Twelfth-cake
[Short for Twelfth-night or Twelfth-tide cake: cf. twelfth B. 3.]
A large cake used at the festivities of Twelfth-night, usually frosted and otherwise ornamented, and with a bean (see bean n. 6 b) or coin introduced to determine the ‘king’ or ‘queen’ of the feast.
| 1774 in Brand Pop. Antiq. (1777) 206, I did not return till I had been present at drawing King and Queen, and eaten a Slice of the Twelfth Cake. 1826 Hone Every-Day Bk. [55 A citation by Brand represents the..Twelfth-night-cake to have been composed of flour, honey, ginger, and pepper.] 56 In France, the Twelfth-cake is plain, with a bean; the drawer of the slice containing the bean is king or queen. 1876 G. Meredith Beauch. Career xxix, A ricketty ornament like that you see on a confectioner's twelfth-cake. |
| attrib. 1837 [Miss Maitland] Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 54 A queer kind of sprig made of rice and beads, like a twelfth-cake ornament. 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 337/1 The house at Kenwood is quite in the twelfth-cake style—patched all over with panels of filagree work. |