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Wedding Cakes,Wedding Anniversary Cakes,History of Wedding Cakes,Wedding Cake Ideas,Modern Wedding Cake,Chocolate Wedding Cake

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Wedding Cakes - wedding cakes, wedding anniversary cakes, history of wedding cakes, wedding cake ideas, modern wedding cake, chocolate wedding cake, bride cake, grooms cake, unique wedding cakes, wedding cakes on anniversary, wedding cake tops, elegant wedding cakes, wedding cake decoration, wedding cake decorating, groom wedding cake, wedding cake cookie, wedding cakes for anniversary, anniversary gifts, wedding anniversary gifts, gifts for anniversary, anniversary gifts online, gifts for wedding anniversary, anniversary gifts, send anniversary gifts, anniversary party celebrations, send wedding anniversary gifts.

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Wedding cakes have become a tradition for every bride and groom for their special day. It's just as important as the bride's wedding dress and the venue. Did you know that last year the average couple spent $546 on their wedding cake! Read below for more wedding cake facts including what cake took 515 hours to make.
1. A cake fit for the Queen.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip married on November 20, 1947, and according to Bridal Guide magazine, their four-tiered wedding cake was nine feet tall and weighed 500 pounds. The royal couple even cut the cake with Prince Philip's sword.
2. Instead of a traditional fruitcake, this royal couple went in another direction and chose a cake that took 515 hours to make.
Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones tied the knot on June 19, 1999 and had a seven-tier Devil's Food cake that was ten feet tall. It took baker Linda Fripp and her staff at Upper Crusts Country Kitchen 515 hours to make. The cake was topped with tennis rackets to symbolize where the couple first met.
3. Bigger is always better.
According to the Guinness World Records, the chefs at the Mohegan Sun Hotel and Casino in Connecticut built the largest wedding cake ever for their New England bridal showcase in 2004. The cake weighed 6.818 tons.

The world's most expensive wedding cake. (‏@CAKE_CHESTER/Twitter)

4. Diamonds are forever.
In March of 2013, Cake, a bakery in Chester, England, displayed the world's most expensive wedding cake, valued at $52.7 million. The eight-tiered cake had 4,000 diamonds from Russell and Case of Liverpool, England.
5. Looking for a husband? Just sleep with cake under your pillow.
According to an old legend, a single woman who sleeps with a slice of the groom's cake under her pillow will dream of her future husband.
6. You can thank Queen Victoria for the white wedding cake tradition and royal icing.
White icing on a wedding cake symbolizes purity, a tradition that began in the seventeenth century. However, once the price of white sugar went up, white icing became a status symbol, showcasing the family's wealth. When Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, the white icing on her cake was known as "royal icing." The royal icing was made so it could hold the sugar paste models on top of the cake without the cake collapsing. Royal icing is made of egg whites, sugar, and lemon juice.
7. Who wouldn't want a slice of a royal cake?
According to the Guinness World Records, a slice of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's 1937 wedding cake was sold for $29,900 on February 27, 1998 at Sotheby's. It is the most expensive wedding cake slice ever sold.
8. Breaking bread.
In the heyday of the Roman Empire, before cake became a wedding standard, the bride and groom would get a loaf of barley bread. The groom would then break the bread over the bride's head to symbolize fertility and the dominance of the groom.
9. Wedding cake toppers have come a long way.
Wedding cake toppers became famous in the 1950s and represented the couple's bond. Regarding their origin, an old story claims that a baker's daughter asked her father to create a symbol of her love for her groom. Her father created the bride and groom topper for the cake and his daughter loved it.
10. Grooms can have their cake and eat it too.
In the 17 th century, grooms got their own wedding cakes, but these weren't as extravagant as brides' cake. A groom would have his own fruitcake that was served to his groomsmen.
11. Tiered wedding cakes all started with piles of bread.
The tiered wedding cake dates back to medieval times. Wedding guests would pile up scones, biscuits, and other breads, and the couple would have to kiss over the pile without it falling down. If they did it successfully, they were ensured a lifetime of prosperity.

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Wedding cakes have become a tradition for every bride and groom for their special day. It's just as important as the bride's wedding dress and the venue. Did you know that last year the average couple spent $546 on their wedding cake! Read below for more wedding cake facts including what cake took 515 hours [...]

