The wedding cake is a huge attraction during a wedding reception. Couples spend much time perfecting their ideal wedding cake, choosing the flavours, and selecting the perfect design before skilfully cutting it up on the wedding day. What you might not know is that traditional English weddings usually serve TWO wedding cakes!
Classically, one cake is the main wedding cake, which should be a marzipan-covered fruitcake filled with ground almonds, raisins and cherries. The second cake is the groom’s cake, originating in Tudor times – originally also a fruitcake. Of course, nowadays couples just choose their favourite type of cake to serve (which tends not to be fruitcake!), and only serve ONE cake with many tiers.
The Victorians also had a cake tradition called the ‘ribbon pull’. This involved bridesmaids each being gifted a sterling silver charm with a ribbon tied to them. These charms were then placed between layers of
the wedding cake by the baker, with the ribbons trailing out of the cake. When the newlyweds took their first slice of cake, the bridesmaids all pulled on a ribbon to remove the charms – symbolising good fortune for each bridesmaid.
The Victorians clearly liked putting inedible items into cakes for good luck… The charms seem similar to putting a sixpence in the Christmas pudding! Luckily now we mostly just focus on choosing some tasty cake to enjoy on our special day.
This article was written by Dheyna at Smitten Weddings. If you would like to get in touch about my wedding planning services or find out more about me, then please visit my website.
Sources:
· TheRoyalMint.com. Christmas and Coins: www.royalmint.com/discover/celebrations/christmas-traditions-and-coins
