First anniversary wedding cake traditions

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"During my research - and yes, believe it or not, this was researched - I looked into the three key elements of a wedding day: first, the aisle, the longest walk ..."

A couple normally celebrates the first wedding anniversary in an intimate manner. Other couples decide to throw a party to celebrate. Regardless of the way you decide to commemorate this anniversary, the wedding cake plays a role in the celebrations. It helps you think back to the moment a year ago, when you both cut the wedding cake together. The custom of using a slice of wedding cake a year later is an old tradition.

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1. Top Layer

   • Traditionally, a wedding cake was a simple one-layer cake with icing. Multi-layered cakes were made for royalties, but were not proper layered cakes since the upper layer was made of spun sugar. Once the problem of preventing the upper layer from collapsing was solved, real layered cakes became popular. The introduction of a layered cake began a tradition to save the upper layer, and to eat it on the first anniversary.

   Christening Ceremonies

   • Saving the top layer as a memory of that special wedding moment is a custom that began in the 19th century. Multi-layered wedding cakes were extravagant and the couples justified their decision by saying the bottom tier was for the reception, the middle tier for sharing and the top for Christening. It was simple to justify the middle layer since it was customary to send a portion of the cake to people who could not attend the wedding. The top layer became linked to another celebration -- it was assumed that the Christening of the honeymoon baby would occur around their first wedding anniversary. Traditionally, Christening ceremonies were held within the first few weeks after the child was born.

   First Anniversary

   • The idea of saving a piece of cake turned into a tradition that the cake could be eaten on the first anniversary. Traditionally, the top layer was made of fruitcake, which could mature in taste to the Christening ceremony. Fruitcake needs time to mature and the flavors intensify and develop with time. A fruitcake can be left to mature for up to a year and this worked well with the new idea to save the cake for the first anniversary.

   Happy Memories

   • Both the groom and bride cut the wedding cake, and this makes the cake filled with happy memories of the wedding. The tradition to remember this special day when you started life together, by eating the intact top tier of the wedding cake, has developed from a way of celebrating two occasions with the same cake. Today, many couples ask the bakery to make a new cake in the style of their wedding cake to celebrate their first anniversary and to remember their promise to provide for each other.

Source: www.ehow.com

Tags: wedding cake, anniversary wedding, anniversary wedding cake, first anniversary, upper layer, anniversary Traditionally, cake traditions