Wedding is a tradition followed in almost all cultures of the world. The diverse rituals and customs associated with the weddings make them interesting and worth-mentioning. One of the nicest wedding customs is the French wedding cake.
This is an age-old custom and has been subject to many changes. Yet French wedding cakes as a wedding ritual is very popular in the United States and the European countries.
The wedding cake differs in size, shape and design. Sometimes the change is related with the wedding traditions and beliefs of various cultures. In England the wedding cake is a multi-tiered extravaganza baked in different delicious flavors.
Norwegian wedding cakes are breads baked in syrup and cream. Cornucopia, the wedding cakes of Denmark are marzipan rings which are filled with fruits, sweets, nuts and almonds. The french cakes, the stunning croquembouche are slightly different in shapes. They are tall cone-like structures which look like a Christmas tree.
The origin of french wedding cake dates back to the medieval tables of the french royalty and nobility. In the Middle ages, wedding cakes were like some sweet buns which were stacked upon each other in order to form a huge pile. The bride and the groom had to kiss successfully over the huge pile. It was believed the kissing would bring them children in their future. Probably, the french wedding cakes have roots in this tradition.
Croquembouche (pronounced as ‘crow-come-bush’) comes from the french words “croquant” meaning crunchy and “bouche” which means mouth. French ‘Croquembouche’ roughly means “cracks in your mouth”. A Croquembouche is a cone of cream puffs filled with French pastry cream. Coated with caramelized sugar and decorated with elegant marzipan roses made petal by petal, these are very popular in french wedding. These are also used in communions and other special occasions. The croquembouche is often the dessert at a French wedding, baptism, christening, and other family gatherings.
A typical Croquembouche consists of cream puffs filled with a pastry cream. Each puff is coated with a thin crisp crust of hard-crack sugar (not heavy caramelized sugar) as a traditional croquembouche should be; the entire form is then surrounded by a golden webbing of spun, lightly caramelized sugar. The use of caramel is very important in baking french cake. Because it holds the cream puffs together and gives the look of a cone.
More About French Wedding Cakes
Today the various innovations done in the field of cake baking have led to novelty as regards the flavor of the french wedding cakes. If you do not like the traditional French cakes, you can opt for French vanilla chocolate, French vanilla marble. Thus you can have an unique french wedding cake with white chocolate coating drizzled with french vanilla chocolate and brushed with 24 carat gold. You can have a Creme Patissiere of flavors like Vanilla, Pear, Chocolate, and Coffee. If your guests like fruit flavored cake, you can tell the baker to mix some of your favorite flavors. Thus you will have a mixed-fruit flavored Croquembouche.
Croquembouche is decorative enough to be a centerpiece, and small enough to be suitable at even small dinners. A french cake looks like colored pyramid or tower. It is wise not to decorate the cakes with too much of accessories. If you do so, the cake might appear as a decor item and not appealing enough to savor it. Icing, like white icing can be used for decoration.
Other articles like small candy ribbons, sugar flowers, etc. will ornament the cake in a decent way. A beautiful idea would be to tuck small fresh flowers on the body of the cake. You can use Vintage cake toppers, which are specially made in france for the french wedding cakes.
Conclusion
Like other wedding cakes, french cakes are very popular as they have an unique look. Croquembouche is also popular in the United States. A wedding cake is a very significant and meaningful tradition which mesmerizes the wedding celebration. And with a french wedding cake, the wedding becomes all the more beautiful and memorable.
Here are some beautiful pictures of french wedding cake. Just cast a glance and choose your own wedding cake.
