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Flag-waving, singing the national anthem or cheering on your country’s football team - patriotism takes many forms in many different cultures.

In the state of Connecticut, USA, some American voters celebrate their national pride at election time by getting out their wooden spoons and baking bowls to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors.

91�ȱ� Bitesize finds out all about the recently-revived 200-year-old custom of making election cake.

What is election cake?

Election cake is a type of enormous fruit cake that was traditionally baked in Connecticut, around the time of an election.

It’s thought the custom dates back to pre-revolutionary America, as the Colonial Records of Connecticut from May 1771 includes a bill sent to the state’s General Assembly for the cost of making the “cake for the election”. Amelia Simmons, author of the USA’s first published cookbook, mentions “Hartford Election Cake” in the second edition of her book American Cookery, published around 1800.

Meanwhile, the American naturalist Henry Thoreau, famous for spending two years living and writing in a simple cabin in the New England woods, compared some “shining and glossy yellow” fungus to the top of an election cake in 1853.

Thanks to social media, the tradition was revived during the 2016 election campaign trail, when the hashtag #MakeAmericaCakeAgain (a pun on candidate Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America great again”) began trending, and many people continue to bake it today.

What's in election cake?

It seems that nobody can completely agree on exactly what should be included in an election cake, although most published accounts describe it made with raisins, spices and yeast. Confusingly however, food consultant Ann Seranne published a gingerbread recipe as election cake in her 1967 book America Cooks.

At the time the tradition is believed to have begun, many New Englanders were very proud of their roots across the Atlantic, and election cake is likely to have been based on the sort of treat served up on special occasions in England.

In 1892, a reader of the Woman and 91�ȱ� housekeeping column in the Los Angeles Times suggested that a key ingredient of election cake was the New England climate, as she had never been able to successfully bake it in sunny California.

Elections were very different to today

It can be easy to take the right to vote for granted these days, but in early-19th Century America getting to choose who led you was still a new experience and a cause for celebration.

To cast their ballots, voters would travel to their states’ capitals and major cities - which in the case of Connecticut would be Hartford - and would often stay overnight in lodges, where they would be served election cake among other food and drink.

The election cake mentioned in the 1771 bill is likely to have been served to the representatives of Connecticut towns who attended the formal counting of the votes for governor and other officials in Hartford.

Not everyone had the right to vote though, so women used their baking skills to express their commitment to their new country.

The 2016 election cake revival

Inspired by the possibility of the USA voting in its first female president in 2016, historian Maia Surdam and Susannah Gebhart, co-owners of OWL Bakery in Asheville, North Carolina, began making election cake. They saw a connection between Hilary Clinton running for office to the way the recipe gave women a way of shaping elections even when they did not have the right to vote.

After they were interviewed by journalists, including at the 91�ȱ�, they received orders from across the USA. Clinton’s presidential aspirations were shattered, but election cake lives on.

Alternative election night food choices

While some voters serve red, white and blue themed snacks at their election night parties, comfort food seems to be the overriding favourite food of people waiting for the results to be called. During the 2016 election, the most recent election without Covid-19 restrictions, delivery companies reported spikes in orders.

What were they eating? Doordash, which delivered to many major cities including Atlanta, Nashville and Minnesota, sold 79% more cupcakes and 46% more pizza than on a regular Tuesday evening.

There is even a charity, Pizza to the Polls, that delivers pizza to people waiting in polling station queues, ensuring they don’t give up and go home hungry without casting their vote.

Keeping the tradition of election cake going

While researching his book The Year of Living Constitutionally, New York-based author AJ Jacobs encouraged people across the USA to bake election cake. He has set up a Facebook group, The Election Cake Project, where bakers can share their creations at each election - whether they stick to a traditional recipe or come up with their own. He says the tradition reminds us all that the right to choose our own leader is something to celebrate.

This article was published in October 2024