Guest Leigh Michaels: Historical Wedding Cakes

Linda Banche here. Today I welcome Leigh Michaels and her latest fun-filled Regency historical, The Wedding Affair. Since The Wedding Affair takes place in the context of a wedding, Leigh talks about wedding cakes through the ages.

Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win one of two SETS of Leigh's books which Sourcebooks has generously provided. Each set contains Mistress' House, Just One Season in London, and The Wedding Affair. That's three books to two lucky people! I've read all three books and I love them. Leigh will select the winners. Check the comments to see who won, and how to contact me to claim your book. If I cannot contact the winners within a week of selection, I will award the books to alternates. Note, Sourcebooks can mail to USA and Canada addresses only.

And the winners Leigh selected are KarenH and Kitchen Witch! Congratulations. I've sent you both emails. Thanks to all for coming.

Welcome Leigh!

Leigh Michaels:

Since The Wedding Affair is (surprise!) sort of about a wedding, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the bride’s cake and its role in weddings for the last 300 years – since well before the Regency period where this book takes place.

Wedding pastries have been around pretty much forever, in one form or another. In the Roman Empire, a loaf of wheat or barley bread would be baked especially for the wedding, and the groom would eat part of it, then break the rest over the bride’s head to symbolize the dominance he was to have over her in their marriage. The guests would eat the crumbs as a wish for good luck.

Sweet cakes are a fairly recent development. In medieval times, cakes were bread-like with no sweetening, and in France, they were sometimes created from a pile of sweet rolls – rather like the new trend of stacking cupcakes into a tower. Sometimes a bride’s pie was featured – it might be made of fruit or meat, but it always including a hidden ring. The person who found the ring in their portion was thought to be the next to marry. (The tradition of sleeping with a piece of cake underneath one’s pillow, in the hope of dreaming about one’s future spouse, dates as far back as the 1600s.)

For many years the traditional wedding cake in England was a dark, rich fruitcake. That helps to explain the tradition of keeping a slice for the first anniversary, since fruitcake would last that long and still be edible.

But the truly fun story about weddings and cakes is that the many-tiered, tower-like cake that brides and grooms cut today isn’t actually a wedding cake at all. Its proper title is bride’s cake. And not because the groom often gets his own version in chocolate these days, either.

It’s been known as a bride’s cake since shortly after the Great London Fire of 1666, when much of the city burned and Sir Christopher Wren was commissioned to rebuild St. Paul’s Cathedral and dozens of churches which had been lost to the fire. One of them was St. Bride’s, located on Fleet Street in the city of London and featuring a fanciful four-tiered spire, octagonal in shape and reaching more than 225 feet above street level. The shape of this tower is said to have inspired the modern, multi-tiered, grand spectacle of a wedding cake.

In the 1800s a white cake with white icing would have been a statement of wealth, since the highly-refined sugar needed to produce a white pastry was very expensive. And a tiered cake made before the invention of pillars to help support the weight was mostly created for looks -- the upper layers were made of lightweight spun sugar rather than actual cake (which would have been heavy enough to collapse into the bottom layers).

The sugary icings and fondants used to decorate modern cakes weren’t invented until late in the Victorian era, and pillars didn’t appear till after 1900. Wedding toppers – the small figures of bride and groom – became popular only in the 1950s.

Oh, and what I said at the beginning about the book being “sort of” about a wedding?… the three romances in The Wedding Affair are prompted by the wedding, but they aren’t directly connected. In fact, the wedding itself is mostly in the background. It’s what Alfred Hitchcock called “the McGuffin” – the thing which in his case caused the chase or the murder or the thrill ride, and in my case causes the romance. My three heroes and three heroines are much more interested in the affairs they’re having than they are in the wedding!

So what about you? Did you keep a piece of your wedding cake for a later anniversary? Do you still have a slice in your freezer? Tell us about it – maybe how long you kept it, how many times you moved it from house to house or state to state, and how you celebrated with it!

THE WEDDING AFFAIR BY LEIGH MICHAELS – IN STORES SEPTEMBER 2011
You’re invited to the wedding of the year!
The Duke of Somervale, whose sister’s wedding is the event of the ton, is fighting off debutantes and desperately needs help from beautiful, stubborn Olivia Reyne. But she is engrossed with problems engulfing her dearest friends and family. The last thing Olivia needs is to be embroiled with a duke whose dark gaze makes her forget herself entirely...

Discover a new side of a beloved author as Leigh Michaels draws you into the glittering, glitzy world of Regency England and an affair you’ll never forget.

About the Author
Leigh Michaels is the author of nearly 100 books, including 80 contemporary novels, more than a dozen non-fiction books and three Regency romances from Sourcebooks Casablanca: The Mistress’ House, Just One Season in London and The Wedding Affair. More than 35 million copies of her romance novels have been published by Harlequin. A 6 time RITA finalist, she has also received two Reviewer's Choice awards from RT Book Reviews, and was the 2003 recipient of the Johnson Brigham Award. Leigh also teaches romance writing on the Internet at Gotham Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Ottumwa, Iowa. For more information, please visit www.leighmichaels.com.

