3 O’Clock Wedding

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A wedding cake is the traditional cake served to guests at a wedding breakfast, after a wedding.  It is normally a large cake, multi-layered or tiered, and heavily decorated with icing, occasionally over a layer of marzipan or fondant, topped with a small statue of a bride and groom.  Other popular motifs include doves, gold rings and horseshoes, the latter symbolising good luck.  Achieving a dense, strong cake that can support the decorations whilst remaining edible can be considered the epitome of the baker’s art and skill.

Tradition usually requires that the first cut of the cake be performed by bride and groom together, often with a ceremonial knife, or even a sword.  An older tradition had the bride serve all portions to the groom’s family, as a symbolic transfer of her household labor from her family to the groom’s family.

Tradition also states that the bride and groom feed the first bites of this cake to each other, this may symbolize the new family unit formed and the replacement of the old parent-child union.  It is also quite popular for the bride and groom to shove the cake in each other’s faces, rather than eating it.

Other guests may then partake of the cake, portions may be taken home or shipped to people who couldn’t make the festivities.  An old tradition held that if a bridesmaid slept with a piece of wedding cake underneath her pillow she might dream of her future husband.

A portion may be stored and eaten by the couple at their first wedding anniversary or at the christening of their first child.  The cake may be frozen for this purpose, formerly the top tier of the cake may consist of fruitcake which could be stored for a great length of time.

The origins of the tradition of the wedding cake date back to medieval times, when each guest at a wedding was supposed to bring a small cake, the cakes would then be stacked on the table in levels and layers.  If the bride and groom were able to kiss over the top of the stack it was said to be good luck, if they fell in “Hey, dinner and a show!”  These cake stacks would eventually merge into one cake and evolve into the modern day wedding cake.  Sweets are usual at many celebrations for most if not all cultures worldwide.  Ancient Roman records detail sweets served at weddings.  The book ‘Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain’ details the ancient Roman practice of dropping a wedding cake on the head of the bride.  Also, Medieval and Renaissance resources mention large cakes at weddings, such cakes may have been fruitcake.

A large cake can take a long time to make, and without modern refrigeration, a heavy fat and sugar frosting might have prevented spoilage by limiting moisture exposure.  Another possibility is the use of sugar and fat required satisfying the requirement for conspicuous consumption for the families involved in the wedding.

The tiered design of the wedding cake originates from the tiered spire of a well known medieval church in London, England, named St Bride’s.

Henry VIII of England enacted a law specifying the quantity of sugar a cake must have, possibly to control or tax this prevailing convention.

During World War II, sugar was rationed in Great Britain, so icing could not be made, and cakes were therefore reduced in size.  To overcome this cakes were often served in a box which had been decorated with plaster of Paris to resemble a larger, traditional cake.

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