Lebkuchen (1856?, 1859)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Is "lebkuchen" English?  It's not in OED and not in Merriam-Webster.  There are 30,400 Google hits.  Google asks me if I want just English hits; the result is a still-considerable 4,140 hits.
   I've mentioned "lebkuchen" before in connection with other German dishes.  You'll be seeing "lebkuchen" a lot again this December, as always.
   From the NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, October 1859, start page 451 of 28-page article:

   For a few kreutzers, one may hear from an orchestra of forty instruments passages from all the best operas, and from time to time original compositions of native artists, with a treat of "Lebkuchen," or sweet-cakes, added as a gratuity.

(Review of PICTURES OF NUREMBERG, AND RAMBLES IN THE HILLS AND VALLEYS OF FRANCONIA, by H. J. Whitling, New Edition, London: Richard Bentley, 1856--ed.)