Groom's Cake Tradition

I love this picture of a "favor cake", and I just had to point out the charming tradition behind it. Very different from way that we currently think of a groom's cake today, the groom's cake is an old wedding tradition that began to fall out of favor in the late 1950's. The groom's cake was a favor for guests to take home with them and was "wrapped in foil and boxed in tiny, white, satin-tied boxes" according to Amy Vanderbilt in 1952. It did not need to be an elaborate cake - it was traditionally a heavy fruitcake soaked in liqueur. This is the cake, according to tradition, that unmarried female guests would take home and put under their pillows in order to dream of their one true love.

photo via Martha Stewart Weddings

For brides that are looking for something vintage and unique, who would like to have a groom's cake, and are planning on having favors - this accomplishes all of that! Slip a note in the boxes explaining the tradition to your guests, and to save on the cake cutting fee that many venues have, simply cut the cake prior to the wedding and put into the boxes. From Martha Stewart Weddings: "Assembled in the shape of a three-tier layer cake, store-bought boxes hold individual slices of the groom's cake, ready for the guests to take home; tucked between the white boxes are ranunculuses, sweet peas, hyancinths, and lilies of the valley."

Read more at Marthastewartweddings.com: White Favors: Boxed Groom's Cake

Here's some good resources for cake slice boxes: Assorted colors/finishes - Bayley's Boxes (wholesale and bulk pricing), and white quilted - WeddingFavors.com.

And some great resources for vintage wedding traditions: Your Vintage Wedding by Nancy Eaton and Vintage Weddings by Daniela Turudich