Twelfth cake

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtwɛlfθ ˌkeɪk/

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Twelfth cake (plural Twelfth cakes)

1. A decorative cake distributed among friends or visitors on the festival of Twelfth Night (which is either the evening of January 5th or of January 6th, depending on interpretation).
   • 1836, William Kitchiner, Cook's Oracle: Containing Receipts for Plain Cookery, Robert Cadell/Whittaker and Co. London/John Cumming (1836), page 363:

     Set the cake you intend to Ice in an oven or warm place five minutes, — then spread over the top and sides with the mixture as smooth as possible; — if for a Wedding Cake, only plain ice it; if for a Twelfth Cake, ornament it with Gum Paste, […]

   • 1853, Charles Dickens, "The Child's Story", in A Round of Stories by the Christmas Fire, Ward, Stringer & Townsend (1853), page 9:

     They had holidays, too, and Twelfth cakes, and parties where they danced all night till midnight, and real theatres where they saw palaces of gold and silver rise out of the real earth, and saw all the wonders of the world at once.

   • 2007, Helen Halstead, Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride, Ulysses Press, published 2007, →ISBN, page 54:

     As supper ended, the Twelfth Night entertainments began. […] The "Twelfth Cake" was carried in. The sides of this massive concoction were sculptured like desert dunes, and on top rode a miniature procession of figures representing the three Magi and their camels.

   Synonyms: epiphany cake, king cake, king's cake, kings' cake, three kings' cake, twelfth day cake

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