No, not wedding cake. The “matrimonial cake” I mean is called “date squares” outside western Canada, if it’s known at all. The recipe has a crust of rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, and butter, half pressed into a pan, layered with a cooked date mixture, and covered with the rest of the oat mixture before baking. (Google gave me many hits. Pick one. Mmmm! Good!)
Can anybody tell me where the name came from?
(BTW, when I made a batch with Chinese red dates, Zyada named it “Illicit-Affair Cake” and says the common mincemeat-filled variant should be “Civil-Union Cake” - it looks the same, but it really isn’t. )
When does one serve matrimonial cake? At the wedding reception? At the bridal shower? At the bachelor party? When the couple announce their engagement? Just what function does it serve?
It never seemed to be attached to any particular occasion when I was growing up in the Prairies. Certainly showers and receptions were favourite events for baked goods, but all sorts of other things were common there, and this one showed up at any potluck or cookout too. Maybe in the past it had some special significance for marriage, but I can’t find any reference.
I suppose it could be a translation from some other place, since Western Canada was originally settled by immigrants from all over Europe.
Now its starting to bother me! Somebody must know!
This is not the most desireable of cites, but such a cake, referred to as an oatcake, is used to incredibly creepy effect in The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers. The cake is used during the actual ceremony, and is broken ceremoniously over the bride’s head, “symbolically assuring [her] fertility”. Powers is generally pretty good about research, so it is more than likely that such a thing exists in old enough Scottish weddings; the wedding in the book takes place in small town in Scotland. Certainly Canada has enough Scots that it would be refered to as a matrimonial cake here, if such a thing were ever used. There is no reference to dates in the book, though.
Thanks, bashere! I Googled for “oatcake fertility” and found lots of references, though some said breaking the oatcake (over the couple - the guy helps too!) was part of the ceremony and others that it was done before the couple entered their house. Most agreed it was for fertility, though one said it was for prosperity. Close enough. I guess the date filling came later but the name stuck. It’s still good!
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