Wedding Cakes
Wedding cakes have come along way over the ages and are available in any style and flavour. No matter how large or how small your cake is it’s an important part of your wedding. Like your flowers your cake can reflect your personalities and tastes.
- The tradition of wedding cakes dates back to medieval times. In these times each guest was expected to bring a small cake, these cakes would then be piled on a table in levels and layers, if the newlywed couple were able to kiss over the tower of cakes it symbolised good luck.
- For many cultures it is a tradition to offer sweets and according to ancient Roman records sweets were distributed at weddings during this time.
- Another Roman custom was to drop a wedding cake on the head of the bride!!
- These days any kind of cake is available in any colour and shape, however Medieval and Renaissance wedding cakes may have been fruitcake.
- The design of the tiered wedding cake originates from the tiered spire of a well known medieval church in London called St Bride's.
- Henry VIII imposed a law stipulating the exact quantity of sugar a cake was allowed to contain. It is possible that he might have wanted to control or tax this popular tradition.
- Sugar was rationed during World War II in The United Kingdom. Cake sizes were reduced and presented without the luxury of icing. To get round this the cake was often served in boxes covered with Plaster of Paris to try and imitate icing and the traditional look of a wedding cake.
If you fancy the challenge you could always try baking your own wedding cake. Below is an example of how to achieve your very own creation.
Traditional Fruit Wedding Cake Recipe
Preparation
Pre-heat your oven to 150°C/300°F or Gas Mark 2
Prepare an 8in round deep cake tin by cutting a strip of greaseproof paper double the thickness 5cm/2in deeper than your cake tin and long enough to wrap round the tin with a slight overlap. Then make a 2.5cm/1in crease along the long folded edge. Once you have done that cut out 2 circles to place in the bottom of the tin (top tip: before cutting the double thickness of paper place the tin on the paper and draw round it with a pencil and cut along the line)
Grease the base and sides of the tin with butter and insert the greaseproof paper pieces.
Ingredients
100g/4oz candied pineapple
100g/4oz glacé cherries
50g/2oz candied ginger
175g/6oz candied peel
200g/8oz sultanas
200g/8oz butter (softened)
200g/8oz golden caster sugar
200g/8oz plain flour
4 eggs
5g/1tsp ground cinnamon
100g/4oz ground almonds
175g/6oz mixed nuts such as Brazils, Almonds and Hazelnuts
4 tbsp brandy or orange juice
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
Extra brandy for feeding the cake once made
Apricot Jam
Golden Marzipan
Icing sugar or Ready to roll icing
Method
- Chop the pineapple, cherries, ginger and add to a bowl along with the candied peel and sultanas, mix together and pour over the brandy or orange juice. Chop the nuts, but keep them separate.
- In a large clean bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat the eggs in a jug and slowly add to the butter and sugar mixture (don’t worry if you find that the mixture curdles slightly this will make no difference to the cake.
- Add in the orange zest and juice, then the soaked fruit and the liquid and the chopped nuts.
- Sieve in the flour and cinnamon then add the ground almonds and fold the mixture together until you see no trace of flour.
- Spoon the cake mixture into the tin you prepared earlier and smooth over the top with the back of a metal spoon. Bake in the oven for 1 hour, after which reduce the heat to 140°C/275°F or Gas 1 and bake for a further 2-2½ hours until it takes on a golden brown colour and feels firm to the touch. (Top Tip: when the cake is ready the hissing sound made during baking will stop). Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool.
- If you want to lace the cake with brandy simply make some small holes with a skewer on the top of the cake and spoon over the brandy so it soaks well, cover the cake well to keep moist. You can do this as many times as you like usually once every week or fortnight until the cake is ready to ice.
- Before adding the marzipan and icing it might be necessary to make the top of the cake level this can be done by cutting the top until level. Place the cake upside down, make some small holes and add just a little more brandy.
- In a pan gently heat apricot jam, once the jam has boiled spread it over the surface of the cake this will create an edible glue to which the marzipan can stick to.
- Knead the marzipan on a work top dusted with icing sugar until it is more adaptable. Roll out and cover the cake then smooth into position and trim and neaten.
- There are a variety of ways to ice and decorate your wedding cake. You can now buy ready to roll icing and simply roll over the cake and cut to shape or make royal icing which is the traditional icing and dries very hard.
- Once you have iced your cake you can decorate it how you want. Store the cake in a dry place until needed.
Recipe for Royal Icing
400g icing sugar
3 egg whites
2 drops glycerine
Start by twice sieving the icing sugar, then add in the egg whites and the glycerine and beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until the mixture is stiff.