Cake is a broad term for any of a number of breads, either shortened or unshortened, that are often formed by the tin in which they are cooked; more precisely, cake is a sweetened bread that is frequently rich or delicate.

Within the French culinary canon, each of the eight fundamental dough types—short pastry, flake pastry, sweet pastry, savarin, brioche, baba, chou pastry, and genoise—is the basis for all cakes, or gâteaux. An endless array of flavoring and ornamental ingredients, like marzipan, sugar icing, spices, fruits, and cremes, can be added to them.