Cakes and Pastries (Backwerk)

Out of the more than 1,600 distinctive dishes documented in the Pennsylvania Dutch region of the United States, a good portion consists of cakes and various types of pastries. Many of these are not found in cookbooks or in restaurants, but rather remain within the sphere of home cookery. The oldest and most traditional term for cake in Pennsylvania Dutch is Siessbrod (“sweet bread”), which implies that the basic dough is the same as bread, but then other ingredients (like eggs, butter, sugar or honey) are added to give it a festive character. See breads, sweet.