Try
baking Groaning Cake, it's a delicious treat for new mothers, for book club gatherings,
or just tea with friends. (If you have a favourite recipe you'd like to share,
send it along, I'll be posting more Birth House inspired recipes here in the future!)
Groaning
Cake
The tradition of the groaning cake, or kimbly at
(or following) a birth is an ancient one. Wives' tales say that the scent of a
groaning cake being baked in the birth house helps to ease the mother's pain.
Some say if a mother breaks the eggs while she's aching, her labour won't last
as long. Others say that if a family wants prosperity and fertility, the father
must pass pieces of the cake to friends and family the first time the mother and
baby are "churched" (or the first time they go to a public gathering)
after a birth. Many cultures share similar traditions…a special dish, bread,
or drink, spiced with cinnamon, all spice, and/or ginger. At one time there was
even a "groaning ale" made to go with it…
I made groaning
cake the day of my son's home birth and my neighbour brought me "health bread"
the day after the birth. This recipe is a combination of the two. It has apple,
molasses, orange juice and spices and can really help to see a woman through a
long labour, or give her strength after the birth!
