Hello my beloved readership,

there is certainly no delicacy more highly celebrated than the one: the wedding cake. Couples that are going to get married take aim to have the most exclusive and extravagantly done cake-creation for their big day that one might actually get scared of even touching furthermore eating a piece of it. By this they get the full support of passionate and exquisite bakers and confectioners. How much is a touch too much? Where and how do you order your cake? The answers to this and more questions you will get in the following.

You can say what you want and there are probably going to be some people that are going to freak out about what I am going to say now but the passionate eater in me says: a cake is a cake. In the end it is going to be eaten what it is for anyway…

All About The Traditional Meaning Of The Wedding Cake

Just like every firm essential that is seen in every wedding as well the wedding cake has a meaning in its tradition.

The Ancient Wedding Cake

Having its origin in the Ancient Rome the wedding cake has been a simple amandine-cake. While the first piece of cake nowadays is meant to be for the groom the ancient wedding cake has been crumbled above the head of the bride. Then the guests were to collect the single pieces and like this eat a piece of the wedding cake. This habit reminds of the candy that is being poured over the head of the bride according to an Armenian tradition.

The New Tradition: The Boss In The Team & An Obstacle To Master

With the time passing and civilizations advancing things have become more civilized, the tradition has been changed that bride and groom are holding the knife and cutting the cake together.
Attention: The catch hereby however is that whoever of the couple getting married has its hand on the top while holding the knife, so it is said, is meant to be the boss during the married life.

Before serving the cake to each guest, the bride feeds a part of the first piece of cake to her groom, after that the groom is feeding his bride.
In addition between cutting and serving the cake the married couple has an exercise to master: bride and groom are to link their arms and have a sip of their glass of champagne and kiss. This difficult kiss is meant to a be the first obstacle mastered and symbolizes that every obstacle in the married life can be mastered together.

Hint: Generally each guest is to eat at least a small part of the wedding cake as blessing for the couple just like the guests used to eat a piece of the cake that has been poured over the bride in the ancient time.

The Order And Taste

The cake is not as simple any longer as it used to be in the ancient time. Just like weddings themselves have become more distinctive and grandiose so have the wedding cakes. Even confectioners have started to follow couples to get married with this trend and bring on the best and most creative ideas to create the best wedding cake.

The Order

In the digital age 2.0 most orders are done via internet. Do not let the internet dominate your life especially when the best is not good enough for you. As last step you should pass by in person and clear specific questions directly. If you are lucky enough you can get some discount on your cake. Nevertheless you should use the Internet ahead especially if you have never ordered a big cake.

How the internet can help you:

• finding a cake shop in your city
• comparing prizes
• collecting inspiration for your wedding cake
• finding contact information to make up an appointment with the confectioner

In the most cases even the simpliest confectioner has an internet presence and provides photos of its creations. Good confectioners have about 200 to 300 different creations of wedding cakes to offer for their potential clients and even then they adapt to the individual wishes and circumstances of their clients.

For what concerns the prize the wedding cakes start at 100,- € to 300,- €. This as well depends on the number of  floors and accessories the cake is to have.
Hint: Out of personal experience I would suggest a cake of two big floors or three normal ones for 22 people as afterwards we realized that each guest would have loved to have a second piece especially because we have provided two different flavours. Sadly we could not make this possible as we had to keep a piece of the cake according to a newer tradition. One or two pieces of the cake is frozen for one year in order to be eaten from the couple on their first wedding day. This shall remind the couple of their most beautiful day of their life.

Attention: Especially if the cake shop is a domestic family business it is not possible or prefered to pay via electronic cash. Therefore make sure to have at least the half of the money in your pocket in order to not fall into an unagreeable situation on place.

You will meet the confectioner at least once within the bounds of your wedding and have a few phone calls with him or rather her.

1. Make a first call to make up an appointment with the confectioner
2. Pass by to clear important questions such as how you want your cake, when you want to pick it up (and spare yourself delivering costs) or let it be delivered and confirm your order with a payment.
3. Make another call after one week of letting the input of information sink in and thinking to tell if you want a delivery or pick-up.
   Hint: Since the delivery is connected to costs per kilometer driven you should find a confectioner as close to the event place as possible.
4. Call your confectioner one week before the big event as a reminder. You are not alone on earth and especially in the wedding-season not alone with your wedding-date.

The Taste

I will definitely not discover a new world with this statement however I would like to get back to it: sweetness is an important essential for your wedding-cake. Carrying the heir of the ancient wedding cake the taste of amandine has not got lost not even in modern wedding cakes. The taste of amandine remains in the marzipan-decoration. The huge amount of sweetness is important in order to keep the strong sweetness of honey – the second important ingredien besides from amandine.

Good confectioners will ask you which taste you would like to have for your wedding cake. Better confectioners will offer you on their own that it is possible to have different flavours per floor. If you are going to get married on a potentially hot day personally I would suggest a fruity flavour such as mango or raspberry. Chocolate or vanilla may be too heavy for the stomach.

And What About Cake Figures?

Meanwhile wedding cakes are everything but simple. Wedding cakes are seen with so many toppings and accessories that there is no space left for a bridal couple cake figure gracing the crown of the wedding cake. I myself prefer a bridal couple couple figure projecting the real bridal couple over unnecesarily distinctive decorations. After all the ancient wedding cake has been as simple as it could have been and is there to be eaten.

Basically all confectioners that offer wedding cakes as well provide cake figues but as every store even they are limited in their offer. Otherwise you can check out department  stores or party shops and discounters that are selling all kinds of things. Although you should not pay more than 20,- € for this figure.

In case you should not find anything to your liking you can still check out the internet on Amazon or eBay you will definitely find what you are looking for.
Attention: In case the first product page shows that the figure you fell in love with is unavailable do not give up and search up to the last page. Many different sellers are offering the same things on the platform.

A Symbol Of Fertility And Stages Of Life

A wedding is not a competition it is a blessing for the couple getting married. Be mindful with your choices and convinced from the bottom of your heart of your decisions. You do not need to prove anything to anyone therefore stick to traditions and their meanings instead of unlimited costs and work. The wedding cake is in the first place a symbol for fertility. Even though you need to adapt the number of floors to the size of your wedding every floor symbolizes five stages of life: birth, Holy Communion/confirmation, wedding, a rich blessing of children and the death.

Thanks to Viktoria Hartwich from Tortenatelier Viktoria for our beautiful and adorable wedding cake!

Love, Johanna