Long gone are the days of throwing barley bread at the bride or having a loaf of bread broken over her head, as was done during the Romans times to represent the bride's virginity. Thankfully, today, we have tiered cakes of beauty that stand proud and take centre stage for guests to not only enjoy with their taste buds, but feast upon with their eyes. But how did we get here? I'm going to tell you five wedding cake traditions that have seemingly stood the test of time and even if you're not a traditionalist, I'm sure that something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue will be incorporated into your day somehow.
1. CUTTING THE CAKE
Whether you opt to hold a sword or a cake knife, the long-held tradition of cutting the first piece of wedding cake is a symbol of union. This is the first symbolic thing the newlyweds do together providing a declaration of mutual commitment. Traditionally, It is custom for the groom's hand to be placed over the brides’ hand as they both slide the knife through the bottom tier. Historically, it was solely the role of the bride to cut the wedding cake which indicated the loss of her virginity.
The cutting of the wedding cake is a moment not to be missed at any wedding. It’s one of the key photos in your wedding album. Some brides leave this moment until the evening guests arrive to make the moment even more spectacular, as it gives a chance for the evening guests to be involved.
2. SAVING THE TOP TIER
The idea of saving the top tier of your wedding cake dates back to the 19th century. It was tradition for newlyweds to save the top tier until either their first wedding anniversary, or to have at the christening of their firstborn child. The saved tier is usually the top one. It is tightly wrapped in cling film and popped in the freezer. Now, I haven't personally left my cake in the freezer to eat a year later. I did indeed save my wedding cake, not for a christening, because I’m a modern woman and had my children before I got married! However, I did like the idea of saving a tier, but honestly it was taking up too much space in my freezer, and we ended up eating it around four months later. One of my first wedding couples, however, did save theirs and would often send me the most adorable photos of them enjoying my Decadent Red Velvet cake with friends and family, a good 18 months later!
3. THE WHITE WEDDING CAKE
As with most of my findings around the traditions of the wedding cake, it is no surprise that the colour centres around the brides purity. Known originally as the bride cake, the white cake needed to reflect the bride, with white denoting her purity. The wedding cake today can, in some way, still be linked to this tradition as modern brides design their cake to coordinate with the gown or wedding theme. But thankfully, it has nothing to do with her purity. (Can I get an Amen?!)
Another reason for having white wedding cakes was simply down to ingredients. Icing is made from sugar, which is white. The more refined, the sugar, the whiter the cake. So, the whiter the cake was at weddings, became a symbol of how affluent the family was.
4. TIERED CAKES
There are a few theories on the history of tiered cakes, but my favourite is the medieval one, where spiced buns were stacked high, and the newlyweds would have to kiss over the tower of buns. Your marriage would be deemed successful if you managed to kiss without them toppling over. By the 19th century, the multi-tiered wedding cake, as we know them today, was invented. It is believed to be inspired by the silhouette of St. Bride's church steeple in London.
A wedding cake that had three tiers became the tradition for many years, with each tier having it's own significance. The tradition was that the bottom tier was for eating at the ceremony, the middle tier to be distributed after the event as a thank you to guests, and the top tier saved for the reasons already outlined above. We have come a long way from the spice buns of the 17th century, but still tall in structure, the modern bride bases the number of tiers needed with the number of guests attending.
5. THE FRUIT CAKE
With sugar and rum becoming readily available from the Caribbean islands, the tradition of the fruitcake emerged. It was considered a symbol of wealth and prosperity due to these precious ingredients. A fruitcake because of its shelf life made it an obvious option. Today’s bride has the choice of a plethora of cake flavour choices with each tier filled with a complete different flavour to accommodate all guests.
So, there we have it. 5 wedding cake traditions that you can think about incorporating on your dream day, or not. Weddings aren’t a one size fits all and it's fine to ditch traditions. So, if you have a small number of guests a single tier is perfectly acceptable, especially if that's what your budget permits. Or maybe you like the idea of a grandeur cake, stacked as high as they come! I’d say go for it. The main thing to think about is having enough portions to feed your guests. It's your day, and you get to decide on all the details.
I hope you enjoyed reading about these wedding cake traditions as much as I've enjoyed writing about them. For more modern designs have look through my gallery
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