The wedding cake goes back to the Roman Empire where cakes
were actually barley bread. The groom would partially eat the loaf and then
break the rest over the bride’s head. This symbolized his dominion over her,
and the crumbs that fell to the floor symbolized good luck and fertility. It
was good luck as well for the guests to eat the crumbs, and single women went
after crumbs to ensure their own future marriages. The breaking of the bread
over the bride’s head was phased out over time.
During the middle ages, cakes were simply flour-based breads
or biscuits. It was the guests’ duty to each bring a small cake to the
ceremony. The cakes were piled up on top of each other between the bride and
groom. Should the bride and groom succeed in kissing over the pile, they would
have good luck in their marriage. The small, bland cakes evolved into dense
fruitcakes baked well in advance of the wedding and soaked in spirits for
preservation.
Flowing out of this tradition came the bride’s pie, making
its appearance in the 17th century. The pie was made of anything from mincemeat
to mutton to sweetbreads. For poorer families, this pie made up a centrepiece
of the wedding meal. A main ingredient of any pie was a glass ring. The woman
who found the ring would be the next to be married – a tradition replaced by
the throwing of the bouquet today.
By the late 19th century, sugar was more widely available
and the wedding cakes of today began to take shape. The first known wedding
confection cake appeared in 1859 and commemorated the marriage of one of Queen
Victoria’s daughters. However, even with this cake, only the bottom layer was
actual cake. The top tiered layers were made of spun sugar. Despite the fake
upper layers, the Victorian era gave rise to the elaborately decorated cakes
that we know today, with the flourishes of color, sugar and figures we’re used
to seeing. It is even said that Queen Victoria herself had a cake weighing over
300 pounds!
Queen Victoria is also credited with popularizing white in a
wedding to symbolize purity. White icing on wedding cakes became traditional
during this time. Even before this specific symbolism, cakes were white simply
because ingredients for the cakes were hard to come by, especially the sugar
used in the icing. The whiter the sugar, the more refined, and therefore the
more affluent the family appeared. So, the white wedding cake was originally a
symbol of affluence rather than purity.
As the tiered cake evolved, so did the symbolism behind it.
Starting in the 17th century, it was thought that sleeping with a piece of cake
under one’s pillow would help them dream of their future spouses. This idea led
to the tradition of brides passing crumbs of their cake through their rings and
distributing them to guests who could place the crumb under their pillow. This
tradition tapered off after the superstition of never removing one’s wedding
ring after the ceremony appeared.
At this time, the three tiered cake became traditional. The
first layer is for the reception, the second layer for distributing to guests,
and the third is saved for the anniversary, leading us to another popular
tradition: freezing the top tier of the cake and sharing it on the couple’s
first wedding anniversary. Another take on this tradition is that the tier is
unfrozen and eaten at the christening of the first child. It was assumed that
this event would happen soon after the wedding, so the event would share the
cake from the wedding. However, as couples waited longer after marriage to have
children, the notion of saving the top tier for the christening tapered off.
The wedding cake has a rich history, but luckily in this day
and age, you can have whatever size, style and flavor of cake your wedded
heart desires.
