There is, however, one cake that seems to grow in favour
year by year, and that is the bridecake, upon which all
the confectioner's art is lavished, until it seems almost
a sin to cut it and destroy its beauty. In fact, some
of the more elaborate specimens are so made that the
cake may be abstracted without injuring the external case.
The monster cake presented to the Queen on her Jubilee
was thus made, so that the exterior was on view intact
among the other presents, although the kernel was gone.
Lawn-tennis has created a new cake, which is highly
* Chambers's ' Book of Days,' vol. i., p. 63.
CAKES AND PUDDINGS 61
appreciated. We believe this originated in Bath, famous
for many confectioners' chefs d'ceuvres, which can hardly
be met with elsewhere, such as the Sally Lunn, which is
quite a different thing there to the cake known under
that name elsewhere, and the Bath bun, which can only
be eaten in perfection in Bath. The lawn-tennis cake
is a rich plum cake, made rather thin and flat, with a
good covering of almond paste, iced, and with a sprinkling
of sweetmeats or green angelica cut very fine on the top.
In Cornwall many peculiar cakes may be met with,
but almost all of them contain saffron, which does not
commend them to all palates.
Scotland is known as ' the land of cakes,' and the variety
to be met with there is astonishing. The best known is
the shortbread, which is now sold largely in London —
especially at Christmas — daintily put up in boxes and
with a motto in candied peel on the top; but this short-
bread varies greatly : that made in Aberdeen is the best,
especially that sent to Balmoral, which is said to be made
of crushed macaroons.
There is a well-known cake which should rather be
classed under the head of puddings ; this is the pancake,
still religiously eaten on Shrove Tuesday, which the old
riddle has, in consequence, designated as the greatest fry day
of the year. The custom of eating pancakes on Shrove
Tuesday dates back to very remote times, and the tossing
them in the pan was the occasion of much merriment. For-
merly the master of the house was always called upon to toss
the first pancake, which was generally so clumsily done as to
cause it either to ascend the chimney, or to find a place on
the kitchen floor, for which the cook demanded a fine.
62 OUR VIANDS
Chambers's 'Book of Days' contains an interesting
account of tossing pancakes in Westminster School, the
cook being obliged to toss the cake over the bar which
divides the upper from the lower school, which being
done the boys scramble for the cake, and the one who
secures it unbroken, and carries it to the Deanery, receives
an honorarium of a guinea.
The same article gives the following quaint description
of the pancake by the poet Taylor :—
Our viands
1893Page 27
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There is, however, one cake that seems to grow in favour
year by year, and that is the bridecake, upon which all
the confectioner's art is lavished, until it seems almost
a sin to cut it and destroy its beauty. In fact, some
of the more elaborate specimens are so made that the
cake may be abstracted without injuring the external case.
The monster cake presented to the Queen on her Jubilee
was thus made, so that the exterior was on view intact
among the other presents, although the kernel was gone.
Lawn-tennis has created a new cake, which is highly
* Chambers's ' Book of Days,' vol. i., p. 63.
CAKES AND PUDDINGS 61
appreciated. We believe this originated in Bath, famous
for many confectioners' chefs d'ceuvres, which can hardly
be met with elsewhere, such as the Sally Lunn, which is
quite a different thing there to the cake known under
that name elsewhere, and the Bath bun, which can only
be eaten in perfection in Bath. The lawn-tennis cake
is a rich plum cake, made rather thin and flat, with a
good covering of almond paste, iced, and with a sprinkling
of sweetmeats or green angelica cut very fine on the top.
In Cornwall many peculiar cakes may be met with,
but almost all of them contain saffron, which does not
commend them to all palates.
Scotland is known as ' the land of cakes,' and the variety
to be met with there is astonishing. The best known is
the shortbread, which is now sold largely in London —
especially at Christmas — daintily put up in boxes and
with a motto in candied peel on the top; but this short-
bread varies greatly : that made in Aberdeen is the best,
especially that sent to Balmoral, which is said to be made
of crushed macaroons.
There is a well-known cake which should rather be
classed under the head of puddings ; this is the pancake,
still religiously eaten on Shrove Tuesday, which the old
riddle has, in consequence, designated as the greatest fry day
of the year. The custom of eating pancakes on Shrove
Tuesday dates back to very remote times, and the tossing
them in the pan was the occasion of much merriment. For-
merly the master of the house was always called upon to toss
the first pancake, which was generally so clumsily done as to
cause it either to ascend the chimney, or to find a place on
the kitchen floor, for which the cook demanded a fine.
62 OUR VIANDS
Chambers's 'Book of Days' contains an interesting
account of tossing pancakes in Westminster School, the
cook being obliged to toss the cake over the bar which
divides the upper from the lower school, which being
done the boys scramble for the cake, and the one who
secures it unbroken, and carries it to the Deanery, receives
an honorarium of a guinea.
The same article gives the following quaint description
of the pancake by the poet Taylor :—