"How Did the Practice of Women Jumping Out of Giant Cakes Start?"

"The use of actual live animals was a natural evolution from all the mimicry. The tradition of the entremet—a between-courses dish served more for entertainment than for eating—was in full swing by the end of the Middle Ages, with wine fountains, castles made of meat, and live actors and musicians rolled in on replicas of ships, re-enacting scenes from recent history. Living creatures, (especially birds and frogs) placed into giant pies became such a popular entremet that a recipe features in an Italian cookbook from 1474. Maestro Martino explains how to make a hole in the bottom crust of a pie, stuff it with a smaller pie, and then:"

…In the empty space that remains around the small pie, put some live birds, as many as it will hold; and the birds should be placed in it just before it is to be served; and when it is served before those seated at the banquet, you remove the cover above, and the little birds will fly away. This is done to entertain and amuse your company. And in order that they do not remain disappointed by this, cut the small pie up and serve.

The trend continued into the 1600s, with famous families like the de Medicis surprising guests with live birds in pastry crust for a wedding party. Robert May, author of a 1660 British cookbook, describes how the birds would tend to flap about and seek the light, extinguishing all the candles, and how the hopping frogs cause the ladies to shriek, creating “a diverting Hurley-Burley amongst the Guests in the Dark!”...

Even though the live-bird pie trend ultimately fizzled out, some royals hardly missed it, as they had already taken it to the next level... By the 1800s, the humans buried in pastry seemed to be limited to attractive women, as some of the most decadent parties of the era were those given by wealthy men to entertain other important males while their wives stayed at home. One of those hosts was Stanford White, a rich architect who threw a debauched dinner party in New York City in 1895 for a gathering of other distinguished men (including illustrator Charles Dana Gibson and inventor Nikola Tesla).

The feature attraction of the dinner party was an enormous pie, out of which, according to famed model Evelyn Nesbit, popped a 15 or 16 year old beauty...