what kind of cake is the traditional wedding cake (plain white w/o filling?, white cake w/?filling?)?

Question

My future mother in law is making our cake- and she did a practice one the other day- it was yellow cake w/ apricot filling, and sweet cream (i think) homemade frosting. It was alright- but didnt taste special like i think (or thought) a wedding cake should be. What is the traditional ingredients for a weddding cake?

Answer 1

There are NO traditional ingredients, however if your mother-in-law is not a professional, I would suggest she abstain from making the actual wedding cake. These are very tricky to get right and take a lot of practice (more than just one), and this is your special day. You might want to go with a professional bakery since this is your special day, unless of course this is going to create a brouhaha. Suggest she make a shower cake or a cake for the rehearsal dinner. Trust me on this one.

Answer 2

Well, the tradition of the wedding cake dates back to Roman times when a wheat cake was broken over the heads of the bride and groom.

I doubt you want to worry about that ;)

The truth is that wedding cake traditions vary from culture to culture. And, maybe more importantly, expectations for the actual taste of the cake don't tend to be very high. Certainly, guests don't have a particular flavor in mind when they think of wedding cake.

Here's my advice: Decide what is more important to you, TASTE or APPEARANCE? I'm not saying you have to sacrifice one for the other, but it will give you a place to start.

If your priority is taste, then let that guide you. You said your future mominlaw's cake tasted "alright." What would you improve? Would you like it to be more moist? Would you prefer a different filling? Again, there is NO strictly traditional wedding cake.

If your priority is appearance, then you will probably want fondant icing (which has been popular in recent years). It has a nice appearance but doesn't taste very good. And, to be frank, the icing makes or breaks the flavor of he cake. Also, make sure she has made a cake like this before and knows how to refrigerate it and assemble it. Multi-tier cakes usually need to stay refrigerated until right before the reception or they may topple.

Good luck and don't stress! Lots of people don't even do cakes anymore! They serve dessert or do a candy buffet or donuts or a tower of cupcakes or whatever they can think up! A dessert or flavor that has significance to you and the groom will be much more fun for the guests.

Answer 3

I don't know how special it would taste to have a traditional wedding cake :) They are normally very dry- like a pound cake. This allows them to stack them up easily and the filling is basically to take away from the dryness... The frosting is normally buttercream.
You could always make an appointment with a baker and do a cake testing.. it's free and doesn't cost you anything.

Answer 4

Do you mean buttercream frosting?
White cake with a fruit filling is very traditional. Buttercream is very traditional.
I am a cake decorator, and I offer about 15 different flavors. About 50% of folks pick at least one tier being a white cake. As far as your cake not tasting special, are you slightly biased because it's not a bakery-bought cake? Not an insult, just curious.
Other traditional flavors: marble, pound, yellow. A few less traditional flavors: champagne, mocha, red velvet, lemon poppyseed, strawberry, raspberry buttermilk, chocolate mint.
Buttercream goes with almost every flavor of cake, and most people like it.
Contact me if you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.

Answer 5

The "traditional" wedding cake depends on your heritage/culture. If you aren't sure of your background, then your options are wide open as far as tradition is concerned! So, go with what tastes good to you and what you think will fit your special day! You don't have to do what everyone else is doing... but you will see a lot of brides with a white cake and buttercream icing w/ perhaps a hint of almond flavor!

Answer 6

Traditional wedding cake should be a white cake with white frosting (rich home made).

Here's an AWESOME frosting recipe. (double it up as needed for larger cake).

1 lb. confectioners sugar
1/2 c. shortening
2-3 T. Milk

Blend with electric mixer. Mis on high with electric mixer for 3-5 minutes to make it extra fluffy. Adjust milk amount for thin or thick frosting. Thicker for decorating. If you want a vanilla flavor to this then buy CLEAR vanilla extract and add 1 tsp. per 1lb. of confectioners sugar.

I uset his recipe all the time, and I used it on my own wedding cake. It's a really great recipe that I made myself.

Answer 7

does your cake have to be traditional? why not choose a cake based on what you want it to look & taste like, not going by what tradition states? mine looked traditional on the outside with the white buttercream frosting, but each of the 4 tiers was a different flavor & filling. i had chocolate, marble, strawberry & rasberry. it tasted great & was a little different than the average cake with 1 flavor throughout.

Answer 8

My best friend made my wedding cake. I had a 3 tier heart shaped cake. All three layers were yellow cake with white icing. It tasted great. Good luck with your wedding!

Answer 9

I think it just kinda of depends on your taste, if you were not fully pleased with it then mention it to your soon to be mother in law...I think my cake was just a simple cake with no filling, another problem with the filling is people may have allergies that may be a reason to not have filling if you were not thrilled with it

Answer 10

I knew a professional who used Duncan Hines cake mix.....only by the barrel.
It's usually the frosting that gives the special taste you're looking for.
Here is a link to a local store, here. It is absolutely fabulous. Check it out. It should be able to tell you anything you want to know.


http://www.sugarcraft.com/main.html