People worldwide continue to disagree vehemently on the subject of civil marriage for same-sex couples, but everyone can agree that free cake is a nice thing. The first legally binding gay marriages in Minnesota will happen after midnight on August 1st, and three lucky couples will have free wedding cakes courtesy of Minnesota-based General Mills.

No, the company isn’t putting together boxes of Betty Crocker mix and plopping them in a pan. The actual cakes will come from a professional baker in the Minneapolis suburbs, and the company held a photo op/cake tasting in its massive test kitchens for the couples and their families to pick their favorite flavors.

If Betty Crocker were an actual person, she would now be more than 130 years old. The character began in 1921 as a friendly face and helpful guide for homemakers learning to cook with new convenience foods like cake mixes and canned vegetables.

The first portrait of Betty was a creepy mashup of the features of women working at General Mills at the time, and her last name came from a respected former executive at the company. Betty hosted the very first radio cooking show, voiced by thirteen different actresses in different parts of the country. Her picture and signature began to appear on General Mills products, and her appearance has changed slightly over the years.

The National Organization for Marriage called for a boycott of all General Mills products not over this gift of cake, but back in 2012 when the company took a public position against a constitutional amendment in Minnesota banning gay marriage. That amendment failed at the polls in 2012, and weddings begin tonight. With cake.

Did we mention the free cake?

BETTY CROCKER TOASTS MARRIAGE EQUALITY WITH WEDDING CAKE TASTING [GLAAD]
The history of Betty Crocker [General Mills]

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