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This is a very simple moist white cake. It works best if all of the ingredients are at room temperature.

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This white chocolate wedding cake is a chocoholic's dream! For this recipe you'll need a 23cm/9in round cake tin and board and a 15cm/6in round cake tin and board. You will also need four dowelling rods and four cake pillars (available from specialist cake shops).

Ingredients

For the white chocolate buttercream

For the dark chocolate buttercream

For the ganache

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Grease and line the 23cm/9in cake tin and 15cm/6in cake tin.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.

3. Fold in the flour and cocoa powder, then stir in the melted chocolate until well combined.

4. Divide the mixture among the prepared cake tins.

5. Bake the 23cm/9in cake for 1 hour-1 hour 15minutes and the 15cm/6in cake for 45 minutes or until the cakes are golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.

6. Remove the cakes from the oven and set aside to cool, then carefully remove them from the tins and allow to cool completely.

7. Meanwhile for the white chocolate buttercream, cream the butter, vanilla and icing sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in the melted chocolate.

8. For the dark chocolate buttercream, repeat the method for the white chocolate buttercream.

9. For the ganache, heat the double cream in a saucepan until just boiling, then remove from the heat. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool slightly, or until the mixture has thickened.

10. Carefully cut each cake in half horizontally and fill with the dark chocolate buttercream. Spread a teaspoon of buttercream onto each cake board and place the cakes onto them.

11. Spread the white chocolate buttercream over the top and sides of each cake until covered. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until the icing has set.

12. Spread the ganache over each cake with a palette knife, trying to make it as smooth as possible. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until the icing has set.

13. To stack the cakes, hold a dowelling rod at the side of the 23cm/9in cake and mark with a pencil where the icing comes to. Cut the rod and three others to the same length. Push the rods into the cake about 5cm/2in away from the sides, to form the four corners of a square in the centre of the cake. Place the pillars on top of the largest cake, positioning each one over a dowelling rod, then top with the 15cm/6in cake. Decorate with fresh flowers.

Recipe Tips

This cake can be decorated with fresh flowers such as white roses, ask your florist for advice.

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This white chocolate wedding cake is a chocoholic's dream! For this recipe you'll need a 23cm/9in round cake tin and board and a 15cm/6in round cake tin and board. You will also need four dowelling rods and four cake pillars (available from specialist cake shops).

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Wedding cake history | Maisie Fantaisie Wedding Cakes

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A helpful information page about the history of wedding cakes from medieval times to present day.

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1. The most expensive wedding cake ever commissioned cost $30 million.

The confection was made by Buddy Valastro (better known as Cake Boss from the famed TLC cake show) at the request of NYC socialite Devorah Rose for her diamond gala event. According to reports, $30 million worth of jewels -- including sapphires, emeralds, rubies and diamonds -- adorned the cake.

2. Queen Victoria was one of the first to have pure white icing on her wedding cake.

That's why it's called "royal icing."

3. The groom's cake has been around since the 17th century.

In the 17th century, there were two confections: the bride's and the groom's cake. The groom's cake was usually a fruitcake and symbolized fertility.

4. It used to be bridal pie, not wedding cake.

The "bride's pie" (not cake) was served at most weddings up until the early 19th century.

5. One of the largest-ever wedding cakes used 10,000 pounds of cake batter and 4,810 pounds of frosting.

One of the largest wedding cakes ever made in the US was built for the Mohegan Sun casino at 17 feet tall and 15,032 pounds. The bakers used 10,000 pounds of cake batter and 4,810 pounds of frosting to create the towering confection.

6. White cakes symbolize purity and virginity.

The bride's cake was usually a white pound cake covered with white frosting.

7. Forget the bouquet toss, the next person to marry will pull a charm out of the cake.

In some parts of the US, it was tradition for single women to pull ribbons out from the bottom layer of the wedding cake. One of the ribbons would be attached to a charm, and whoever pulled out the charm would be the next to marry.

8. Single bridesmaids put a slice of cake beneath their pillows.

Similarly, in some parts of the US, single bridesmaids would take a piece of wedding cake home. It was said that if they placed it under their pillow, they'd dream of their future husband.

