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Cultural Wedding Cakes Across the Globe

French Wedding Cakes

In France, the wedding cake tradition is done a little differently. Instead of solid boxes of frosted wedding cake, they like to celebrate their receptions with a towering concoction of croquembouche. This French term means “crunchy” and “for the mouth.” They are actually small round-shaped puffs filled with pastry cream and covered in a layer of caramelized sugar, lending to it's golden coloring. After the cream puffs are piled together, a lightly spun web of caramelized sugar is wrapped around the outside, holding it all together. The tradition of serving croquembouche began in medieval times by French nobility, and is utilized for christenings, baptisms and weddings.

German Wedding Cakes

German tradition denotes a few different styles, more like American wedding cakes but still carry with an element of the Old World. One of their more popular concoctions is the Lutz, or “Tree Cake,” made up of a heap of almond sponge cakes which are baked with successive layers until a replication similar to that of a tree trunk is created. The ingredients call for toasted almonds, orange peel, citrus, and raisins which is then soaked in rum. The Lutz has been a German cake tradition since the late 18th century, introduced by the Lutz family in 1790.

Denmark Wedding Cakes

The Denmark wedding cake, is slightly reminiscent of the German wedding cake in that it's comprised primarily of almonds, pasturage, and marzipan. Many refer to it as the cornucopia cake, as it's modeled with after the Horn of Plenty. The Danish typically adorn their cakes with sugarpaste flowers and birds, and fill the inside with fresh fruit, almond paste and candy.

Bermuda Wedding Cakes

The islands like to enhance their wedding cakes with a little touch of the home that they love so much. They'll do this by topping their wedding cakes with a small sapling, prior to planting it in the ground. The act of planting the sapling is symbolic of the lifelong union that the bride and groom are making, the growing of the tree represents their ever-growing and ever-changing life together.

Iceland Wedding Cakes

This is another country which likes to employ the use of almond paste into the wedding confections. Their wedding cakes are called kransakaka, created by producing rings of almond pastries which are arranged in the shape of a polyhedron, and then surrounded by white icing. In the middle of the pile, they place ornamental candies and chocolate delicacies.

Lithuanian Wedding Cakes

Lithuania is home to perhaps one of the strangest-looking wedding cakes in the world. The shape is difficult to describe; it's somewhat evocative of a coral reef combined with a pine tree. The natives refer to the wedding cake as shakotis; translation: “tree cake.” They achieve the unusual contour by cooking the cake on a revolving spit over a fire. The end result is one in which the taste is not very sweet, but sweet enough to satisfy a wide variety of palettes. The texture is light and fluffy, similar to that of a traditional funnel cake. It's consistency and flavor is highly nomadic and is popularly used to accompany puddings, coffees, and teas.

Norwegian Wedding Cakes

In Norway, they carry out the nuptial affairs without the assistance of sugary comfits. Their layered “wedding cake” is referred to as brudlaupskling, and is actually a stack of floury bread, covered in syrup, cheese and cream.