Cakes—Plain, Fancy and Beyond

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Published 1994

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...Perhaps because of their humble and universal nature in the American diet, pies rarely appear in 19th-century paintings; cakes, on the other hand, abound. Then as now, cake was a special treat, and Champagne [then sweet] was an expensive and glamorous accompaniment.

HELEN GUSTAFSON ET AL.,

ART WHAT THOU EAT—IMAGES OF FOOD IN AMERICAN ART, 1990

Bring a cake to the table, and you’ve instantly created an occasion. It’s with cakes that we mark off and celebrate the milestones as we pass through life—from birthdays to weddings and anniversaries. In many cultures, cakes console at times of death, too. In an earlier era in this country, those left behind would remember the departed over a funeral cake. Today, the coffee cake brought to the house of the bereaved may be store-bought, but the essential tradition remains.

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