Cake: A Slice of History
Cake can evoke thoughts of home, comfort someone at a time of grief or celebrate a birth or new love.  It is a maker of memories, a marker of identities, and delicious!

It was the year 878 A.D., and a man claimed sanctuary in a small village home in Wessex. To the surprise of the villager, the man was not a passing vagabond but Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons. The village homemaker was happy to hide him from the marauding Danes, provided he keep an eye on the cake she had baking in the oven. Preoccupied with how to re-take his kingdom, Alfred let the cake burn, and the incident passed into folklore forever.

From these seemingly ignoble beginnings, not only was Alfred able to reclaim his spot in history, but the humble villager's cake has become a part of world culture as well. Alysa Levene looks at cakes both ancient and modern, from the fruit cake, to the pound cake, from the ubiquitous birthday cake to the angel food cake, all the way up to competitive baking shows on television and our modern obsession with macaroons and cup cakes.

Along the way, author Alysa Levene shows how cakes are so much more than just a delicious sugar hit, and reflects on how and why cakes became the food to eat in times of celebration.  Cake reflects cultural differences, whether it is the changing role of women in the home, the expansion of global trade, even advances in technology. Entertaining and delightfully informative, Cake: A Slice of History promises to be a witty and joyous celebration of our cultural heritage.
1136796700
Cake: A Slice of History
Cake can evoke thoughts of home, comfort someone at a time of grief or celebrate a birth or new love.  It is a maker of memories, a marker of identities, and delicious!

It was the year 878 A.D., and a man claimed sanctuary in a small village home in Wessex. To the surprise of the villager, the man was not a passing vagabond but Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons. The village homemaker was happy to hide him from the marauding Danes, provided he keep an eye on the cake she had baking in the oven. Preoccupied with how to re-take his kingdom, Alfred let the cake burn, and the incident passed into folklore forever.

From these seemingly ignoble beginnings, not only was Alfred able to reclaim his spot in history, but the humble villager's cake has become a part of world culture as well. Alysa Levene looks at cakes both ancient and modern, from the fruit cake, to the pound cake, from the ubiquitous birthday cake to the angel food cake, all the way up to competitive baking shows on television and our modern obsession with macaroons and cup cakes.

Along the way, author Alysa Levene shows how cakes are so much more than just a delicious sugar hit, and reflects on how and why cakes became the food to eat in times of celebration.  Cake reflects cultural differences, whether it is the changing role of women in the home, the expansion of global trade, even advances in technology. Entertaining and delightfully informative, Cake: A Slice of History promises to be a witty and joyous celebration of our cultural heritage.
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Cake: A Slice of History

Cake: A Slice of History

by Alysa Levene
Cake: A Slice of History

Cake: A Slice of History

by Alysa Levene

eBook

$14.99 

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Overview

Cake can evoke thoughts of home, comfort someone at a time of grief or celebrate a birth or new love.  It is a maker of memories, a marker of identities, and delicious!

It was the year 878 A.D., and a man claimed sanctuary in a small village home in Wessex. To the surprise of the villager, the man was not a passing vagabond but Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons. The village homemaker was happy to hide him from the marauding Danes, provided he keep an eye on the cake she had baking in the oven. Preoccupied with how to re-take his kingdom, Alfred let the cake burn, and the incident passed into folklore forever.

From these seemingly ignoble beginnings, not only was Alfred able to reclaim his spot in history, but the humble villager's cake has become a part of world culture as well. Alysa Levene looks at cakes both ancient and modern, from the fruit cake, to the pound cake, from the ubiquitous birthday cake to the angel food cake, all the way up to competitive baking shows on television and our modern obsession with macaroons and cup cakes.

Along the way, author Alysa Levene shows how cakes are so much more than just a delicious sugar hit, and reflects on how and why cakes became the food to eat in times of celebration.  Cake reflects cultural differences, whether it is the changing role of women in the home, the expansion of global trade, even advances in technology. Entertaining and delightfully informative, Cake: A Slice of History promises to be a witty and joyous celebration of our cultural heritage.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781681771083
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Publication date: 03/15/2016
Sold by: SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format: eBook
Pages: 336
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Alysa Levene is a social historian at Oxford Brookes University and an enthusiastic amateur baker. Visit her website at www.sliceofcakeandapocketofpins.wordpress.com.
Alysa Levene is a social historian at Oxford Brookes University and an enthusiastic amateur baker. Visit her website at www.sliceofcakeandapocketofpins.wordpress.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction: What is a Cake? 1

1 2000 BC (Before Cake) 9

2 The Secret Meaning of Fruit Cake 33

3 Butter, Sugar and Slavery (or Queen Victoria's Sandwich) 63

4 Domestic Goddesses 91

5 The Cardboard Wedding Cake 132

6 The Cake That Travelled the World 143

7 A Cake Just For You 167

8 The Original Showstoppers 195

9 The Feminist Cupcake 221

Epilogue: A Slice of History 255

Acknowledgements 261

Endnotes 263

Index 293

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