Food - Drink
The Victorian-Era Symbolism Behind White-Frosted Wedding Cakes
By JOHN J LEE
A wedding cake can be as colorful and unique as the couple getting married, but most traditional wedding cakes are covered in white frosting. White wedding cakes first appeared in England during the 18th century and took off during the Victorian era, and surprisingly, the popularity of the color had a lot to do with money.
You may have heard that white wedding dresses gained popularity because the color represents purity, and while white cakes can have a similar meaning, they symbolized much more in 18th-century England. At the time, refined white sugar was rare and expensive, so a pristine white wedding cake was a status symbol for wealthier citizens.
Queen Victoria's wedding cake stood at 14 inches tall, 10 feet across, and a whopping 300 pounds, with every inch decorated with ornate white icing. Today, many weddings aren't exactly centered around an old-fashioned idea of purity, and white sugar is an affordable staple for many, but white wedding cakes have never gone out of style.