Let Them Eat Twelfth Night Cake!
By Samantha Hastings
The twelve days of Christmas refer to December 25th to January 5th. During the Georgian era, the celebration of Twelfth Night was only slightly less popular than Christmas Day itself.
One of the most important parts of the celebration was the Twelfth Night cake. It was a large domed fruit cake with sugar-paste figures that decorated the top. Inside the cake was hidden both a pea and a bean. Everyone in the household, including servants, were given a slice of cake. Women were served from the left side of the cake and men from the right. The woman who found the pea and the man who found the bean became the ‘king’ and ‘queen’ of the night. Sometimes a clove was added as well for the ‘knave’ of the night. Twelfth Night was one of misrule, raucous fun, and everything turned upside down. Including gender roles. It was the night before Epiphany.
In the 1870s, nearly ninety years after this story, Queen Victorian removed Twelfth Night from official calendars. She believed that the celebrations were too rowdy and this holiday has become relatively forgotten.
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It’s not quite a Twelfth Night Cake, but my family loves an Oreo Trifle and it’s super easy to make.
Ingredients:
· 1 baked 9/13” pan of Chocolate Cake (cake mixes are great)
· 1 8oz container of Whipped Cream
· 1 4.2 oz package of instant Oreo Pudding
· 2 cups of cold Milk
· 5-6 Oreos crushed up to sprinkle on top
Directions:
First, combine Oreo pudding and milk in a bowl. Whisk for 2 minutes and then let it rest in the fridge for at least 5 minutes.
In a trifle dish or a large bowl (preferrable clear one so that you can see the layers), add 1-inch squares of the chocolate cake for the bottom layer (about 1/3 of the cake). For the second layer, add 1/3 of the finished Oreo Pudding mix. For the third layer, add 1/3 of the container of Whipped Cream.
Repeat process 3 times.
Decorate the top of the trifle with crushed up Oreos. You can serve it immediately.
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A Poetic Pox: A Lady Librarian Mystery by Samantha Larsen
About A Poetic Pox
Historical Cozy Mystery 3rd in Series
Setting - 1786, England
Publisher: Dreamscape
First Audible.com Release Date: July 22, 2025
Listening Length: 8 hours and 18 minutes
Author: Samantha Larsen Narrator: Marni Penning
1786, EnglandIt is the twelve days of Christmas, and Mrs. Tiffany Lathrop is happily juggling her duties as a new mother and a librarian to Catharine, the Duchess of Beaufort. Her employer receives a mysterious letter from an old paramour, the Marquess of Harwood, who is the biological father of Catharine’s son. He promises to leave his estate and fortune to Beau if he can see the boy before he dies.
Her elder son, Thomas Montague, has a terrible cold, so Catharine asks Tiffany to accompany her and Beau. When they arrive at the dilapidated abbey, they discover a dead body—only it isn’t the marquess, but his valet! Lord Harwood is alive, but unconscious with suspicious-looking pox marks on his hands. Tiffany wonders if the marquess is really dying, or if it is all poetic revenge? Especially when she discovers the secrets that haunt Rosedean Abbey.
Between breastfeeding and dirty diapers, Tiffany must discover who killed the valet and attempted to murder the marquess before anyone else dies.
©2025 Samantha Larsen (P)2025 Dreamscape First
About Samantha Larsen
Samantha Hastings met her husband in a turkey sandwich line. They live in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she spends most of her time reading, having tea parties, and chauffeuring her four kids. She teaches World Literature at Brigham Young University. Her young adult fiction books are Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections and her historical romances are published around the world. She also writes murder mysteries under Samantha Larsen that Publisher’s Weekly called “wildly enjoyable.”
Author Links:
Website www.SamanthaHastings.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/samanthahastingsauthor/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaHastingsAuthor
X https://x.com/HastingSamantha
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