Let Them Eat Cake

By Danielle L. Green, Collective Elements http://www.collectiveelements.com/

Choosing a wedding cake is a given when planning one’s nuptials but in these modern times, some wonder if it’s necessary. The wedding cake can be more than just the central piece of the reception’s décor. It can also serve as a way to honor one’s traditions and culture.

In China, many couples serve a massive layer cake called lapis rurabaya. Each layer represents a ladder of success for the couple. Couples cut the cake from the bottom up, serving pieces to their parents and grandparents.

In medieval England, guests would bring small, home-baked cakes as gifts for the marrying couple. The cakes would be stacked as high as possible and the bride and groom would be challenged to kiss over the top cake. It was considered a symbol of prosperity. This tradition is said to be where the idea of cake toppers was born. During the reign of King Charles II, frosting was added to the stack of cakes. It is also tradition for British couples to save the entire top tier of the cake until the birth of their first child. This tier is called the christening cake.

Rum cake is a traditional wedding cake on many Caribbean islands. It is a fruitcake macerated with sherry, wine, or rum. People from Bermuda may also have a small sapling on the top of the cake. The sapling symbolizes the bride and groom’s growing love.

The Danish prefer cornucopia cake. This ring shaped almond cake is decorated with marzipan and pastilage and filled in the center with candy, almond cakes, fresh fruit, or sorbet. To avoid bad luck, the bride and groom cut the cake together and all guests must eat a slice. Greeks prefer a flourless almond cake, filled with vanilla custard and fruit. The cake is then covered in almonds. Another traditional Greek wedding cake is made of honey, sesame seed, and quince. Most Italian weddings include zuppa inglese. This delightful tiered pound cake is filled with chocolate custard, vanilla custard, rum cream, and fruit, and then trimmed with flower blooms of royal icing.

Some cultures don’t serve cake at all. Besides, zuppa inglese, in some regions of Italy, mille-foglie is served. Mille-foglie is made from layered filo pastry, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberries. Lithuanians serve sakotis, a cookie-like pastry shaped like a Christmas tree. Couples from Iceland serve kransakaka. Kransakaka is created from ring-shaped almond pastries formed into a pyramid shade. The center is filled with chocolates or candies. The French traditionally serve a croquembouche. Cream-filled pastries are coated in caramel and stacked into a tall pyramid shape. Yummy!

Couples in the Ukraine share Korovai. Korovai is wedding bread decorated with symbols for eternity and the joining of two families. The bread is considered to be sacred. In Norway, different wedding bread is served called brudlaupskling. This bread is topped with cheese, cream, and syrup before being folded and cut into small squares for well wishers. Greek couples may also choose sourdough wedding bread over cake. This bread is decorated with beads and blossoms.

The wedding cake is more than just a visual focal point of a wedding. It can be an excellent way to pay homage to your ancestry and continue traditions as you build your life together.

Wedding Cake: Good Investment or Waste of Money?

My favorite part of the wedding is always the wedding cake--not necessarily watching the bride and groom struggle to cut it (because they never now how to do it), but the eating part of it. I'm the exception to the rule though because when I was a wedding planner, I saw most of the cake slices end up in the trash rather than the bellies of the guests.

Why?

Believe it or not, many people do not like cake. Even if they like cake, they may not like the flavor of the cake you've chosen. So why spend hundreds of dollars on a sugary delight that is only going to be delighting the trash can?

Two ways to save the wedding cake (and your money)

1. Have the bakery or cake designer create a beautiful cake--making only the bottom layer real, making the other layers fake. You only cut into the bottom part anyway. Since your cake is taken into the kitchen to be cut and put on plates for guests, nobody will be the wiser.

Buy sheet cakes to be sliced and served to the guests. With a sheet cake costing in the neighborhood of $20, you can literally save hundreds of dollars that can be put toward covering the cost of some other wedding aspect.

2. Forget the cake and choose a dessert bar. Again, many guests do not like cake, so why not give them the option of choosing their own dessert. You can buy a variety of cakes, pies, and pastries from your local bakery, and simply by removing the word wedding from your vocabulary, you'll spend a lot less than if you opt for the wedding cake.