Whenever my mother attends a wedding, the first thing she reports back on is the quality of the cake. She might also casually mention that the groom didn’t show up, or that the church burned down, but ultimately those small details are irrelevant—it’s the cake that matters. She can still recall her favorites from over the years, looking back most fondly on those events where she was able to slip a few extra slices into a box and bring them home for later.
Given that she’s such a cake connoisseur, it was no surprise that when I got engaged myself, one of the first questions she asked was, “Where will we get the cake?!” She wasn’t just excited about the towering wedding cake; her joy extended to the less celebrated, but no less important, groom’s cake, a wedding tradition that I had no idea even existed.
A Sweet Souvenir
The groom’s cake most likely originated in eighteenth-century England, when fruitcake was the dessert traditionally served at weddings. These cakes, often made with marzipan, dried fruit, and nuts and soaked in liqueur or brandy, were less expensive and stayed fresh longer than flour cakes, especially before modern refrigeration. Slices of cake were usually packaged and sent home with the guests, especially unmarried female guests, since they often put a piece of cake under their pillow at night to elicit dreams of their future husbands. Some couples also opted to save part of their cake to eat at their first child’s christening (or their first anniversary), and eventually wedding hosts began serving one large cake for guests to eat immediately and a smaller cake that could serve any of these traditional purposes.
In the Victorian era, when ubiquitous pomp and extravagance made expensive, towering white-flour confections all the rage, the humble and traditional fruitcake was still served alongside the showy white “bride’s cake” as a counterpoint, earning it the nickname “groom’s cake.”
Fruitcake may have fallen out of favor, but many people (especially those in the South) still serve a groom’s cake that contrasts with the style and the taste of the traditional wedding cake. Whereas wedding cake is typically a fluffy vanilla or lemon flavor, a groom’s cake is usually a darker cake, such as chocolate, devil’s food, or red velvet, and often still features fruit, nuts, or liqueur. Cheesecake, pie, and other desserts are also occasionally served as a groom’s cake.
