There are so many different options and choices available to us today. We can contact people by traditional phone, smart phone, regular cell phone, email, or regular mail. If we want to get somewhere we can drive a car, take a bus, ride a bike, or stroll along. Given all the options available to us today, it’s only natural that this variety should work its way into one of our most cherished traditions…that of the wedding cake. Selecting the flavor of the cake and the color of the icing is just getting started. You will need to take some time to choose the best wedding cake topper for your special cake. In this article we will be examining the world of the wedding cake, providing some background details on the tradition, and working on up to the selection process of the perfect topper for that very special wedding cake.
The wedding cake is usually strategically displayed during the wedding reception. Often towering into the heavens, it competes with the bride as the “center of attention” on her big day. This special work of art establishes a focal point that the other aspects of the reception will revolve around. For those who prefer a bit of the dramatic, the wedding cake can be wheeled in at the end of the wedding reception for a “grand entrance” for everyone to see. To many people this grand entrance will trigger the memories of the bride who walked down the aisle earlier in the day.
The Beginning
The wedding cake has evolved with the passing of time. In the beginning it was a simple symbol of fertility, but it has transformed itself into an artistic tradition with many different artistic interpretations. For many people in the ancient world, wheat was a symbol of both fertility and a bountiful harvest. The Ancient Romans used to throw grains of wheat at the bride and groom as a symbolic “fertility wish” to the new couple during their wedding. This custom eventually evolved into bringing little wheat cakes to the wedding banquet itself. People would crumble this cake over the head of the bride to wish the couple “many children”. The fallen crumbs would then be eaten by the guests as a symbol of sharing in the couple’s good fortune.
Did you know that this “crumbling of the cake” over the bride’s head might have evolved into another wedding day tradition? Do you know what that tradition is? In order to shield the hapless bride from the shower that is to come, bridesmaids eventually draped a cloth over her head before the “crumbling tradition” took place. Many believe that this simple cloth evolved into the modern day wedding veil.
Welcome The Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages buns or sweet rolls had replaced the original wheat cakes, but it was still very customary for guests to bring these tasty treats to the wedding. Placed in a huge pile between the bride and groom, if the happy couple was able to kiss over this huge stack of wheat, it was believed that they would be blessed with many children.
Many believe that the next step in the evolution of the traditional cake was performed in the 17th century by a French pastry chef. While on a trip to London he happened to observe this “cake piling” ceremony. Upon his subsequent return to France he coated the stack of buns with sugar, and thereby “cemented” them together into one very tasty art form. This was to become the first rendition of the tiered and frosted wedding cake, and a mere forerunner as to what was to come in the years ahead.
The Classic Style
You are probably familiar with the classic style of the modern day wedding cake. It’s the one with the distinctive design of smaller tiers as the cake builds vertically? Here’s a bit of trivia for you. It is believed that this model was inspired by the spire of the 14th century Saint Bride’s church in London.
Many of today’s valued wedding traditions came from Victorian England. Queen Victoria herself is said to have had a cake that weighed in at 300 lbs. As bakers and confectioners became more skillful and daring, their creations became even more elaborate and daring. When England’s Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip were married in 1947, their wedding cake weighed in at a whopping 500 lbs, and was 9 feet tall.
Our Version Today
Long gone are the days when the elaborate wedding cake was reserved for only the rich and famous. Today every couple can share in the tradition by having a fantastic wedding cake added to their big day. The wedding cake designers of today have taken their art form to towering heights…pardon the pun. Long gone are those boring and bland days when you were limited to a regular white cake with regular white frosting. Although a white cake will likely always be the most popular (due to its traditional meaning), today’s couple is limited only by the limits of their mind and budget when it comes to their wedding cake.
Why White?
White is definitely the color of a wedding, but did you know that there is another reason why the white is the customary color of a wedding cake? Back in Victorian times the finer ingredients of a wedding cake were scarce and hard to come by. If the cake had a white icing, this revealed the fact that only the best and most expensive white sugar was being used. Brown sugar was much more common, and therefore much less expensive. So, the more white the cake, the richer the people.
Plan Ahead
Don’t leave your special wedding cake until the last minute. This is one of the most important things that you can remember. Whether you choose the baker down the road, a talented family member, or a pastry chef who specializes in these tasty masterpieces, if you plan well in advance you will be able to handle whatever obstacles might come your way. Some bakers require only a minimum notice, while many bakers are booked far in advance. It’s a shame to have that perfect cake of your dreams be “cancelled” due to the fact you cannot allocate a baker’s time.
What if you have no idea who will be baking your wedding cake? If you don’t have a particular baker in mind, you have a bit of homework to do. Shop around and get some recommendations from family and friends. Investigate the yellow pages and the internet as they are both valuable informational resources. If you happen to be surfing the web you will find that many bakers today are posting photos of some of their masterpieces. As a sort of masterpiece gallery, they showcase what they are capable of producing, and this will jog your imagination as to what you would like your own wedding cake to look like.
Don’t Forget Your Budget
Don’t forget your budget. Be sure to be mindful of your wallet before you let your imagination get the best of you. You want your wedding day to be one of celebration, not the day that you started your spiral into debt. Many people are surprised at the high cost of a wedding cake these days. Keep in mind that you are asking a bakery artisan to create a colorful masterpiece for you, and this can often be reflected in the price that he/she will be asking. Although the cost of labor is often the largest expense in the creation of a wedding cake, keep in mind the simple fact that fondant is more expensive than buttercream.
Have you thought about the staging of your masterpiece? Be sure to take the wedding cake stand into consideration during your planning phase. While some wedding cakes can be simply placed on flat boards (that will not be seen by the general public), others are elaborately displayed on beautiful stands for everyone to see. Keep in mind the simple fact that actual size of the table must be in proportion to the actual size of the cake. A table that is too small will make the cake look way too big, while a table that is too large will make it look like a mere cupcake. And before we forget, your cake table will need a beautiful covering (to compliment its strategic location at the wedding reception). Oh, and don’t forget the cake knife and cake server. There needs to be a place on the table for these two items as well.
Enter the Wedding Cake Topper
The topper “tops off” your special wedding cake. The “wedding cake topper” is the name for the elegant decoration or figure that sits atop a wedding cake. While it is true that some couples prefer to have the simple style of an unadorned cake, many prefer to have that final “crowning touch”, the wedding cake topper, sitting on top of the upper layer of the cake. In today’s world the simple plastic “bride and groom” of yesteryear has more likely been replaced by the classic porcelain figurine of today.
So what types of wedding cake toppers are available to us today? We’re glad you asked. Many different types of figures are available. They range from the classic poses to figurines depicting some of the potentially “humorous” aspects of the wedding. For example, a bride dragging the hapless groom back to the altar. Personalized wedding cake toppers are also popular these days, while niche toppers such as a “marine marriage” have their place as well.
In Conclusion
We have so much information to provide, but there is only so much detail that one can go into in a single web article. If you would like to learn more about wedding cakes (and wedding cake toppers) please come and visit us on our blog.
For more information on wedding cake toppers, check out: special wedding cake toppers. If you would like to find some great dinner sets, then dinner set review has a lot of information and a nice selection.
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