The Fallen angel cake is an urban legend, which was published in a Sydney newspaper during the year 1980. In the year 1982, the story was published in a Canadian newspaper. The legend described a woman who baked a cake, which was to be sold in her local church.
During the baking process, the cake accidentally broke into two pieces. With limited time to bake the second cake, the woman moulded a roll of tissue paper, which she used to stick together the broken cake. Afterwards, she rushed to her local church to sell the cake. With the aim of selling and buying back the cake, the woman gave her daughter money, and instructed her to buy back the cake.
Unfortunately, the cake was sold to another buyer in the absence of her daughter. The following day, at a club, the woman identified the buyer of her cake preparing to serve it. Before the woman could notify the buyer about the blemish in the cake, the buyer acknowledged before a crowd that she had baked the beautiful cake. As a result, the woman withheld her notification.
One of the themes portrayed in the legend is about making swift choices. Throughout the legend, the woman was forced by the situations to make swift decisions. For instance, the woman made a dramatic choice, when she realized that her cake had been broken in the oven, by joining the broken cake using tissue paper moulds.
Similarly, when the woman hurried to the church and instructed her daughter to buy back the cake, she illustrated the theme of making swift choices. In addition, this theme was emphasised through the woman’s willingness to inform the host on the cake’s faults before it was served.
Another theme embodied in the legend is the theme of pride. Out of her pride, the buyer lied before a crowd that she had prepared the beautiful cake. As a result, her pride prevented the woman from informing her about the faults in the cake.
As such, the legend tackled some of the key issues addressed in class such as themes embodied in the legends, and their roles in enforcing social norms. Through this legend, the students should be able to identify the main themes in the book, and in turn learn from them.
Like the other legends, the fallen angel cake legend is considered fictional. Though the original society of this legend can be traced, its creator cannot be identified. Likewise, the other legends illustrated in the book have no clear authors and creators. Similar to other legends illustrated in the book, the legend is interesting and easy to narrate. For instance, each of these legends is less than 600 words long.
This implies that these urban legends are not only easy to read and comprehend, but also interesting to their readers. In the same way as other legends, the legend contains humour and sarcasms enhancing its readability among its readers.
Equally, these legends were meant to educate their readers on various social issues and in turn reinforce social reforms. However, unlike most other legends contained in the book, the fallen angel cake legend’s plot based its foundation on a true story. The publishers of this legend have asserted that the legend was very popular among its creator’s society.