Although they were much different than what we are accustomed to, cakes date back to ancient Roman times. a Roman cake consisted of enhanced doughs, sweetened with honey ,

Eventually, dense, hard-frosted fruitcakes gained popularity for their sweetness and long shelf life around the mid-seventeenth century.

With the advent of refined ingredients in the mid-ninteenth century, cake became lighter and was adorned with silky buttercreams. Aspiring domestic goddesses used them to make life easier in the 1950's, when cake mixes gained enormous popularity. This rendered cakes cheap, simple to make, and ubiquitous.

Although convenience increased with this trend, something was lost in the process. As life grew increasingly harried and productivity reigned supreme, the art of baking from scratch -- even at many bakeries -- grew increasingly rare. The fresh sweet butter and silky heavy cream of authentic buttercream icings gave way to "decorator's icings", made of shotening, sugar, and artificial flavorings. Manufacturers loaded cake mixes with preservatives once they discovered how to increase shelf life, and boost sales, at the expense of taste and texture. Even today, most bakeries use cake mixes, pre-packaged fondants, and "decorator's icings", rather than the purest ingredients, made-to-order for each client, from scratch.

There will always be those who are satisfied with that sort of cake. But for others, the distinction between the finest fresh ingredients, and mere imitations, is unmistakable.

Marneycakes are designed with the refined palate in mind.