The wedding cake is surrounded by superstitions. In a traditional American wedding, maidens would be invited to pull ribbons that are attached to the bottom layer of the wedding cake. Out of all the ribbons, only one contains a charm or a ring, and whoever gets the charm will be the next person to marry. In other countries, the wedding cake is broken over the bride’s head to ensure fertility and bring good fortune to the couple. Also, some people today think that eating the crumbs of the wedding cake would give them good luck because the wedding cake symbolizes happiness and good life to the newlywed couple.
Hopeful bridesmaids would take a piece of cake home and place it under the pillow, after passing the pieces of cake through the bride’s wedding ring.
In the medieval era, wedding cakes were constructed in rolls and buns that were laid on top of each other. The groom and bride would attempt to share a passionate kiss on top of the stack of rolls to ensure fertility and have good fortune.
In the 18th century, newlywed couples would try to keep the cake until their first anniversary to prevent them from marriage problems in the future. This is why cakes were made of fruits and blended with wine.
Nowadays, we really are spolit for choice, and have artistic freedom to do as we please with our wedding cakes.
According to our local Lady Cake Boss, Wilma Radyn at EWR Cake Designs, we can look forward to an exciting year in the wedding cake business. Here is Wilma's pick of trends for the new year....
Ombre cakes: Taking your colour everywhere. Layers of cake, from lightest to darkest, in your theme colour, are spectacular at all weddings.
Pancake cakes: Layer a stack of pancakes with your favourite filling. Think whipped cream, your favourite icing, milktart filling, berries – drizzle with chocolate sauce, and
wow your guests with something different, but decidedly divine!
Forever White: Always elegant, white on white with intricate piping, varied textures and iconic pearls add interest. Always beautiful, never busy or overdone, it remains the perfect choice.
Jewellery on cakes: Vintage with a capital V – bows, drapes and brooches. Have sugar copies cut of your grandma’s brooch, add to the delicate lines with elegant drapes, or add crystals to copy diamonds. Bring in coloured sugar gems as emeralds, sapphires etc. Silver and gold highlights add sparkle.
Lace and Ribbon: Your cake design artist can pipe the most gorgeous lace designs on your cake, and ribbons add simple elegant colour.
Roses: Classic beauty that adds a soft touch. Gorgeous colours like blush pinks, cappuchino, baby lilac, classic cream add “lovely” to your cake.
Pinks and Purples: Eternal girly favourites, these colours will always be updated, but will never die. With Radiant Orchid being the 2014 Colour of the Year, we’ll see pinks and purples at a lot of “I do’s” this year.
Pastels: Muted greys, soft mints, powder blues, baby yellow, cotton-candy pink will make beautiful statements on the dessert table, and can always be used as base colours, complimented with their bolder, brighter complimentaries on the colour-wheel.
Different flavoured tiers : As mentioned before, the simplest way to please everyone is to have tiers of different flavours. Or have a cake of one flavour, and cupcakes or cake pops with two or three different ones. You’ll never go wrong with classic chocolates, vanilla’s, red velvet, cappuchino, cheesecake, carrot cake … yummy!
Tel: 018 468 5368
The Cake – the highlight of the food tables. The object of many wedding photo's, the cutting thereof steeped in symbolism.
What can we look forward to in 2014?