"burning their cakes"

[Amy West]

I'm scratching my head about a phrase I've come across: I think it's
a Britishism. . .

It was AElfred, Victorian school children were taught, who unified
the nation, saved the English from the invaders, and founded the
British Navy, while mixing with the common people with east, despite
burning their cakes.
  --- Julian Richards, _Vikings: A very short introduction_, p. 123

It's the "despite burning their cakes" that has me scratching my head.

---Amy West

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