Table of Contents

Foreword by William Woys Weaver Introduction PART II: 1. The British Wedding Cake in the Late Twentieth Century 2. Variation, differences and Themes 3. Cultural Creation: myth, history and language 4. When the Wedding Cake Was Not and Might Never Have Been PART II: 5. Great Cakes, Plum(b) Cakes and Bride Cakes 6. Confectionery and Icing 7. The Rise of the Victorian Cake and its Successors PART III: 8. Uses and Their Evolution 9. Meanings and Interpretation 10. Towards a Theory of Cultural Change

Reviews

"There are many shrewd observations here, particularly those that link the evolving elaborateness of the wedding cakes to the growing commercialization of private ceremonies . . . Charsley is also enlightening on the way the ritual of cake-cutting reflects the changing role of women in marriage."
-"Publishers Weekly