LEBKUCHEN or "Sweet Cakes" or "Honey Cakes"

a famous variety of German cake, composed of a great diversity of ingredients, the most important being flour. honey, sugar, spices, alcohol, almonds, citron, orange peel, etc. A characteristic feature of its manufacture is that the dough is allowed to "rest" for a considerable time before baking, so as to permit a better amalgamation of the flavors and other properties of its components--many makers hold it in cool, dry places for several months before sending it to the ovens. The best known varieties are White Lebkuchen, Brown Lebkuchen, Bremen Pepper Cake, Thorner Lebkuchen, Baseler Lebkuchen and Nuremburg Lebkuchen. Both imported and domestic lebkuchen are sold here, the principal demand being during the winter holidays. Good lebkuchen will remain fresh for a year or eighteen months, the honey used in its manufacture keeping it moist.