From The Food Encyclopedia by Jacques Rolland and Carol Sherman
Usually a sweet, baked batter with or without frosting, although pancakes and coffee cakes are quick breads, and potato and fish cakes are savory preparations. Fruitcakes were popular in Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs; cheesecakes were the subjects of poetry in classical Greece. But in ancient times, a cake was never the towering, feather-light concoction that is the goal of today's North American bakers. Not until the technique of beating air into egg whites was discovered did cakes reach their present light texture. The origin of the word "cake" is obscure. Some believe it to be a derivation of the Old French gâter, meaning "to spoil", although unless this meant the recipients were overindulged, the connection is difficult to understand. The Old Norse word Kaka referred to a sweet pastry. So does Kuchen in German, but it is not much like a North American cake: some Kuchen have a butter-rich crust with a cream or fruit filling, more like a pie; others are made with a yeast dough (like Zwiebelkuchen, or "onion cake"). The feather-light German cake is more likely to be called a torte. Gâteau is French for "cake" and includes everything from buttery-crisp pastries to yeast-raised sweet cakes (like baba au rhum) to the delicate génoise.
