The wedding cake tradition is an adaptation of one of the oldest customs, dating back to over 3000 years to ancient Greek and Roman times. Originally, it was a mere offering of fruits, nuts and honey in order to bribe Roman and Greek gods to bless the newlywed couple. It was believed that, such a practice would please gods and would grant the newlywed couple with good luck and happiness. This custom got transformed in various ways. Let us see how it was metamorphosed with the passage of time! Evolving into a tremendous variety of wedding cakes which we have now!

In ancient Rome, wheat was viewed as the symbol of fertility. The Romans baked loaves of wheat bread, which were presented to the couple to share. Leftover pieces from wheat loaves were tossed over the bride’s head as a blessing of fertility. A similar custom of showering the newly married couple (predominantly the bride) with small cakes was being practiced in the ancient Greece, which could’ve stemmed from the custom practiced in ancient Rome. The wedding guests would then gather around the bride and eat the leftover crumbs as a sign of good luck, wealth and happiness. Julius Caesar introduced the custom of sharing wedding cake among local people in the Great Britain. Since that time this custom slowly transformed and permeated the other parts of the world. Later in England and Scotland, guests began to bring small cakes or buns as gifts for the newlywed couple. These sweet gifts were piled one by one on top of each other until they formed a grand, sweet and sticky structure. The bride and groom were then encouraged to kiss over the top of the piled cakes. If they managed to do so successfully, it was believed that the couple would be blessed with fertility, prosperity and life-long happiness. Dictated by legend, they say that a French chef while observing an English wedding got fascinated by the wedding cake ritual but regarded the practice of piling the sweets and buns as unhygienic. So he came up with an ingenious idea of making a sweet tower of cakes. So he developed a method of making a delicious tower of sweet tasting buns which are held together with sweet and sticky toffee. This sweet tower was named as croquembouche. It seems that French takes pride that the credit of this new invention goes to a French chef, as they hold on fast to their tradition of serving croquembouche at their weddings. In England though, chefs and bakers kept on the path of revolutionizing their wedding cakes and they gradually changed pastry base of the croquembouche to fruit base. It is interesting to see how the fruits offered to the Roman and Greek gods transformed into the base of our modern English wedding cakes. Later on, layered or tiered fruit cakes emerged and these fruit cakes were then iced with white marzipan. The white color not only added to the grace and the elegance of the cake suitable to the occasion but also represented bride’s purity or virginity in its original form. In those days, sugar was quite expensive and was regarded as a valuable ingredient. With the whiteness and sweetness of the cake’s icing, people would estimate the wealth of the bride’s family. Originally, the cutting of the cake symbolized the bride’s impending loss of virginity. As now a day’s, most of the European couples are accustomed to live together before getting married so this representation is no more valid. Today, the bride and the groom both take part in cutting the cake, which now represents their commitment to share the rest of their lives. The cake is usually served at the end of the evening as a dessert or with coffee, or may be given to the guests to take away. Wedding cakes customs have also been adapted according to various regions of the world, so it is interesting to see how this custom has gone through regional adaptations.