Form of party cake consisting of layers of pastry with currants between.
Known at least since J. Nicholson's 'Folk-lore of East Yorkshire' (1890); "For parties, a large round cake, called matrimony cake, having a layer of currants between two layers of pastry, is covered with sugar, then cut into as many pieces as there are persons at the feast. Into one piece would be placed a silver coin; in another a wedding ring, borrowed for the occasion from the hostess; in a third, a button. Those to whom the money fell were to be rich; the receiver of the ring was to be married soon; while the luckless wight whose piece contained the button was to die in single blessedness."