Wedding Cakes Around the Globe

The wedding cake, aside from the bride, rightfully deserves its place on center stage for what it symbolizes for the bride and groom.
White stacked tiers, intricately decorated with flowers, fruits or fancy frosting, the cake symbolizes good fortune, purity, and also, the sweetness of the bride's and groom's union as husband and wife.

The tradition of the wedding cake varies for different people around the globe. How it evolved to be the wedding cake as we know it today, has different beginnings depending on what the people believed would ensure a lasting marriage, and also the availability and abundance of ingredients for this confection.

Here's a roundup of our favorite wedding cake traditions.

British Isles
Even though the Americanized version of the wedding cake originated in Europe, many different countries in the region practice their own traditions. In Britain, for example, a fanciful fruitcake takes center stage: cognac-soaked dates, prunes, raisins, currants, and orange peel are combined in a moist cake, which can be covered in marzipan, brandy butter, or fondant.
Fruitcakes are also popular in Ireland and Scotland, where the -heady, three-tiered concoction is laced with bourbon, brandy, or whiskey and each layer is spread with almond paste.

Northern Europe
Shying away from cake altogether, Norwegians serve brudlaupskling, a type of wedding bread first developed when white flour was a rarity on farms in Norway. Any food containing wheat was highly prized, so the wedding bread was considered a true treat. Topped with cheese, cream, and syrup, this unique bread is folded over and cut into small squares.
The Danish are known to feast upon cornucopia cake. Made of almond cake and marzipan, the ring-shaped confection is decorated with pastilage and filled in the center with candy, almond cakes, fresh fruit, or sorbet. Sometimes marzipan portraits of the bride and groom are attached to the outside of the cake.
Icelanders enjoy kransakaka. Made up of ring-shaped almond pastries piled on top of one another to form a pyramid, the hollow center of the tower is filled with fine chocolates or candies.

Central Europe
Though American-style wedding cakes are slowly infiltrating Europe, countries such as Germany are hanging on to their own traditions. A rich nut or genoise sponge cake is a popular choice, laced with liqueur or syrup and usually filled with jam, spread with marzipan or nougat, and covered in fondant or ganache. Using artificial coloring is a major faux pas.
And though the French have tried to stake their claim in inventing
the wedding cake as we know it today, their croquembouche is nothing to sneeze at--these delectable, cream-filled pastries are coated in caramel and formed into a tall pyramid.

Eastern Europe
Now here's an interesting twist on the wedding cake: a cookie-like pastry shaped into a Christmas tree.
It's the lucky Lithuanians who enjoy this delicacy. Baked to a sunny yellow hue, the pastry (called a sakotis) displays fresh flowers and herbs protruding from the top peak.
Ukrainian couples share a type of wedding bread known as Korovai. Decorated with designs representing eternity and the joining of the two families, the bread is considered a sacred part of the wedding feast.

The Mediterranean
No Italian wedding would be complete with out zuppa inglese. Scrumptiously filled with chocolate custard, vanilla custard, rum cream and fruit, tiers of pound cake are elaborately trimmed with flower blooms of royal icing.
The traditional rendition of a Greek wedding cake consists of honey, sesame seed, and quince, which is said to symbolize the couple's enduring commitment to each other. Sourdough wedding bread decorated with beads and blossoms is also a traditional treat. These days, most Greek couples prefer a flourless almond cake, which is filled with vanilla custard and fruit, and covered in sliced almonds.