Over the centuries this has changed so that cakes are now light and fluffy, sweet and eaten after a meal or as a snack.

Cakes. like bread are based on wheat flour. They have sugar, eggs and butter or oil added, sometimes with water or milk as well. Most use something to make then rise and go fluffy, such as baking powder (which is in self-raising flour) or they use beaten eggs.

To add some more flavour, cakes often have fruit or nuts in them and they are often iced over, or cut into layers and cream and jam put between the layers.

Some cakes are very dense and rich – wedding calls and Christmas cakes are like this. Some cakes are still bread-like, while others are very light and called sponges.

Fancy cakes are often called by the French word for cake: 'gateaux'.