sweetcake

[KLPNO]

Hello everyone
I'd like to ask about the word "sweetcake" in the following context.

Finally, Jopale began to eat his meal. He had purchased two scrambler hands, fried but not too greasy, and a whitish lump of sweetcake and cultured algae in a salty soup, all washed down with a tall bottle of fermented sap imported from the Earlands.

Does the word "sweetcake" imply that it is sweet, i.e. contains sugar or the like?

Also, I'd like to ask about punctuation in the sentence: it's difficult for me to figure out if this sweetcake was in the salty soup, or was it a individual/separate dish.

 

[Anglika]

The trouble is that this author makes up his own world, and only he can really say what is in sweetcake. But the use of "sweet" indicates it contains something that makes it taste sweet, or sweeter than other things.

Your second question - good point. It could be either three items: two scrambler hands, a whitish lump of sweetcake, and cultured algae in a salty soup OR it could be sweetcake and cultured algae in a salty soup. Again, the author is the only person who will know!