The history of election cake

Although it might have seemed that this US election season was never going to end, voting is finally over after today. In years past, the act of voting may well have been celebrated with an election cake, an all but forgotten American tradition. Election cake dates to the 1700s, when Puritans viewed election day as one of the most important colonial holidays.

It was commonplace for voters (men only at the time) to each receive a slice of cake after fulfilling their voting obligation. The first written recipe for American election cake appears in 1796 in the first U.S. cookbook, Amelia Simmons’ American Cookery. Election cakes usually contained dried fruit, most often raisins or figs, and were sturdy affairs that would keep for several days.

That seems appropriate for today’s election, when it is unlikely that we will know who won by the end of the evening as has been the case in recent elections. Make an election cake tonight, then snack on it for the next couple of days until we know the winner. The EYB Library contains five different election cake recipes, including the Election cake, late eighteenth century from Food52 by Amelia Simmons and Betty Fussell pictured above.