Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1903-08-12
WEDDINGCAKEMYSTERY
SUPERSTITlONS CLUSTER
AROUND THE MARRIAGE
FEAST. -
They Cause Trouble Sometimes sfor
the Proprietor of the Bake Shop and q
His Assistants-Some Cakes Are
FearfuIIy and Wonderfully Made.

wonderfully maze, DuI SOue OIL uoAo
wonderful than others. The digger
the cake the more mysteries 1t can con-
tain, hence the seeker after novelties In
wedding cakes would do we'll to make a
tour of the bakeries in the foreign col
onies, where a gigantic cake is an I'M
portant accessory to every marriage.
Or, if he has not time to go the rounds,
he can concentrate his attention upon
one rather small downtown bakeshop
and learn there everything there is TO
be learned on the subject.
The proprietor Of that shop is chock-
full of wedding cake iore. He divides
his cakes into classes, first according
to nationality. This it not hard to do,
for while a wedding cake is wedding
cake the world over, 1t Is run on IN
many different editions, and the archi-
lecture of the more pretenIous ones
is frequently modelled after famous edi-
fees in the Fatherland and doctored up
with ingredients that give the whole
confection a decidedly national tang.
For example, there are Russian towers,
Turkish minarets, and Gothic facades
and quadrangles done in sugar, and al
favored with peculiar essence tnat
tells the initiated to what land the
brides family belongs
The largest wedding cakes turned out
in that particular shop are those built
in Russian style. The designs therein
employed call for generous proportions,
and by the time the various sections OF
the cake have been joined together the
whole is thing at which to marvel.
when you bake cakes Of unusual
size and shape, who is responsible for
the designs?" asked visitor who had
been admiring one such gigantic pro-
duct Of the bakers skill.
Sometimes l study them out for my
self, sometimes the wedding party OF
fers suggestions. l prefer to do all the
planning myself, however, for, If do
say it. know how to put up an artis-
istic cake, at least so far as external
appearances so. On the other hand,
my customers ideas on the subject are
often perfectly crazy, ard II / try to fol-
low their instructions am sure to turn
out a real freak in confectionery, and
that is always painful to professional
pride.
ut is at other peoples suggestions.
too, that | mix in all the sentimental
gimcracks with which l sometimes
spoil an otherwise good cake. Being an
old hand at the business, know what
liberties can be properly taken with
the internal arrangement of a wedding
cake, so, of course, / always attend TO
the rings and the china dolls and the
other conventional super1uities; but If
you ever get hold Of a piece of cake
bal-od= & attztliis shnn and .hreair yoiiI-
teeth on an olo coin or a queer charm
or something Of that kind, you may
rest assured that am not responsible
for the accident. The customer order
ed the thing put in. Those amulets and
heirlooms are a part of his supersiti-
ton.
"Just because a man has emigrated
to New York and settled down In this
mattcr-of-fact city is no sign that he
has left his fourteenth century super
stitions in The old country. The chances
are that he did not, or even If he did
his wife is pretty sure to hold on to
them, and as a number of those absurd
fancies are centred In wedding cake,
am bound to humor their whims when
mixing the batter Many of that class
have their queer beliefs so deeply in
grained that they make their own
cakes. However, If they have not the
facilities for baking they are obliged to
intrust it to the sacrilegious hands of
a mere baker, In which case they come
down here in a bunch to superintend
the mixing process. They do that be-
cause at a particular point in the pro-
ceedings it is desirable to perform cer-
tain curious incarnations Those out
landish signs and gibberish are sup
posed to bestoW upon the cake certain
virtues that will be impaired to all who
eat Of it, and the bride would rather
live an old maid to the end of the
chapter than. omit these queer obser-
vances. Naturally I don't approve Of
any such tomfoolery, and it gets dread
fully on the nerves of my men to have
all those outsiders dawdllng around,
droning and whining while they are at
work beating eggs and creaming but
ter and sugar; but since a wedding
cake Is quite sn expensive luxury, can
afford to grant few concessions to the
weakness of the purchasers"
"How about recipes. asked the visi-
tor. "Do you use your own in these
special cases or do the customers pro-
vide them as we'll as the minor sugges-
tions?"
"They generally leave that part of
the business to me" said the proprie-
tor. while there are no hard and fast
rules in regard to the composition of
wedding cakes, they really do not differ
much, except in the matter of flavoring
and unimportant details, and / am able
to satisfy all tastes In cases where a
cake of extraordinary size is required
the customer gives me an idea of the
dimensions and l apportion the ingre-
dients accordingly. The recipes / fre-
quently use in mixing these cakes call
for such large quantities of provisions
that they sound as if was preparing
rations for an army. Here is sample
of the kind and size I make every day
of the year."
The proprietor tossed about a few
letters on his desk and presently pro
duced scrap of paper, from which b.
read glibly: Eighteen cups butter, II
pints sugar, quarts flour, 10 dozel
eggs, IA pounds currants, Z pounds cit
ron, pounds shelled almonds, L
pounds raisins, 8 pints brandy, 5
ounces mace"
"To make cake of that kind" h.