Wedding Cakes

French Wedding Cakes

During the medieval and Renaissance the bride’s dress were actually more elaborate versions of contemporary dresses and lacked any distinct color. The bride’s best dress was transformed into a wedding dress, adorned with jewels, embroidery, lace and small details such as bows, tassels, ribbons or sequins. In fact, until the 19th century, the brides worn any color at their wedding, even black ,particularly if their future husband was a widower . In the biblical tradition the white color symbolizes happiness, purity and blue.

The Bridal trousseau:

Trousseau is a French term that refers to the set of sheets and clothes. A trousseau containing clothes to be worn on Sundays, everyday dresses, lingerie and linens embroidered that the future bride has prepared them for future family life. According to the French tradition, a wedding cabinet, known as the lucky trunk is used for the bride’s trousseau. This is engraved by tje bride’s father with symbols of wealth and prosperity and it is given to her while she is still a teenager. During the eighteenth-century the wedding cabinets were made by craftsmen and offered to the bride and groom as a wedding gift.
The Wedding ceremony:

In the church filled with the smell of incense and flowers, the couple sitting under a canopy. A square piece of silk called Carre is held over the heads of the bride and groom while they receive the final blessings. After leaving the church, over the couple is throwing rice or wheat as a sign of prosperity and fertility. On their way out of the church, the couple walks through an archway of flowers or walk on the bay leaves.

The Wedding Reception:

In the Middle Ages, the wedding guests brought small cakes, were a lot more high and put them in the center of the table. This was made instead of what we know as a real wedding cake. If the bride and groom could kiss over the pile of cakes made without ruin it, then they had to lead a prosperous life. The wedding cake, known as “the picce montee” was invented by a French chef in the XVII th century. The french wedding cake is made up of small donuts stuffed with cream and covered with pyramid placed caramel or burnt sugar frosting. At the reception the bride and groom drink from an engraved cup (the coupe de marriage) with two handles, usually a precious family succession offered from generation to generation.

French wedding cakes have a peculiar word that best defines them as “croquembouche”, which comes from the word frantusesc ” Croquant “meaning crunchy and” bouche “from the mouth. The wedding cakes are generally made in the form of cones, consisting of several donuts filled with cream, which are wrapped in a net sugar icing, and then they dress it , then is decorated with marzipan roses that are made in the laboratory, petal by petal. Another way to decorate the french weding cake is to cover it with a white chocolate glaze that can be also golden.

Croquembouche’s model is the most common french wedding cake at weddings, baptisms and other family reunions in France. The recipe dates back to medieval times, exactly they were associated to the tables of kings and nobles of those times. The french wedding cake is impressive enough to be placed alone without any ornaments or decorations on the table.