Dumb [or "silent] Cake "A Halloween Dainty"
In the 1914 Table Decorations & Delicacies by Hester Price, a guide for hostesses, the Dumb Cake is specified to be a "Halloween Dainty". The cake however, which had to be both prepared and consumed in complete silence, was featured at several holidays, including St Agnes’ Eve, St Anne’s Eve, Halloween, and Christmas Eve,
In the 1914 Table Decorations & Delicacies by Hester Price, a guide for hostesses, the Dumb Cake is specified to be a "Halloween Dainty". The cake however, which had to be both prepared and consumed in complete silence, was featured at several holidays, including St Agnes’ Eve, St Anne’s Eve, Halloween, and Christmas Eve,
On certain days of the year, the spirit world was once considered particularly accessible. In those years, the new day began at sunset.
During these special days, young unmarried women could make 'dumb cakes', in a ritual that would reveal their future husbands to them. The entire meal was to be prepared, and eaten, in complete silence
The Dumb Cake Ritual was used most often during St Agnes’ Eve, St Anne’s Eve, Halloween, and Christmas Eve.
In the 1916 Handy Household Hints and Recipes , the recipe can be found between an entry for Halloween, and a menu for Thanksgiving.
Recipe For Dumb Cake:
One and one-half pounds flour, one and one-half pounds sugar, one-half pound butter, two cups milk, four teaspoonfuls baking powder, ten eggs and two gills brandy and a little pulverized mace. Mix as any cake and bake in a flat pan. Now cut off two cornes to make it a triangle; ice top and sides with icing; outline nuts and garnish the lower edge with English walnuts and autumn leaves.
Another recipe, as described in the Preston Herald, specified: a large sheet of white paper was spread on a table and three girls each placed on it a handful of flour and a pinch of salt. A dough was made and the girls took turns to roll it out. They then marked the dough with their initials and put it before the fire to bake. The girls sat in a half-circle as far away from the fire as possible. Between 11pm and 12am each girl had to turn the cake once. On the last stroke of midnight, the future husband of the girl to be married first would stride into the room and point at her initials.
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Download the 1914 Table Decorations and Delicacies
A Complete Hand-Book For The Hostess
By Hester Price
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