King Seed Cake
This dark cake uses flour composed of all the grains local to an area. They are to be milled from whole grains and other spices. A few unmilled kernels will be mixed in, usually cooked by boiling with dried fruits to soften them. Leavening is by the use of a fermented culture by mixing part of the flour with fruit peels and juice. The resulting cake will be breadlike and receive a sweet glaze.
King Seed Cake is served as part of coming of age parties when children are ready to begin assuming adult responsibilities. It represents the rough matter that the parents molded into a new person. It is said that it is impossible to make King Seed Cake the same way twice, and in that way is as unique as the child it is made for. In a way, the King Seed Cake is the last gift of parent to child and everything from then on will be an exchange between adults.
King Seed Cake may also be served by a Master Craftsman to an apprentice when they feel the apprentice has graduated to journeyman. There are other times when King Seed Cake may be served, usually to mark when someone has clearly progressed or matured.
In some cases, King Seed Cake may be served to make a statement or as part of a pointed insult. It should never be served by someone younger than the recipient, nor should it be served by someone significantly older. In the former case it is like claiming the recipient has been a child and has yet to mature. In the latter case it expresses a desire for the recipient to quickly pass the years to bring them closer to the time of their death. The sweetness and kind of glaze on the King Seed Cake can also have some hidden meaning when the cake is used to make a statement.
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I love how the meaning changes when performed by different people! It feels very human to have a well-intended social ritual and find a way to make it a little passive aggressive (or just blatantly aggressive).