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The Wedding Cake

The modern Western three-tier iced wedding cake, usually complete with male and female toppers, is a relatively new invention. However the basic custom goes back many centuries, albeit with simpler designs.

History

Weddings in all cultures and traditions have always been a time of celebration and feasting, so sweets or cakes are commonly associated with the events. The earliest such cakes were made from wheat and were in essence pagan fertility symbols.

In Roman times the wedding cake was usually baked from wheat with salt. After the wedding ceremony the groom would break the cake above the head of the bride to ensure fertility and prosperity. Wedding guests would try to catch crumbs from the broken cake to share in this good fortune - an early forerunner of our modern tradition of giving guests a thin slice of cake to take away. Some people today still like to have a

Western wedding cakes continued to be largely plain affairs until late medieval times. However there are reports of sweet buns being made into a pile over which the bride and groom would kiss.

The modern sweet and fruity wedding cake only really became popular in the 19th century. At first it was simply a single layer. The three-tiered cake was inspired by the tower of St Bride's Church in London, just off Fleet Street. The church was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and a London baker decided to copy the idea as a design for fashionable weddings. Initially these multi-level cakes were only for the wealthy - not only was the cake itself expensive but it was also difficult to assemble and cut. Over the years cake technology improved and the cost fell to the point where many people could afford to buy a St Bride's style wedding cake or even more unusual designs.

It's probably about this time that the custom of white icing became the norm. The association of white with weddings was popularised by Queen Victoria who married in a white wedding gown.

Toppers

The origin of the modern wedding topper is difficult to pin down. Cake decorations - such as a horseshoe or other good luck symbol - probably appeared around the 17th century. Decorating the cake with representations of the bride and groom could have begun any time between then and the 1950s when toppers reached the height of their popularity.

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