confection vs sweetmeat

confection

noun
  • A food item prepared very sweet, frequently decorated in fine detail, and often preserved with sugar, such as a candy, sweetmeat, fruit preserve, pastry, or cake. 

  • The result of such a process; something made up or confected; a concoction. 

  • The act or process of confecting; the process of making, compounding, or preparing something. 

  • A preparation of medicine sweetened with sugar, honey, syrup, or the like; an electuary. 

verb
  • To make into a confection, prepare as a confection. 

sweetmeat

noun
  • A sweet delicacy; a confection. 

  • Sweetheart; darling. 

How often have the words confection and sweetmeat occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )