Gina Halkias-Seugling's blog

New York State Political Elections, ca. 1850

Those who know me well may think I'm stuck on confections in general, but with the presidential election less than two weeks away, I cannot think of a more appropriate juncture to discuss the inauguration of election cake into American culture. And what would such an examination be without sharing a few traditional recipes found in NYPL's collection!

The birthplace of election cake can be traced back to the gubernatorial elections held in Hartford, Connecticut as early as 1660 when English colonies, Connecticut and Rhode Island, were granted the right to elect their own governors—long before the Revolutionary War began in 1775. Some primary evidence of the cake's existence is found at the Connecticut Historical Society, which holds the Colonial Records of Connecticut. These papers show that in May 1771, a man named Ezekial Williams submitted a bill to the Connecticut General Assembly to be reimbursed for the cost of making election cake for the colonial capital’s public festivities (also known as “Election Day Drinkings”). Historians have come to believe that election cake was adapted from yeast breads of that period popular in England.  read more »

Image from the NYPL Digital Gallery, Ca. 1870
While some married couples uphold the tradition of freezing the remaining pieces of their wedding cake (often the very top tier or the slice the bride and groom fed to each other during the reception) to be enjoyed again on the celebration of the first wedding anniversary; it didn’t quite go that way in my home. In fact, I made room for it right in my fridge, and my husband and I continued to carve away at for just about a week until we were thoroughly weary of it. As we mark our third anniversary this week, we’ve been reminiscing about the sinful goodness of our hazelnut crème-filled cake with espresso-flavored icing from that late summer evening. This provoked the brief research I conducted on American wedding cakes of yesteryear...  read more »