They’re as ubiquitous as the white dress or floral arrangements, but wedding cakes have become cultural institutions in their own right that brides and grooms are constantly trying to reinvent and spin in their own unique ways. But how much do you actually know about the culture, design and great achievements that have emerged from the humble wedding cake over the course of history? Nanina’s in the Park is here to help you wow friends and family at your upcoming wedding with a few of these interesting wedding cake facts!
- The origin of the wedding cake
While historians can’t point to one specific event where the wedding cake made its debut, the practice has been around since Roman times. According to tradition, a wedding cake was made with the best ingredients and included the richest mixture possible to indicate abundance and transfer that magic onto the happy couple. A well-made cake was a sign of a well-formed marriage!
- The World’s Largest Wedding Cake
Think your cake has the right stuff to stack up against the big boys? You may have to shoot higher than you thought! The Guinness Book of World Records recorded the world’s largest wedding cake in 2004, which was baked by the chefs at the Mohegan Sun Hotel and Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. The cake weighed in at an astounding 6.818 tons and was displayed during that year’s New England Bridal Showcase.
- Why all the white icing?
While colorful cakes have been all the rage in recent decades, the traditional white icing was originally meant to symbolize purity. However, as the price of white sugar went up over the years, white icing began to be seen as a status symbol. In fact, when England’s Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840, the white icing adorning their cake was known as “royal icing,” made with egg whites, sugar and lemon juice.
- Wedding cakes in folklore
Another holdover from the Victorian era was the presence of not just one, but three cakes at a single ceremony. One wedding cake was for the guests, another for the groom and his groomsmen and the final cake was for the bride and her bridesmaids. Typically, pieces of the cake were given out at the end of the ceremony, and an old legend that continues to this day holds that an unmarried woman who sleeps with a piece of the groom’s cake underneath her pillow will dream of her future husband!
- Why do wedding cakes have tiers?
The tiered cake is synonymous with weddings, and this style owes its origins to medieval times when guests would bring bread, scones, biscuits and other confections to the ceremony and pile them high into a pile. The couple would then have to kiss over the top of the pile without it falling down. If they managed to do it successfully, this would be a symbol of a marriage filled with prosperity!
