Let's Bake A Cake!
We love singing "Pat-a-Cake" in our Birthday Party theme - we begin our party by making a yummy cake:
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man.
Bake me a cake as fast as you can.
Pat it and prick it and mark it with 'S'
and put it in the oven for Sunbeams and me!
Did you know that this rhyme dates back to 1698 where it appears in a play called The Campaigners written by Thomas D'Urley. In the play a nurse says to her charges:
...and pat a cake Bakers man, so I will master as I can, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and prick it, and throw't into the Oven.
The rhyme then appears in Mother Goose's Melody (c. 1765):
Patty Cake, Patty Cake, baker's man.
That I will Master as fast as I can.
Pat it and prick it and mark it with 'T'
and there will be enough for Tommy and me.
And if that wasn't fun fact enough...here's more:
It is thought that, back then, households that did not own an oven would make their pastry or baked goods at home and bring them to a local baker or bake house to bake for them for a fee.
Marking the pastry would have been a way to ensure the return of the proper item to the right household.
I shall never take my oven for granted again!
Happy singing! 