Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other
ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were
modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations
that can be simple or elaborate, and which share features with desserts
such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.
The term "cake" has a long history. The word itself is of Viking
origin, from the Old Norse word "kaka". The ancient Greeks
called cake πλακοῦς (plakous), which was derived from the
word for "flat", πλακόεις (plakoeis). It was baked using
flour mixed with eggs, milk, nuts, and honey.