The Wedding cakes we know today are tiered and iced with white-colored icing, cut and eaten by the wedded couple during the reception. However these are quite different from what we could have seen in the beautifully designed and sweetly baked cakes from the earlier days.Cakes are nothing new in weddings because long ago in ancient Rome. Married couples have made use of the then wedding cake, in the form of unsweetened wheat or barley loaf of bread. Unlike today when the wedding cake is cut, sliced and consumed by the couple, the wedding cakes of a medieval wedding rites are broken on top of the bride's head to sanctify her with fertility, good wealth and happiness. When the bread has been broken, guests would rush to get the crumbs which were then believed to be tokens of good luck.
From being loaves, the wedding cake has evolved to buns during the span of medieval days. Instead of being provided by the couple, the wedding guests were the ones expected to bring a sweetened bun as a wedding token to the couple. Buns given by guests were piled up high together then the couple were expected to kiss each other over the top of buns pile. If the couple successfully kissed each other then the marriage was bound to be fertile and happy, but failure to do would cost the couple a face with sticky buns of bread.
After many years have passed, bun cakes were displaced by brides pie in terms of popularity in wedding occasions. Not only that but these brides pie also served as the sweet and tasty delicacies provided to guests during some form of a treasure hunt. At first, brides pie were given only to single ladies who attended the wedding. Inside the pie is a hidden token or symbol of luck, mostly a ring. And like the catching of bouquet, anyone who gets the ring was believed to be marrying next. This practice about brides pie in weddings has continued until the early Victorian times. This time period set off the beginning of layered wedding cakes with sweetened white icing.
But the evolution of wedding cakes did not end just there. If wedding cakes were once white in color from the interior to the exterior, nowadays cakes may be baked and designed with all possible colors the couple may want. It may be decorated with any kind of decors the soon to be married couple prefers.
There is an old tradition but nonetheless still practiced today by some couples, involves saving or putting aside a portion of the cake. This was seen as a symbol of prosperity that the wedded couple should preserve and freeze entirely. This piece of cake has to be thawed then eaten and shared by the couple on their first year of wedding anniversary. The first tier of the cake is usually saved in this tradition. To make the frozen cake taste good a year after the wedding it should be freshly made and baked for the wedding day.
To read more about weddings, wedding cakes and wedding catering services; please visit Wedding.com.au. An Australian wedding directory for everything you need to know about your wedding day.
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