10 Traditional Wedding Cakes Served Around the World

In search of the perfect wedding day dessert? Get inspired by 10 traditional wedding cake ideas from different countries & cultures around the world!

 

Traditional wedding cake trends are back! Although the last few years have seen plenty of alternatives to wedding cakes – donut towers, wedding pies, custom cupcakes and macarons, fruit tarts and make-your-own s’mores bars – many couples are returning to old-fashioned wedding cakes infused with cultural significance.

 

Why the shift? Maybe it was the massive Italian millefoglie layer cake at Millie Bobby Brown’s wedding last fall that tipped the kitchen scale back to the classics. Or our growing appreciation for multicultural wedding traditions and personalized celebrations. Or, sometimes, that’s just how wedding trends work – like a delicious pendulum swinging from one sweet treat to another.

 

Related: New Photo of Matthew Modine Officiating Millie Bobby Brown’s Second Wedding!

 

However you slice it, we’re loving this return to local flavors, symbolic ingredients, and traditional presentations! To celebrate this culinary revival, here’s a look at 10 traditional wedding cakes from cultures and countries around the world. 

 

 

Wedding fruitcake is a favorite tradition in several cultures, and is often served at Irish, English, and Australian weddings.

 

10 Cultural Wedding Cake Traditions for Your Big Day

 

1. Traditional Irish Wedding Cake: Fruitcake with Marzipan & Royal Icing

 

While modern Irish weddings serve a variety of wedding cakes and desserts, a traditional choice is fruitcake, often topped with marzipan and royal icing. (Some couples even include a layer of fruitcake within a larger wedding cake as a tasty nod to this tradition.)

 

Irish wedding fruitcake is more than just delicious, it’s also culturally significant! It’s served as a symbol of fertility, abundance, and good fortune – the perfect ingredients to start a successful new family. 

 

Fruit cake is a rich tasting dessert made with dried fruits, nuts, spices, and (sometimes) alcohol, and can be prepared months before a wedding and served at any time of day. This makes it a low-stress addition to your wedding brunch or reception!

 

More Irish Wedding Ideas: 5 Irish Wedding Traditions for an Inspired Ceremony

 

 

2. Traditional Italian Wedding Cake: Millefoglie Wedding Cake

 

Millie Bobby Brown brought this traditional Italian wedding cake to the nation’s attention last October, and we haven’t set our forks down since! A millefoglie cake is an elegant, epic, layered cake made of puff pastry and cream filling (pastry cream, whipped cream, mascarpone, zabaglione, or chocolate cream can all be used), and topped with fresh fruit and sliced nuts. The name ‘millefoglie’ literally means ‘a thousand layers.’ 

 

This classic wedding confection resembles a sheet cake with its low profile, often stretched decadently across a dessert table at the reception. Couples planning a truly luxurious experience on the big day can even have their millefoglie prepared while they and their guests watch – as skilled pastry chefs assemble each layer in front of them, one by one! 

 

More Italian Wedding Ideas: Italian Wedding Traditions - From Warding Off the Evil Eye at Your Ceremony to Dancing La Tarantella

 

 

See an exceptional example of the classic millefoglie nuziale (wedding millefoglie) below, prepared by the pastry chef at Pasticceria Dei, in Castelfiorentino FI, Italy, outside Florence.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Fabio Dei pasticciere (@fabiodeipasticciere)

 

 

3. Two Traditional German Wedding Cakes: Baumkuchen & Spitzwecken

 

We couldn’t choose just one traditional German wedding cake, and neither can the Germans! The two best known varieties are Baumkuchen and Spitzwecken. 

 

Baumkuchen ring cakes (or ‘tree cakes’) have been served at weddings in German-speaking cultures since the Middle Ages. In fact, an early recipe, which refers to the cake as ‘spießkuchen,’ is found in a German cookbook from 1581! These special cakes are made by pouring dozens of layers of batter onto a spit (a slowly rotating pole placed over a heat source). When the cake is cut open, each layer of perfectly-baked batter can be seen, resembling the rings of a tree. Baumkuchen are often covered in sweet white icing and make a meaningful addition to a German or multicultural wedding. 

