The Groom’s Cake

Here’s a hot trend for 2012 about which I knew nothing. The tradition hails from the American south when, during the Colonial and Victorian times, the wedding cake was considered too ‘light’ for the taste of men, hence a second cake arrived on the scene that was usually steeped in liquor and filled with fruit.

Today’s groom cake goes one step further. It is usually chocolate cake and shaped in some macho form, typically signifying the groom’s favourite sport or hobby. It’s the bride’s way of recognising the groom on the day, even if it’s usually smaller than the main wedding cake.

When the royal wedding between William and Kate broke with British tradition and introduced the groom’s cake to the UK, the rest of the world sat up and noticed. William’s cake was apparently an old family favourite made of McVite’s Rich Tea biscuits and chocolate (despite its obvious Britishness, the Americans laid claim to the ‘cookie cake’ immediately).

Expect that the groom’s cake makes an appearance on the South African scene, if it hasn’t already (the cake apparently appears in the movie Steel Magnolias for those of you who like me are saying ‘huh?’).

The groom’s cake is usually a surprise for the groom and traditionally not served at the reception. But these days it can even be served at the rehearsal dinner or as an additional dessert at the wedding reception. If at the reception it’s usually cut only once the ties are off and the music’s loud.

And it comes in all shapes and sizes, from golf clubs to fishing gear, smart phones or even the type of late-night food men tend to favour – burgers, pizza and hot dogs.

It is usually boxed up for guests to take home with them, the idea being that unmarried woman at the wedding then sleep with a slice beneath their pillows in a bid to find the one they love.