9. The first wedding cakes were actually loaves of bread.

One of the first wedding cakes wasn't actually cake at all -- it was bread. In ancient Rome, bread was broken over the bride's head to symbolize good fortune and fertility to the couple.

10. One of the tallest ever cakes was almost 26 feet tall.

The tallest cake ever made (on record) was 25.65 feet tall. The towering confection consisted of 850 sponge cakes, shaped like cake bricks, glued together with caramel. Unfortunately for its creators, the cake didn't last long, as it started to lean and eventually fell.

11. The first sweet wedding cake appeared in 1655.

Breads and rolls were commonly broken at weddings up until about 1655, when the earliest-known sweet wedding cake became popular: Banbury cake. The flat pastry is a spiced, currant-filled oval-shaped cake traditionally paired with tea.

12. Cake toppers weren't popular until the 50s.

Cake toppers didn't become popular until the 1950s, when couples in the US started using them on their wedding cakes.

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The confection was made by Buddy Valastro (better known as Cake Boss from the famed TLC cake show) at the request of NYC socialite Devorah Rose for her diamond gala event. According to reports, $30 million worth of jewels -- including sapphires, emeralds, rubies and diamonds -- adorned the cake.

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Wedding cakes come in all shapes and sizes and there is no limit to the creativity of the bride's design. They have become long-standing traditions and are still being admired as the focal point of the wedding receptions today. Modern wedding cakes can be made of plain or chocolate sponge as well as the fruitcake (for the groom) and little cupcakes scattered around the bride's cake gaining popularity since they are easier to dole out to the guests.

Wedding cakes have been a special part of the Greek and Roman civilizations. Perhaps the tradition of scattering rice or confetti over newlyweds had evolved along with the wedding cake; the Romans have scattered wheat in the belief that the bride and groom would be fertile. Wheat is a cake ingredient and symbolizes life - the abundant harvest and fertility that newlyweds must enjoy. The wedding cake back then was a special delicacy that the Ancient Greeks have eaten as part of their feasts.

During the Roman era it was a custom for the guests to give wedding cakes to newlyweds to simulate the gift of nature since wheat (also barley) as an ingredient of cake is a life-giving plant. Brides who bake their own wedding cakes were thought to be destined to face bad luck in the future. The groom would break the gift cakes on the bride's head. This was a quaint symbolism of the breaking of a woman's hymen, signifying her surrender to the groom. The guests would then scramble for the fallen crumbs as they believe this would give them fortune. The evolution of the wedding cake has made breaking it less common, but in some parts of Scotland in the 19th century this tradition continued with certain variations.

By the Medieval Era the wheat cake had been replaced by the rolls and buns that were laid on top of each other. The custom was that if the groom and the bride were able to kiss on top of the tall stack of rolls they will receive the blessings of prosperity and fertility. Then during the seventeenth century a French chef added sugar frosting on the stack of cake so they would maintain their form. This was considered to be one of the precursors of the modern tiered cake with the extra frosting.

The tradition of preserving the top tier of the cake and eating it on the first anniversary could be traced back during the eighteenth century when the wedding cakes were actually fruit cakes blended with wine to keep them edible even after a long time. It was still an enduring myth that the cake must not break into slivers before it could even be eaten on the first anniversary; otherwise the newlyweds would be beset with marriage problems. Thus, they have taken great care not to let it crumble.

The bride's pie, the cake that contains a hidden ring, could be traced back to the early seventeenth century until the nineteenth. It was believed that the woman who is able to find the hidden ring will be wedded next. The bride's pie has evolved into the more elaborate cakes of the Victorian era. Queen Victoria adored ornamental cakes and bridal gowns that she had ordered a cake made for her weighing over 300 lbs. Since then wedding cakes had become intricately-designed and were eventually called bride's cake.

The bride's cake is the most common type of wedding cake, as opposed to groom's cake, which is just a simple slab of cake that acts as a supplement for the more elaborate bride's cake. Most bride cakes chosen by the bride are usually tall-tiered cakes with flowers and fruits. Most groom cakes are fruit cakes which traditionally were brought home by single ladies so they would "dream of their future husbands".

Most brides' cakes were decorated by the bride as a reflection of her decorating style. It could, for instance, have custom- made figurines on the top tier, a set of sugar flowers or fruits in season. For flower designs usually a bride can opt to lay it on the top of the cake or have it cascade around the tiers for a more ornate look. It can have the romantic appeal with one unifying motif. It can also have a symbolism such as gold, marzipans or swans.

