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Wedding cakes—
a history

The origin of the wedding cake can be traced as far back as the Roman Empire, when icing wasn’t even invented. A loaf of barley bread was baked for the ceremony. The groom would then eat some of the bread and symbolically break the remaining piece over the bride’s head!

In medieval England, the cake described in historic accounts was not a cake in the conventional sense. They were described as flour-based sweet foods as opposed to the description of breads that were just flour-based foods without sweetening. The presence of the cake was included in many celebratory feasts.

There are, however, no accounts of a special type of cake appearing in wedding ceremonies. There are tales of a custom involving stacking small sweet buns in a large pile in front of the newlyweds. The couple would then attempt to kiss over this pile, with success being a sign of many children in the couple’s future.

In the early 19th century, a popular dish being served was something known as bride’s pie. First appearing in the mid-17th century, the pie was filled with sweet breads, mince meat or, or by some accounts, just a simple mutton pie. The main ingredient was a glass ring. An old adage claims that the lady who finds the ring will be the next to wed. Though bride’s pies were not a fixture at weddings, there were accounts of these pies being the main centerpiece at less affluent ceremonies.

In the late 19th century, the wedding cake became popular, ousting the bride’s pie from popular culture. The cakes were originally given the title “bride cakes” to emphasize that the focal point of the wedding was the bride. (Many other objects were prefixed with the word “bride,” such as the bride bed, bridegroom and bridesmaid. All these terms have altered or disappeared with the exception of bridesmaid.) The early cakes were simple single-tiered cakes, usually a plum cake, but variations were recorded. It was a while before the first multi-tiered cake appeared and the wedding cake started to resemble today’s modern ideal.

The European touch in traditional wedding cakes is the use of the white cake, as a symbol of purity. Wedding cakes in other cultures are often more colorful.

The groom’s cake has been around from the Middle Ages and is usually dark and solid and much smaller than the wedding cake. It is tradionally served at the reception beside the white-tiered wedding cake, making a beautiful contrast of color, taste, texture and design.

A groom’s cake may also packed into slices ahead of time for guests to take home for others who could not attend, so they may celebrate the couple’s good fortune. It is also said that if a single guest puts a piece of groom’s cake under their pillow, they will dream of their future marriage partners.