 

A Spitzwecken wedding cake is a tremendously long cake, often measuring nearly 20 feet in length! (Yes, you read that right.) What makes this wedding cake tradition even more fun is its presentation – the cake is placed on a long wooden board and carried into the reception by a lively group of friends or relatives. These fun-loving pranksters will pretend the cake is too large to fit through the door, trying and retrying to make their way inside until finally bringing it in to serve the newlyweds.

 

See a photo of a 6-meter Spitzwecken below. That's nearly 20 feet long!

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bäckerei Bamler (@baeckerei_bamler)

 

 

4. Traditional French Wedding Cake: Croquembouche

 

The towering cream-filled pastry puffs of a traditional French croquembouche wedding cake will certainly make a memorable impression on your guests! This delicious cake is made from dozens of individually baked choux pastry puffs, a delicate puff with just a touch of crunch from thin layers of caramelized sugar, which stick together and help keep the cake keep it’s towering cone shape. Each puff is filled with rich pastry cream, and edible flowers and fruits can be placed in the sweet nooks and caramel crannies as colorful decorations.

 

The croquembouche has a storied past, and there are a few different ideas about how this unique cake got its start. Some people say that the cake was inspired by a Medieval wedding tradition in which townspeople would stack several small cakes for the bride and groom to kiss over, as a symbol of overcoming challenges in marriage. Others say that the cake was first inspired by the pastry chefs of Queen Catherine de' Medici, wife of King Henry II of France, who created the first choux pastries. And still others say the cake was first created by famed French chef Antonin Carême in the 1800s. Regardless of its origins, this cake has been a part of French weddings for centuries!

 

 

A stunning croquembouche with flowers made from pink and white icing. (Azurita / iStock)

 

 

5. Traditional Puerto Rican Wedding Cake: Guava Cake (Bizcocho de Queso y Guayaba) & Guava Piragua

 

The perfect traditional Puerto Rico wedding cake has to be Bizcocho de Queso y Guayaba – a moist sponge cake made with guava and cream cheese. This delicious local dessert has been home-baked for decades to serve at all kinds of special events and parties in the island paradise, including weddings.

 

This simple cake uses easy-to-find ingredients and local flavors, making it a great choice for an affordable Puerto Rican-inspired or multicultural wedding. And they’re so delicious you’ll probably want to bring two or three for your dessert table! Serve with a side of Guava Piragua shaved ice for an extra-special treat.

 

Read more: 5 Puerto Rican Wedding Traditions You’ll Love, On a Budget!

 

 

6. Traditional Chinese Wedding Cakes: Cantonese Twill Cakes

 

Traditional Chinese Wedding Cakes (of the Cantonese variety) are small, colorful round cakes served in batches of six or eight cakes. Known as ‘twill cakes,’ these confections come in red, yellow, and white – colors which symbolize good fortune, prosperity, and purity – were once given by the groom’s family as a blessing for a couple’s marriage. Now, either family might give away cakes to celebrate the engagement.

 

Each filling and flavor of Chinese twill cakes has special meaning too! Red twill cakes are made with a pink puff pastry and filled with sweet red bean paste, symbolizing love and good fortune. Yellow twill cakes are traditionally filled with a sweet, nutty tasting mung bean paste, and symbolize power and strength. White twill cakes are filled with a floral and nutty flavored lotus seed paste, and symbolize both purity and fertility.

 

Unlike the traditions in other cultures, these Cantonese / Chinese wedding cakes were typically given as gifts before the wedding day, rather than being served at the reception. (This is how they earned their original name of ‘dowry cakes.’) But these days, you’ll often see some version of twill cakes served at modern Chinese wedding receptions too! This makes twill cakes a perfect addition to the dessert table at a multicultural wedding to honor Chinese heritage.