Guest Leigh Michaels: The Regency Season

Linda Banche here. Today I welcome Leigh Michaels and her latest fun-filled Regency historical, Just One Season in London. Just One Season in London is a wonderful story of how you help yourself when you help others played out against the pomp and splendor of the Regency Season.

Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win one of two copies of Just One Season in London which Sourcebooks has generously provided. Leigh will select the winners. Check the comments to see who won, and how to contact me to claim your book. If I cannot contact the winners within a week of selection, I will award the books to alternates. Note, Sourcebooks can mail to USA and Canada addresses only.

And the winners Leigh selected are Teresa K. and Di. Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to all for coming.

Welcome, Leigh!

Tell us a little about “The Season” during the Regency period. Why was this time so important for marriages?

Leigh Michaels:

Thanks for inviting me to join the Historical Hussies today – and what a great question! The Season is a huge part of Regency romances (as it was a huge part of the lives of young men and women during the period). The Season happened in the spring, when the aristocracy left their great estates and gathered in London. After Parliament adjourned for an Easter break, the nobles returned for what could be an extended session of debate and negotiation – so it made sense to bring their families along. The wives had little to do while their noble husbands debated laws, so they (and the members of society who were not part of the law-making body) socialized, gave parties and balls, and introduced their daughters. The daughters learned the ways of the world, formed friendships, met young men, and contracted marriages.

The timing of the Season was based not only on Parliament’s schedule but on weather. During the winter, travel was more difficult and less predictable; during the summer, un-air-conditioned London smelled, and fresh breezes were rare in the crowded neighborhoods. Though there was what’s called the Little Season in the autumn, most of the aristocracy preferred to go hunting at that time of the year. So the spring and early summer became the all-important time where young ladies were introduced to the queen and to society – and to potential mates.

The Season is sometimes referred to as the Marriage Market, because it was the best way for young people from all across the country to come together, get acquainted, and make matches. Travel was still arduous, time-consuming, expensive, and occasionally dangerous – so the pool of men a young woman could meet in her day-to-day life was seriously limited by geography. Ten miles was at least an hour’s drive (and that didn’t allow time to harness the horses). But many a great estate had only a neighbor or two within that distance. Perhaps one of those few nearby families had an eligible offspring of the same age, and perhaps the two young people would hit it off. But more likely not.

So it made sense for everyone to gather in one spot on a regular basis to assess potential mates. Though the ten or twelve weeks of the Season seems a fearfully short period of time to decide the important question of a lifelong mate, in fact people could get to know each other better in a few weeks of constant contact and observation during a London Season than in months or years of occasional meetings. In the fishbowl existence of the London Season, each could assess the other – see how he behaved around his elders, how she treated those less fortunate than herself – but also get the opinions of those with more experience. The Season was a lot more than dancing and flirting. How a woman handled the constant pressure, and how a man handled the constant temptation, could tell a great deal about character.

A London Season was expensive. The rental of a town house, the wages of servants, the cost of carriages, all added up. With perhaps fifty balls and great parties to attend and at least as many more soirees, dinners, galas and concerts, a young woman needed a wardrobe the size of a modern department store.

Rye, Sophie, and Miranda in Just One Season in London know exactly how high the stakes are. They can’t afford a second try – so they have only one chance to make their marks and to cement their futures. Just One Season in London…


JUST ONE SEASON IN LONDON BY LEIGH MICHAELS—IN STORES JULY 2011
A family that courts together…
Viscount Ryecroft has a beautiful sister he needs to marry off… if only he had the money for her Season in London.

His family is in financial ruins, and his mother is willing to do anything to help her children, including sell herself to the highest bidder…

Finds passion on their own…
Sophie Ryecroft will sacrifice love to marry for the good of her family… but instead finds passion and solace in an attractive alternative.

With so much riding on their one and only Season in London, Rye, Sophie, and Miranda can’t help but get hopelessly entangled with all the wrong people…

Celebrated author Leigh Michaels effortlessly weaves three tales of unexpected romance with surprising twists you won’t soon forget.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leigh Michaels is the author of nearly 100 books, including 80 contemporary novels and more than a dozen non-fiction books. More than 35 million copies of her romance novels have been published by Harlequin. A 6 time RITA finalist, she has also received two Reviewer's Choice awards from RT Book Reviews, and was the 2003 recipient of the Johnson Brigham Award. She is the author of On Writing Romance, published in January 2007 by Writers Digest Books. Leigh also teaches romance writing on the Internet at Gotham Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Ottumwa, Iowa, where she is working on her third book from Sourcebooks, The Wedding Affair, which will be in stores in September. For more information, please visit www.leighmichaels.com.

