@eirene_belle: Now that you understand why we don't use electric kitchen appliances, do you think that women in the old days didn't make something sweet for their loved ones just because they lacked these things? Linzer Torte is the world's oldest known cake and is named after the Austrian city of Linz. It has been documented as early as 1696. Its oldest recipe is listed in a 300-year-old cookbook! It is believed that the first cakes were made by the Babylonians, who passed this invention along to the Egyptians. There are Egyptian artifacts dating as early as 1100 BC that show bakers preparing both cakes and breads. Historians believe it was the Romans who first added leavening to the cake mix which resulted in a lighter, airier cake, more like the cakes we know today.