Groom's cake has a long and colorful history in the U.S. and here you will find some of the lore I've learned in my years as a wedding cake designer.

Most of our wedding cake traditions originate in England where wedding cake was, and often still is, a type of fruitcake covered with a very smooth fondant or marzipan icing. Guests are only offered a small slice of wedding cake since this type of cake is very rich, full of nuts and candied fruits. Fruitcake was the traditional wedding cake in our country as well up until about the middle of the nineteenth century.

When the Industrial Age evolved in America people of polite society vied with each other to display their newfound wealth. What better way to show off than by serving a WHITE cake made with the more refined (and more expensive!) WHITE flour and WHITE sugar. Using egg WHITES and discarding the yolks along with WHITE milk produced a true WHITE cake for a daughter's wedding. Smothered in a boiled WHITE sugar and egg WHITE icing the all American WHITE wedding cake was the perfect accompaniment to that never-to-be-worn-again WHITE dress.

Still, many of the society matrons demanded their fruitcake wedding cake and so the Groom's Cake came into vogue. Groom's cake was fruitcake right up until the 1970's and a slice was often sent home with guests in a small box tied up with a satin bow. Eventually most people admitted that they really didn't care for fruitcake and the Groom's cake became a chocolate cake. In the last thirty years brides have asked for chocolate and other flavors for the wedding cake and unless additional servings are required to feed all of the guests, no groom's cake is needed.

More recently Groom's cake has been used to make a humorous statement at the rehearsal dinner or at the wedding reception. Most brides think of the "armadillo cake" from Steel Magnolias in this light. I have been asked to produce cakes that look like fish or are covered with chocolate cigars. I have done college and professional sports logos and even been asked to put an eight point buck on a groom's cake. I have also made sheet cakes that are lovely and match the decor of the wedding cake. The choice is yours.

Below are some pictures of Groom's cakes and sheet cakes for extra servings I have made.