Today we are going to dive into the symbolism and tradition of the wedding cake.
Believe it or not, many of the “new trends” in the wedding pastry department aren’t new at all. In fact these trends were started a long time ago.
Dating all the way back into ancient Roman times, they would break bread over the couples head to bring good fortune. Jumping to medieval England, cakes were stacked as high as possible for the bride and groom to kiss over. A successful kiss without knocking over the stack would guarantee a prosperous life together.
In the 17th century the bride would hide a ring in the couples portion of the cake to symbolize acceptance of the proposal. The popular trend with serving pies at the reception actually got it’s start in the 19th century. There’s also the tradition to serve a “brides pie”, in which the bride would place a glass ring in a pie, and serve it to all the single women at the reception. A woman that found the ring in the pie, was the next one expected to marry. This tradition then evolved into the bouquet toss.
A big symbol of a wedding cake actually symbolizes fertility. Many of the early wedding cakes were fruit cakes, which was a sign of fertility and prosperity. It was also the original tradition that the bride would cut and serve the cake to all the guest. By having the guests consuming the cake, it would ensure fertility.
The tradition of a white wedding cake came from Queen Victoria. Not only was using white frosting a sign of social status, but only the wealthy could afford white sugar to make the white frosting. Queen Victoria was the bride that made wearing a white bridal gown a tradition as well. White was the symbol of purity and virginity.
Our modern wedding cake as we know it today actually got it’s start back in 1882, with Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Today we use cake dowels to hold the cake up, back in 1882, they used broom sticks covered in icing.
Ever wonder why the couple, cut and serve the first piece to one another? It symbolizes their union and their promise to forever provide for each other.
Are you adding a cake topper to your cake? If so, this tradition started in 1950. Back then, it was a ceramic piece that represented the bride and groom in wedding attire. This represents togetherness. It was also common to have your cake topper be a Christmas ornament. (Not a bad idea. Want to know what to do with your cake topper after the wedding? Turn it into a Christmas Tree ornament.)
So, the next time you attend a wedding or if it’s your own wedding, you can look at the wedding cake, wedding pie, or wedding pastry table and know the traditions and symbolism behind it.