Wedding Cake Renaissance


Everyone recognizes the wedding cake!  It’s a universal symbol of festivity and celebration.  One of the classic symbols of the modern Western wedding ceremony, including the memorable moment when the Bride and Groom cut the cake together.  This is a special part of the traditional wedding ceremony and has been for a long time.
The origin of the wedding cake comes from a time when a local wedding in the town or village was celebrated with the Bride’s family feeding the guests with bread.  Bread was like currency and represented a special outreach to the neighbors who showed up to attend the event and offer their blessings for it.  This, of course grew into a fashionable part of the festivity and the token developed into a desert or treat—cake.
This became increasingly elaborate in the Victorian era when well-to-do Brides and their families would try to show their wealth and taste with the elegant display of a well-decorated cake, usually designed to match the Bride’s equally-elaborate dress.  This is where we get the multiple tiers and fancy icing.
The modern world is seeing yet another evolution of this marital tradition.  Since the symbol is no longer a power symbol for the wealthy, more and more couples have taken to redesigning their cakes and the entire cake-cutting ritual to suit their own tastes.  Cakes are shaped or themed to match the interests of the couple, family members sometimes work together on assembling and baking a cake together to fit the family recipes and style, and even still other couples are trying things like cupcakes or variety deserts like these.
As couples become more unique and special, with a variance in culture, taste, and interest, wedding cakes are seeing a brand new evolution.  Who knows what this new era of free-for-all wedding cake baking and design will bring for us that will last until the next great wedding cake renaissance?!

Everyone recognizes the wedding cake!  It’s a universal symbol of festivity and celebration.  One of the classic symbols of the modern Western wedding ceremony, including the memorable moment when the Bride and Groom cut the cake together.  This is a special part of the traditional wedding ceremony and has been for a long time.

The origin of the wedding cake comes from a time when a local wedding in the town or village was celebrated with the Bride’s family feeding the guests with bread.  Bread was like currency and represented a special outreach to the neighbors who showed up to attend the event and offer their blessings for it.  This, of course grew into a fashionable part of the festivity and the token developed into a desert or treat—cake.  cake 1

This became increasingly elaborate in the Victorian era when well-to-do Brides and their families would try to show their wealth and taste with the elegant display of a well-decorated cake, usually designed to match the Bride’s equally-elaborate dress.  This is where we get the multiple tiers, cake toppers, and fancy icing.

The modern world is seeing yet another evolution of this marital tradition.  Since the symbol is no longer a power symbol for the wealthy, more and more couples have taken to redesigning their cakes and the entire cake-cutting ritual to suit their own tastes.  Cakes are shaped or themed to match the interests of the couple, family members sometimes work together on assembling and baking a cake together to fit the family recipes and style, and even still other couples are trying things like cupcakes or variety deserts like these.

As couples become more unique and special, with a variance in culture, taste, and interest, wedding cakes are seeing a brand new evolution.  Who knows what this new era of free-for-all wedding cake baking and design will bring for us that will last until the next great wedding cake renaissance?!


2 Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Pingback: Choosing Your Wedding Cake | Wedding Cakes Web on November 10, 2009
  2. Pingback: Selecting a Wedding Cake Topper | Wedding Cakes Web on November 11, 2009

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