I recently researched 'The history of wedding cakes' and I was surprised with my findings! The wedding cake dates back to medieval times and they were originally made from wheat as a symbol of prosperity. However, instead of cutting the cake with a nice cake knife, the tradition then was to throw the wedding cake at the bride!!!!
I discovered that tradition then changed when the Romans began baking small cakes (made from wheat and salt) and the groom would eat half of this 'loaf' and break the rest over his bride's head!!! Em, hello, I thought confetti in a bride's neatly styled hair was bad enough!!! Not only was it was a symbol of good fortune and a blessing for a long life and lots of children, but also to symbolise dominance over the bride by the groom. Guests at the wedding also tried to catch a crumb to have good fortune for themselves!
Evolution saw mounds of small buns piled high in front of the bride and groom and they were to kiss over the cakes without knocking them down. Each guest would bring a unique wedding gift of a small bridal cake to add to the cake tower. Eventually the small cakes were frosted together with sugar for convenience. During this time a French chef was visiting England and came up with the idea of making proper sweet piled high called Croquembouche. This is where the tier style of wedding cakes derives from.
The 17th century saw a different type of cake becoming popular with brides 'Bride's Pie'. This was a pie filled with sweet breads, mince pie or mutton pie. Inside these pies a glass ring would be hidden and the woman who found it would be next to get married, similar to our tradition of catching the bouquet.
At a recent wedding I witnessed friends cutting their 3 tier wedding cake together with a gorgeous wedding cake knife. I enquired about the cake knife later and found it was a gift from a close friend.
On closer examination I noticed the long silver blade of the knife had been engraved with their names, date of marriage and venue. I felt this was a lovely personal gift to keep and with my brother's wedding coming up I decided this would make an excellent gift.
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