The groom's cake is more of a wedding favor and plays a special part on the wedding as well. The groom chooses his own design but usually it is dark colored (chocolate). It is a supplement to the bride's cake because it may be served at the reception dinner (or even ahead of the time and given to the guests) and is consequently a lot cheaper than the bride's cake itself.

Choosing and decorating your wedding cake may be easy but you should consider adding brandy if you wish to preserve your cake according to the tradition. You can opt to shop for spices, fruits and flowers ahead of the time; or have a florist coordinate with you. For many soon-to-be-wedded couples it would be easier to borrow or hire a cake tin stand if you would like a multiple-tiered cake.

Buy wedding cakes two months in advance; this is to assure you that you will get exactly what you have ordered. There are expensive cakes but if you are low on the budget there are ways to reduce the price of fancy wedding cakes. Check out the local bakeshops and consult with two or three bakers to get information on the prices and styles of wedding cakes.

You can get a great deal for a wedding cake by asking for pictures of the recently designed cakes (those created by their current cake decorators) and getting a free taste. Do not forget that the taste of the cake matters just as well as its fancy design.

Lastly, when selecting your wedding cake, your own preferences matter but you can always be open to suggestions offered by an expert baker.

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Wedding Cakes: The Myths and Magic of Matrimony

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Wedding cakes come in all shapes and sizes and there is no limit to the creativity of the bride's design. They have become long-standing traditions and are still being admired as the focal point of the wedding receptions today.

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Since antiquity, weddings customarily have been celebrated with a special cake. Ancient Roman wedding ceremonies were finalized by breaking a cake of wheat or barley ( mustaceum) over the bride's head as a symbol of good fortune. The newly married couple then ate a few crumbs in a custom known as confarreatio-eating together. Afterwards, the wedding guests gathered up the crumbs as tokens of good luck. The Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius, in De Rerum Natura ( On the Nature of Things), 1 wrote that the breaking of the cake over the bride's head mellowed into crumbling the sweet wheat cakes over her head. After all the cakes were used up, the guests were supplied with handfuls of confetto, a sweet mixture of nuts, dried fruit, and honeyed almonds. These sweetmeats were an important part of the wedding banquet and continued to be so for hundreds of years. Chronicles of the period record that in 1487 over two hundred and sixty pounds of "confetti" were consumed at the banquet following the wedding of Lucrezia Borgia and Alfonso d'Este, son of Ercole I, Duke of Ferrara. Sweetmeats were showered over the bride and groom; indeed, it seems to have been the custom to throw the sweetmeats about enthusiastically. Eventually, the sweets were replaced with rice, flower petals, and colored paper, and these new types of confetti continue to be showered over the happy couples around the world. When the Romans invaded Britain in A.D. 43, many of their customs and traditions became part of British life. The Norman invasion of 1066 subsequently incorporated many French traditions into British life. Other changes came about due to increased trade and contact with Europe, but our present-day wedding traditions remain firmly rooted in the past.

In medieval England, in an early form of wedding cake, small spiced buns were stacked in a towering pile, as high as possible. If the bride and groom were able to kiss over the tall stack, it augured a lifetime of prosperity. The earliest British recipe specifically noted for a wedding is Bride's Pye, recorded by Robert May in the 1685 edition of The Accomplisht Cook. 2 This was a large round pie with an elaborately decorated pastry crust that concealed a filling of oysters, pine kernels, cockscombs, lambstones (testicles), sweetbreads, and spices. There were also humbler, less expensive versions containing minced meats or just mutton.

Bride, Christening and Other Cakes. From Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, 1888, p.1129. The Fales Library & Special Collections, New York zuniversity

In the county of Yorkshire, bride pie was the most important dish at weddings, as it was considered essential to the couple's future happiness. It consisted of a large round pie containing a plump hen full of eggs, surrounded by minced meats, fruits, and nuts and embellished with ornate pastry emblems. Each guest had to eat a small piece of the pie; not to do so was considered extremely rude and impolite. A ring was traditionally placed in the pie, and the lady who found it would be the next to marry. Bride pie was still being served at weddings in some parts of England as late as the nineteenth century.

