This 100 year old spice cake, possibly the oldest intact cake in the world, was found by Pierre Girard, in his friend’s closet shelf in 1992 in St. Louis Park, during an estate sale. The box which the cake was packaged in was labeled, “XMAS CAKE BAKED IN DEC. 1911″ with an inscription that read “Xmas Cake Baked in the Year 1911 by my Mother’s Brother Alex died Dec. 27. Was operated on Xmas Day.”

The somewhat cryptic message inspired Girard to do some investigation where he discovered the old Victorian tradition of soaking spice cakes in brandy or rum and nibbling on only a piece at a time, while saving the rest for the next year when another layer would be added.

Alex, the brother mentioned, supposedly died after eating a piece of contaminated cake and from then on the family stowed it away in honor of him. Although the history is sweet, this is definitely a piece of cake that’s easy to stay away from!

[via startribune.com]

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Lucia Phan has a Bachelors Degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Food & City Culture and Environmental Economics. She is the founder of Banana Slug Edibles, where she bakes specialty cakes and cupcakes for patients in Orange County & Los Angeles. In her free time she likes to collect recipes and will forever be searching for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe known to man.