Scripture cake

A scripture cake is a fruit cake in which the recipe is formatted as a series of biblical references. A direction to add eggs, for instance, may read "add 6 Jeremiah 17:11", alluding to the opening lines "Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay".

Besides the unusual format, scripture cake itself is a rather standard fruit cake, making the appeal often the recipe itself rather than the cake—in its humor and the puzzle of uncovering the recipe's meaning. A good deal of value has been seen in the way making scripture cake can require consulting the bible, and recipes often mention how following the recipe is a good way for children to learn scripture. Not all recipes required cooks to consult or know their bibles—some provide the answers in-line, which can indicate the authors prioritise making people feel included.

Scripture cake may have originated in Britain in 18th century. These recipes often feature in America in community cookbooks, sometimes under the names bible cake, scriptural cake, or Old Testament cake. From the late 19th through early 20th century, recipes for scripture cakes were ubiquitous in church community cookbooks across the country, appearing in more than half of the books produced in the period in the US. At church fairs during the period, slices of scripture cakes with their recipes were often sold to raise money. Scripture cakes continued to appear widely during the second half of the 20th century, particularly in the southern US. Scripture cakes are still made in the US in churches, both by children at Sunday school and adults in groups. They are prominent in the cookbooks of African-American authors. Outside of the US, recipes for scripture cake have appeared in cookbooks in Canada and the UK.

References to the Bible were not restricted to ingredient lists. After listing the required ingredients, many community cookbook instructed "Follow Solomon’s advice for making good boys and you will have a good cake. Proverbs 23:14"; corresponding with "Punish them with the rod; save them from death"; some following this with advice to "do as Tamar did (2 Samuel 13:8)": "Tamar... made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes."

Verses

See also

• Metaphorical recipe

Notes

References

Sources

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