Christmas Pudding, Birthday and Shower Charms

pudding2.jpgpudding.jpg The tradition of hiding small tokens or charms in pastry for good luck goes back to Roman times- but was revived and enjoyed mainly during the Victorian era. I love the old sets of sterling tokens, each meaning a different fortune for the new year. In the 1940’s they started using them in birthday cakes. The New Orleans Mardi Gras King’s Cake has always had a baby charm hidden in it, with the lucky recipient being King or Queen of the party. Of course the most popular set of cake charms are the Christmas Pudding Charms- still available today at Williams Sonama, and other high end cookery shops. there is an unusual set of Birthday ones on ebay right now- click here. or here for another set-A new twist on the charms lately is to put ribbons on them and set in the center frosting layer of a shower cake – then let each guest pull the ribbon end left out to reveal their fortune by the charm attached to the other end. this certainly helps deal with the problem of biting into one unexpectedly when they are baked into a cake or pudding, causing broken teeth or choking. To see the meaning of each charm click on the thumbnails to enlarge the pictures.

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  1. Jack says:

    Jack…

    Usefull post. I learned so much. Thank you….

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