Guest Leigh Michaels: How to Have an Affair, Regency Style

Linda Banche here. Today I welcome Leigh Michaels, whose latest book is the Regency historical, The Mistress’ House. Here she talks about how to conduct an affair in Regency times.

Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win one of the two copies of The Mistress’ House which Sourcebooks has generously provided. Leigh will select the winners. Check the comments to see who won, and how to contact me to claim your book. If I cannot contact the winners within a week of their selection, I will award the books to alternates. Note, Sourcebooks can mail to USA and Canada addresses only.

And the winners Leigh selected are StephB and catslady! Ok, you two, I know who you are and I've sent you email.

Welcome, Leigh!

There were many ways for a Regency gentleman to carry on an affaire, from visiting a bordello to sneaking into a lady’s bedroom at a house party to finding a quiet nook in a hay barn on his country estate. Sometimes the location depended on the duration and depth of the attachment between the lovers; a few years before the Regency period, the Duke of Devonshire installed his mistress – who also happened to be his wife’s best friend – right in his household, and he carried on the affair until the death of the duchess left him free to marry his mistress.

But the most romantic-sounding of all the possible ways for a pair of lovers to get together was the love nest – where a gentleman hired or bought a small house in which he could install the lady of the moment in comfort and security (for her) and convenience (for him). As Thorne thinks when he’s considering buying the house which becomes The Mistress’ House:

There was certainly merit to the notion of buying a house just off Portman Square. If he could tuck a mistress into a trysting place just a step from his own garden, he could avoid a long list of inconveniences. Kicking his heels for hours while messages were delivered and answers returned… Riding halfway across London for an assignation… Finding new, safe, and very secluded meeting places… Wandering around the halls of a country house trying to locate a particular lady’s bedchamber… Keeping his horses, and the grooms who cared for them, waiting outside a private house on a cold day…
© Leigh Michaels, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2011

Young women of the day – even those who had been married and widowed – were well-protected from scandal even when they didn’t wish to be. In The Mistress’ House, Anne Keighley is staying in her brother’s house, so she can’t exactly invite her lover to stop by her bedroom. Living with relatives means that her time has to be accounted for, or her brother and sister-in-law will ask questions. She can’t simply go off by herself without taking along a maid or footman or groom, and her brother’s servants owe their loyalty to the man who pays their wages.

Throw in the practicalities – like a gentleman’s coat that was so tightly fitted it required assistance to put on, and a lady’s corset and petticoats – and it’s a wonder clandestine Regency lovers ever managed to get naked together.

So the idea of a love nest – a private house where a couple could be together with minimal risk of interruption – was an attractive option for the man who could afford it. His mistress would be always on call, at his convenience. And when he tired of one paramour, he could move her out while he was looking around for her replacement.

Though having a discreet little love nest right around the corner didn’t quite work out the way Thorne hoped it would in The Mistress’ House…

In the book, the love nest is located at Number 5, Upper Seymour Street (isn’t that a lovely aristocratic address?) Though no illustration exists, maps of the period show there was a real house located there, pretty much as it’s described in the book. It stood directly beside the entrance to Berkeley Mews, just around the corner from Portman Square.

Today it’s just called Seymour Street. The houses are gone, and a hotel now occupies the site where The Mistress’ House stood during the Regency era. It’s fitting, I think, that the hotel is called the Hyatt Regency!

THE MISTRESS’ HOUSE BY LEIGH MICHAELS – IN STORES FEBRUARY 2011
Three beautifully intertwined love stories…

The rules are made to be broken…
When the handsome, rakish Earl of Hawthorne buys the charming house across the back garden from his town home, he never expects the lovely lady he installs there to ensnare him completely…

Again…
After Lady Keighley marries the earl, it seems a shame to leave the house empty, so she offers it to her childhood friend Felicity Mercer, who discovers that the earl’s gorgeous cousin is precisely the man she’s been waiting for…

and again…
Finally, feisty Georgiana Baxter moves into the house to escape an arranged marriage, and encounters the earl’s friend Major Julian Hampton late one night in the back garden. The handsome soldier is more than willing to give her the lessons she asks for…

There is plenty of gossip, scandal, and torrid speculations surrounding the “mistress’ house”, but behind closed doors, passions blaze…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leigh Michaels is the author of nearly 100 books, including 80 contemporary novels and more than a dozen non-fiction books. More than 35 million copies of her romance novels have been published by Harlequin. A 6 time RITA finalist, she has also received two Reviewer's Choice awards from Romantic Times, and was the 2003 recipient of the Johnson Brigham Award. She is the author of On Writing Romance, published in January 2007 by Writers Digest Books. Leigh also teaches romance writing on the Internet at Gotham Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Des Moines, Iowa. For more information, please visit www.leighmichaels.com.