and the nuts are prized even today since the era of Hippocrates. It is also tied to Greek mythology and after all this, a cake making use of almonds is hardly a surprise. Almond cakes are mostly popular in the Southern regions of the country where almond trees grow in abundance. They are usually flourless cakes made with ground almonds, semolina and eggs.

Angel Food Cake

As American as they seem, the history of slavery haunts this cake, because it is believed that the angel food cake was first made by slaves in the Southern part of the US. It took a strong hand to whip the egg whites used in the cake and back in those days, mechanisation, in baking, was still a dream. This cake is popularly served at the funerals of African American folks. There are other versions of the cake floating around, but the airy egg whites are what sets this cake apart from the other sponge, butter or silver cakes of the world.