 

More Chinese Wedding Ideas: Simple Guide to the Chinese Tea Ceremony Wedding Tradition

 

 

Traditional Chinese wedding cakes. (Photo via Kee Wah Bakery) 

 

 

7. Traditional Nigerian Wedding Cake

 

Traditional Nigerian wedding cakes are beautiful works of art – with multiple stacked tiers, ornate designs, colorful edible flourishes, and added adornments like flowers, ribbon, and custom cake toppers. They are deeply influenced by Nigeria’s colonial history and local flavors.

 

Like other wedding traditions from this culture, a Nigerian wedding cake is a symbol of not just two individuals joined in marriage, but two families coming together. They are a testament to a couple’s happiness, joy, and excitement for the future. A traditional Nigerian cake cutting ceremony is often ‘officiated’ by a close relative, who recites a prayer or a blessing for the newlyweds. As the couple cut the first slice of cake as a team, they demonstrate their desire to work together to enjoy the sweeter joys of marriage in the company of friends and relatives. What a treat!

 

Related: Tasting the Four Elements - An African Inspired Wedding Tradition

 

 

8. Traditional Indian Wedding Cakes: Gulab Jamun

 

Gulab Jamun are one of the most delicious traditional Indian wedding cakes! Soft cardamom dough drenched in a rose-scented or saffron syrup, rolled in sweet coconut flakes or slathered in coconut cream icing – what’s not to like?! Gulab jamun is served at many festive gatherings in India, but we think it always tastes best at weddings. There’s something about love in the air that makes this delicious cake taste that much sweeter! It’s been served for centuries as a symbol of joy, togetherness, and generosity between loved ones.

 

While traditional gulab jamun is a tricky confection made of fried dough, modern recipes make things much easier. Modern gulab jamun is often made in a bundt pan, with curves that are perfect for frosting and decorating with flowers or fruits.

 

More Indian Wedding Ideas: 6 Hindu Wedding Rituals You Might See at a Big Indian Ceremony

 

 

There are many ways to include traditional Gulab Jamun on the wedding day! Bundt cakes, large cakes or cupcakes topped with tiny Gulab Jamun, and more. Get creative with this unique Indian dessert for a celebration that tastes like home. (Photo: Sparkling Cakes / Pexels)

 

 

9. Traditional Scandinavian Wedding Cake: Kransekake

 

A Kransekake wedding cake (Tårnkake in Norway, or Overflødighedshorn at some Danish weddings) is a towering delight made from chewy almond cookie rings stacked high and drizzled with sweet icing. If you have a real sweet tooth, your kransekake will be decorated with chocolate crisps or confection flowers, and surrounded by a bounty of colorful cookies or candies. 

 

This festive wreath-shaped cake has been served for centuries at weddings as a symbol of lasting love, joy, and good fortune. Gratulerer med ekteskapet!

 

Related: Norse Runes for Wedding Altars, Rings, and Invitations - The Full Elder Futhark Alphabet

 

 

Look at this INCREDIBLE kransekake prepared by Melissa McGaughey (Yanc), baker and co-owner of Quail & Condor bakery in Healdsburg, CA. 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Melissa McGaughey (Yanc) (@melissayanc)

 

 

10. Traditional English & Australia Wedding Cake: Fruitcake with Almond Paste

 

We’re rounding out this sweet list back where we started – wedding fruitcake! Similar to the Irish custom, the traditional Australian and English wedding cake is fruitcake, often topped with a delicious icing or frosting. English wedding fruitcake is typically made with almond paste and dried fruit that’s been soaked in tea overnight, while Australian fruitcake is often drenched in rum and brandy to keep it moist and flavorful.

 

Many English royal weddings have been celebrated with fruitcake (including Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, and Prince Charles and Princess Diana, among others ), but the tradition is still alive and well. In fact, Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding cake cost a rumored $80,000 and consisted of eight delectable tiers of fruitcake!  

 

Related: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s secret wedding had no witnesses - Let’s talk marriage laws!

 

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Become an ordained minister online with American Marriage Ministries and officiate wedding for friends and relatives. (Photo: iStock)

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