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The historical relationship between religion and pastry making is based on literal visual storytelling.
Centuries ago, when most people could not read, the church used specific food shapes as a powerful marketing tool to teach the lives of saints.
Bakers acted as the structural architects of these narratives transforming dough into literal symbols.
Today is the Feast of Saint Honore, the patron saint of bakers, whose cake uses rings of choux pastry to physically construct a crown.
Other regional traditions are far more direct.
In Italy, the Minne di Sant Agata uses a dome of rigid white icing and a red cherry to visually recreate the anatomy of a martyr.
In the United Kingdom, Cattern cakes are rolled into tight structural spirals to directly mimic the mechanical breaking wheel of Saint Catherine.
It was the ultimate media strategy where historical stories were literally consumed.
