| Description |
x, 162 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Contents |
Foreword / William Woys Weaver -- pt. I. Preliminaries. 1. The British wedding cake in the late twentieth century. Cakes in weddings. Their form and ranges of variation. The changing trade in the 1980s. Does a wedding cake mean anything? 2. How distinctive is the British cake? Europe. America. Australia. Outwith the west. Themes. 3. Cultural creation: myth, history and language. The Victorian myth of origin. Cultural history and its problems. Recipes as evidence. 'Wedding cake' and 'bride cake': terms in language. 4. When the wedding cake was not yet and might never have been. Feasts, food and subtleties. Cake, great cakes and marriage rites. Alternatives and their persistence -- pt. II. The making of the British wedding cake. 5. Great cakes, plum(b) cakes and bride cakes. Great cakes for weddings. From great cakes to plum(b) cakes. The bride cake. Cakes for weddings and other festivities. 6. Confectionery and icing. Sugarpaste and the beginnings of confectionery. Marchpanes. The development of icing. Double icing. Marzipan. Decoration and colour. Piping: 'a new art form'. 7. The rise of the Victorian cake and its successors. Pieces montees. Royal weddings and the high rising cake. The trade and the three-tier standard. Separating the tiers. Colour, top pieces and other ornamentation -- pt. III. Users, uses and meanings. 8. Uses and their evolution. Cake-breaking. Dreaming and divination. Display. Cutting the cake. Keeping it for the christening. Conclusion: uses and forms. 9. Meanings and interpretation. 10. Towards a theory of cultural change? Objects, custom and meanings. Phenomena of cultural change |
| Analysis |
Great Britain |
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Weddings Cakes |
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Great Britain |
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Weddings Cakes |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [151]-158) and index |
| Subject |
Wedding cakes -- History.
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Wedding cakes -- Social aspects -- Great Britain.
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Wedding cakes -- Social aspects.
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Wedding cakes -- Great Britain -- History.
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| LC no. |
91024278 |
| ISBN |
0415026482 (hbk) |
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0415026490 (paperback) |
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