An enhancement to the exhibition of contemporary invitational and juried cake sculpture and cake stands is the addition of nearly two dozen late nineteenth century, early American pedestal glass cake stands.  There are pieces that are vaseline glass or uranium glass that are radioactive and make  a Geiger counter click as its measuring the radiation. They are beautiful when they fluoresce under a black light.  Others were manufactured by prestigious American glass companies such as Fostoria in Ohio.  The Depression glass cake stands are lovely hues of pink, green, blue and amber.

The Birmingham Museum of Art has loaned two key circa 1800 English Wedgwood cake-related masterpieces.  These loans include a rare stoneware (caneware) “Conceit” - a faux cake, complete with jasperware “icing.”  It was created during the great flour storage during the Napoleonic Wars (circa 1790), when this innovative new Wedgwood clay body known as caneware was created.  It looked like pastry and was used also in game pie dishes.  The game pie dishes had a function, as a casserole, with an liner and lid, where one could put a flour-less stew inside and still pretend there was a pastry on the table.  However, the caneware conceit had no function other than to give the dinner party the appearance that there was a beautiful decorated cake on their table, when there was only a ceramic “play” cake.   The lead-glazed earthenware (creamware) Egg Beater, also on loan from the Birmingham Museum of Art, is an early version of an egg beater, complete with ceramic “teeth” inside the small cylinder for beating the egg.

Some visitors will be delighted to find on exhibit a vintage children’s Betty Crocker Easy-Bake Oven and well as a Suzy Homemaker Oven (that once baked real cakes).  The Betty Crocker Easy-Bake Oven probably dates to the 1970s, with the first Easy-Bake Oven being created in the 1960s.  A standard light bulb was used as the heating element in these earliest ovens. A few other cake-related objects will surprise the viewer to the exhibition.