In the seventeenth century bride pie developed into bride cake, the predecessor of the modern wedding cake. Fruited cakes, as symbols of fertility and prosperity, gradually became the centerpieces for weddings. A much less costly bride cake took the simpler form of two large rounds of shortcrust pastry sandwiched together with currants and sprinkled with sugar on the top. Very few homes at the time could boast of an oven, but this type of pastry cake could easily be cooked on a bakestone on the hearth.

In east Yorkshire bride cake was a small cake offered to the bride upon arrival at her new home. After eating a small piece, the bride threw the remainder over her head to ensure that she and her new husband would want for nothing. The groom then threw the plate over his head. If it broke, the couple's future happiness and good fortune were assured.

Other superstitions have long been connected with wedding cakes: Sharing the cake with family and friends increases fertility and prosperity. The bride who bakes her own cake is asking for trouble. A taste of the cake before the wedding means loss of the husband's love (while a piece of cake kept after the big day ensures his fidelity). The newlyweds must cut the first slice together. And every guest must eat a small piece to ensure that the happy couple are blessed with children.

Another Yorkshire tradition was to have the bride cake waiting at a nearby inn. The cake would be marked into small squares but not cut all the way through. The groom would place a linen napkin over the bride's head and then break the cake over her. As the cake fell, the guests scrambled for their portions. As in ancient Roman times, a piece of the cake guaranteed an auspicious life. Another old Yorkshire custom was to cut the bride cake into little pieces, throw them over the heads of the happy couple, and then pass any smaller pieces through the bride's wedding ring. Bride cake contained various charms with different meanings, such as a silver coin, a ring, a button, and a thimble. The guest who received the slice containing the coin was assured of future prosperity, while the ring meant marriage within a year. The recipient of the button was destined for lifelong spinster- or bachelorhood; the thimble similarly foretold an old maid or bachelor. When the bride's (and the groom's) cakes were cut into pieces for the bridesmaids and groomsmen, it was traditional for the maid of honor to select the first piece of cake. The other attendants followed, each hoping to find a special charm that would foretell their future.

Matrimony cake, another Yorkshire specialty, was more like a pie than a cake, being a pastry case filled with a mixture of dried fruits, apples, spices, and breadcrumbs. It may have descended from the bride pie, with the omission of the hen, eggs, and meat, much as modern fruit mincemeat evolved from the original mincemeat containing shredded mutton or beef. With its solid base, smooth filling, and rough top, matrimony cake was said to sum up the complexities of marriage.

In the seventeenth century wedding cakes were made in pairs, one for the bride and another for the groom. Groom's cake, a dark, heavy fruitcake, was served alongside bride cake. Smaller than bride cake and usually not iced, the groom's cake was cut up into little squares that were then placed in boxes for the guests to take home as a wedding memento and to ensure good luck. At bedtime the recipient of groom's cake would place the square underneath his or her pillow. This tradition was recorded as early as the seventeenth century but gradually died out, as did the groom's cakes, which are no longer part of British weddings. However, the tradition has undergone a revival in the United States, where for many years the groom's cake has served as a wedding favor for guests. Modern groom's cakes are often shaped and decorated to depict the groom's favorite hobby-a golf bag, a camera, a chess board.

Bride cake covered with white icing first appeared sometime in the seventeenth century. It was frosted with the precursor of royal icing, a sort of meringue mixture of whisked egg white and sugar, which was applied to the hot cake straight from the oven and then returned to the oven to firm up. When applied to wedding cakes, this type of icing was known as "bliss." In 1769 Mrs. Raffald (the most celebrated English cookery writer of the eighteenth century after Hannah Glasse) was the first to offer the combination of bride cake, almond paste, and royal icing. 3 Hannah Glasse, in The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, 4 gave a recipe for the cake that included four pounds of flour, thirty-two eggs, six pounds of dried fruit, and half a pint of brandy. After the cake was baked, it was covered with a pure white, smooth icing made with "double refined sugar," egg whites, musk, ambergrease [ sic], and orange-flower water. The mixture was beaten for two hours, then spread over the cake and dried in the oven until hard. This drying process required constant vigilance to ensure that the iced cake did not color or scorch.

