Anyone is up for a slice of cake? Well, I do! So today I’m going to talk about wedding cakes tradition. Some traditions are long lost; an example was the groom eating part of a loaf of barley break baked and break the rest over his bride’s head. It was a symbolizing the groom’s power over his bride and the breaking of the bride’s virginal state. This tradition goes back as far as the Roman Empire. Cakes in Medieval England where breads with flour-based foods without sweet. And is no joke, there was no sweets for the happy couple. But in the late 19th century, cakes became popular; they were simple single-tired plum cakes with some variations.
Mostly, wedding cakes are always white, but this remounts to the making of ingredients. White icing required only the use of refined sugar and it was less expensive and easy to do. Also, the white icing has the symbolism the purity of the couple. In first appeared in Victorian times and another symbolism to the white cake is thanks to the reference of “the bride’s cake”, which highlighted the bride as the central figure of the wedding and a special bond between her and the cake (kind of silly, but still cute).
Cutting a slice of cake is all about symbolism. The first task of the married couple is for the bride to cut a piece of cake with the help of her new husband. After cutting the first piece, the couple will feed one other; this means a mutual commitment of the newlyweds to provide for one another.
A tradition started in the late 19th century has continued now days, it consists of saving the top layer of a multitiered cake to freeze it and share it on their first wedding anniversary. It serves as a very pleasant reminder of what was like their very first special day together. I hope you enjoy this entry, I will see you next time.
Bibliography
Hudson Valley Weddings Web Site. «The Wedding Cake . . . history, customs and traditions.» Hundson Valley Weddings. 13 de October de 2011 <http://www.hudsonvalleyweddings.com/guide/cakehistory.htm>.
Hi Annie, I hope that you are fine. Let me comment about your entry. First, I did not know that the Roman Empire had so weird customs with the wedding bread. Actually, I would only eat the wedding bread without breaking it into anyone’s head. I mean, it is food why do Romans waste it in that way? Anyway, I thought that since the beginning of the wedding cakes, they were created with sweet ingredients like sugar or fruits, but Medieval England tradition is quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, changing the way of making wedding cakes was an innovation, I suppose, because new customs were created, like the one that you mention about the connection between the wife and the wedding cake. I thank the person that started adding sugar to the wedding cakes because they taste better baked with that ingredient. The cutting of the cake is symbolic and noble but, in my opinion, that is somewhat exaggerated. It is easier to cut the piece of cake and just eat it by yourself. You showed commitment with the marriage, you don’t need to re-show it while eating a cake. But well, ignore my previous words because that is only my crazy opinion about cutting the wedding cake in that manner.
Finally, it is funny the last picture that you show in your comment. It denotes husbands’ reality in some way, or at least, the reality presented by some comedy shows. The wife tends to control the relationship and the husband, while they live happily ever after. Nice post Annie, see you later.