They may come in lavish chocolate and be beautifully sculpted, but where exactly does the tradition of wedding cakes come from? Well, the tradition was started by the Romans even before our modern decorating styles. In fact, one of the early traditions of the marital cake was to break it over the bride’s head. Remember that next time that your icing didn’t come out just right, or the cake gets shifted on the way to the wedding. If you had been born a few hundred years earlier you could have been wearing your confection, rather than eating it.

Another tradition in the middle ages involved stacking sweet buns in front of the bride and groom and them attempting to kiss over top the pile. If they were able to do so, it meant that fortune would smile upon them with many children. In the 17th century, wedding cakes were temporarily replaced by what was known as the Bride’s Pie. This pie had a special ingredient baked in, a glass ring, that mimicked our current bouquet traditions, informing the lady who found the glass ring in their piece of pie that they would be next to be married. This was by no means universally true, but bride’s pies were quite popular.

Another interesting tradition was that of sleeping with a piece of cake underneath one’s pillow, in order to create good fortune for a future spouse. This tradition saw brides put cake crumbs through their nuptial rings and into the waiting hands of their guests – who would then take them home and put it under their pillow. It was the latter part of the nineteenth century that wedding cakes became extremely popular at weddings, although at first just single layer treats. Another tradition that was early American was the grooms cake which were a dark concoction for the groom. However, this tradition is rarely practiced now.

By popular demand wedding cakes are for the most part white and have been for quite a while. This color of course is a symbol of purity and even though today bride’s may not stick to this tradition every time, as they often color coordinate the cake and other items with the dress color, white is still very popular in our modern culture. The history of this cake is a fascinating and interesting one, with traditions that have died and new traditions that have popped up. Next time that you are planning an event consider some of the older traditions that are rarely practiced, it may be fun. Of course dumping it over the bride’s head may not be one of those that we want to come back.

Further reading: Wedding Food Traditions Around The World