Sugar had been imported to England since the Middle Ages, but by the 1540s it was more readily available and affordable in cones of varying quality, weighing from five to forty pounds. By the 1550s two English sugar refineries were in operation; by 1650 there were at least fifty refineries in London alone. "Double refined" sugar was twice-refined white sugar; powdered icing or confectioners' sugar was unknown at that time. References to "powdered sugar" refer to granulated sugar that had been pounded fine and sifted through fine gauze or silk. Elizabeth David, in English Bread and Yeast Cookery, notes that caster and icing or confectioners' sugars became common only in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Triple-refined sugar had an especially white tint and was consequently more expensive.

A pure white color was much sought after, as white icing on a wedding cake symbolizes purity and virginal attributes-a notion first put forward in Victorian times. Before then most bride cakes were white for a more practical reason. Because the ingredients for the bride cake were expensive, especially the sugar for the icing, white icing meant that only the finest refined sugar had been used. Thus a pure white cake was a status symbol, a display of the family's wealth.

At Queen Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert in 1840, white icing was used to decorate her cake, and this icing has been known as "royal icing" ever since. The multitiered cake-which by the nineteenth century had gradually acquired the name "wedding cake"-measured more than nine feet in circumference. The London Times of February 1840 described the cake in detail. On the second tier, which was supported by two pedestals, a sculpture of "Britannia" gazed upon the royal couple as they exchanged their vows, while at their feet sat a dog, symbolizing faithfulness, and two turtledoves, symbolizing purity and innocence. There were also several sculpted cupids, including one happily writing the date of the wedding onto a tablet.

The wedding cake that commemorated the marriage of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, Vicky, in 1858 was less elaborate. Only the bottom tier consisted of cake; the others were made of sugar icing and were purely decorative, one stacked directly on top of the other. The now-traditional multitiered British wedding cake-a grand affair of heavily fruited cake layers decorated with royal icing and embellished with sugar flowers, doves, horseshoes, and bells-had its origins in the wedding cake made for the marriage of Prince Leopold in 1882. For the first time guests could enjoy a wedding cake made entirely of cake. This cake was also tiered, with each tier comprised of an iced cake stacked rather like a succession of hatboxes. The icing in between had been allowed to harden to prevent the upper tiers from sinking into the lower layers. However, it was to take another twenty years before the tiers of wedding cakes would be separated by columns (often disguised pieces of a broom handle). And it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that the tiers were separated and supported by columns of hardened icing. These tiered cakes symbolized prosperity and were a status symbol at society weddings, as the less well-off could not afford a pillared and tiered wedding cake.

When Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) married Prince Philip in 1947, the official wedding cake stood nine feet high and weighed five hundred pounds. It was made by McVitie and Price, using ingredients received from Australian Girl Guides as a wedding gift. One tier was used on the wedding day; one was kept until the christening of Prince Charles; and a third was dispatched back to Australia, to the guides who had thought of the Queen.

British wedding cakes remained virtually unchanged from the elaborate Victorian creations until the 1980s, when the intricately piped royal icing began to be replaced by soft icing, draped and frilled and often embellished with sugar-paste flowers. At the same time simpler, American-style layer cakes, such as carrot cake with cream cheese filling or key lime coconut cake with lime curd, came into vogue. Today, there are practically no rules about wedding cakes in Britain. Contemporary cakes can be any of color, flavor, or shape, and the possibilities are endless: a dense, dark chocolate cake with a sumptuous filling; gold, silver, and white iced cakes stacked and decorated to look like a pile of wedding presents; a tower of individual desserts; or a plain, moist sponge cake simply iced and decorated with fresh or sugar flowers. Twenty-first-century weddings are big business for Britain's £3.5 billion wedding industry. This year over three hundred thousand people are expected to tie the knot, with the average wedding costing an astonishing £12,000. The cost of the all-important wedding cake averages around £300, but of course that depends on the size and design. Wedding cakes, like the bride's dress, are subject to the vagaries of fashion, and celebrity weddings and cake designers continually strive to set new trends.

The following recipes hail from the English county of Yorkshire and date from before World War II. Some variations include dates or are made with dried fruit alone. The precise origin of these recipes is unknown; these versions are my own.

