Groom's Cakes

Although the groom's cake may seem like a somewhat recent wedding tradition, it actually dates back to the 17th century, and even though it was lost along the way, it's back on the wedding bandwagon to stay. 

Back in the 17th century, grooms cakes were traditionally darker un-iced cakes that often included fruits or nuts and were sometimes liquor soaked to preserve freshness and longevity. 

The groom cake comeback came in the south, where it began to pop up in many traditional southern weddings. Today, grooms cakes often still reflect some of the original past traditions. They are often dark in color and are opposite of the traditional wedding cake designs which are light and flowery. Traditional grooms cakes might include fruit, nuts, caramel, and darker, richer ingredients like dark chocolate and hazelnut. 

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As far as the decoration goes, brides have become more creative over the years and have designed grooms cakes after their new hubby's hobbies or interests to make him a cake that is uniquely his. The grooms cake is supposed to be a special gift from the bride to the groom, so you should work to make it as personal as possible. Think about his favorite things- favorite musician, favorite movie, favorite sports car, sports he plays, his pet dog- anything really goes!

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Thinking of the perfect groom's cake design is the hard part, picking where to serve it is easy. The two main options are to serve the groom's cake as dessert during the rehearsal dinner or to serve it as a secondary dessert during your wedding reception. 

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Serving the groom's cake at the rehearsal dinner is actually quite fitting, since the groom's family usually hosts that event. However, if you serve the cake at the wedding, it can be a great secondary dessert item and is perfect to wrap up for guests to take home at the end of the night. 

As legend goes, single female guests as the wedding are supposed to take a piece of the cake home and sleep with it under their pillows, allowing them to dream about the man they will eventually marry. And for those guests that are taken, well, I suppose they can just dream about the delicious piece of cake they just ate.

-Caitlin