Yorkshire Matrimony Cake

8 ounces pie pastry

4 tablespoons breadcrumbs

4 tart green apples, peeled and cored

4 tablespoons mixed currants, raisins, sultanas

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup Juice of 1 lemon

Divide the pastry into two pieces, one twice as large as the other. Roll out the larger piece and ease it into an 8-inch tart pan. Slice the apples and arrange on the pastry base. Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients over the apples. Roll out the remaining pastry and lay it on top, sealing the edges well. Bake for about 40 minutes at 350°f until the pastry is golden. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream.

Matrimonial Cake

This cake keeps very well in an airtight tin.

4 1/2 ounces rolled oats

3 ounces flour

2 ounces light brown sugar

3 ounces butter

8 ounces chopped dried dates

1 heaping tablespoon light brown sugar

5 ounces water

First make the filling: cook the dates gently with the sugar and water until they form a soft paste. Leave to cool.

Mix together the oats, flour, and sugar and rub in the butter until crumbly. Put half this mixture into a buttered 8-inch square pan and press down firmly. Spread with the date paste and scatter the remaining crumble mixture over the top. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 350°f until golden. Cut into squares while hot and leave to cool in the pan.

notes

1. Lucretius, On the Nature of Things: De Rerum Natura, Anthony M. Esolen, trans. (Baltimore, md: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).

2. John May, The Accomplisht Cook, Or The Art & Mystery of Cookery (London: printed for Obadiah Blagrave, 1685; repr., Prospect Books, 2000).

3. Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English Housekeeper (Manchester: Printed by J. Harrop for the author, 1769; repr., Southover Press, 1997).

4. Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy (London: 1747; repr., Prospect Books, 1983).

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Wedding Cake: A Slice of History | Carol Wilson

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Since antiquity, weddings customarily have been celebrated with a special cake. Ancient Roman wedding ceremonies were finalized by breaking a cake of wheat or barley ( mustaceum) over the bride's head as a symbol of good fortune. The newly married couple then ate a few crumbs in a custom known as confarreatio-eating together.

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The wedding Cake is in this PDF.

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The History of the Wedding Cake and Cake Toppers

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So when you think of your wedding, think of the wedding cake, or vice versa, to make the occasion a memorable one. And remember, you can eat your cake, and have it too!

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The ritual of the wedding cake in Britain can be traced back to medieval times, when it would have been made of wheat and, bizarrely, thrown at the bride as a symbol of fertility.

It also wasn't just cake that was eaten after the ceremony. All the baked goods, which included scones and biscuits, were piled high (the higher the better) and the couple attempted to kiss over the mound. If they managed it without toppling the pile they were assured a lifetime of prosperity.

In the 1600s, a visiting French chef was quite appalled by the uncouth piling ritual and recommended a more stable stacking system instead, using sawn off broom handles. However this more elegant use of tiers didn't catch on until later.

In the 17th century "bride pie" became popular, which varied from sweet breads to mince pies or even mutton pie. Within it was a glass ring which was used in a similar way to the bouquet today: whichever woman found it was meant to become the next bride. For those less affluent families, this pie might have formed the centrepiece.

The popularity of tiered wedding cakes came, legend has it, as a result of a baker's apprentice in late 18th-century London. The story goes that William Rich set up as an apprentice in Ludgate hill and fell in love with his boss's daughter. When he asked her to marry him he wanted to impress her with a large, beautiful cake and his inspiration came from the spire of St Bride's church. However, there are no surviving records of this cake.

It was the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840 that really set the fashion for weddings - the dresses and cakes both became big and white as a norm. Sugar was now cheaper and it became much easier for working class families to imitate the weddings of the rich.

But of course this affluence couldn't last, and wartime rationing rather limited wedding cake options. During the Second World War there were strict rations so cakes were much smaller. The average person would have probably had some ingredients donated from friends and relations. Others used deceptive tricks so their cakes looked the part. Gravy browning made fruit cakes look richer or cardboard cakes were rented and the real, smaller cake was concealed inside.

- The Great British Wedding Cake is on tonight, April 20, on BBC Two at 8.00pm

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The ritual of the wedding cake in Britain can be traced back to medieval times, when it would have been made of wheat and, bizarrely, thrown at the bride as a symbol of fertility. It also wasn't just cake that was eaten after the ceremony.