Tradition of the Groom’s Cake

Max, NOW you send me your Wedding Cake Recipe. I remember how good it was. My cake skills aren’t quite up to this, but I certainly know friends who could make it. You have been corrupted by Booze Hound Erma. Put enough of the Grand Marnier on the layers, and who will care what the cake tastes like! Mix that cake with your Charleston, South Carolina Reception Punch and the guests will be three sheets into the wind.

I did talk Rachel’s new mother-in-law into a very old tradition. That of the Groom’s Cake. Since the groom’s family has no responsibilities, except the bride’s bouquet, this is a lovely finale to a Reception. Mrs. Roberts made the Groom’s Cakes months ago with a standard Fruitcake Recipe that was baked in sheet cake pans. She wrapped the cakes in cheese cloth, doused them with bourbon and brandy, and then let them age for 3 months. Every week or so she would add another sprinkle of bourbon and brandy so that by the time of the wedding, the cakes were nice and moist and fragrant.

What? You have never heard of Groom’s Cake? Well, Max, let me give you a little culinary history lesson:

From about the Victorian Period on, there was a tradition of the Groom’s Cake that seems to have gone out of style in the last twenty-five years. The groom’s mother was supposed to prepare it, and since it was originally a dark fruitcake, it could be prepared months in advance and left to age with lots of bourbon and brandy.

Each guest was given a piece to take home of the Groom’s Cake that was wrapped in a fancy little box and tied with a ribbon that matched the bride’s colors. Traditionally a groom’s family member was in charge of making sure that each departing guest was given their box of Groom’s Cake as they left the Reception. A fancy table was placed near the door with silver trays of these Groom Cake favors. Think of the smell!

Later, as fruitcake fell out of favor, (Remember that some of the earlier wedding cakes were made of fruitcakes as they could be made well in advance of the wedding. I think it was one of LBJ’s daughter’s weddings at the White House where the bride had trouble cutting the cake with the groom’s military sword because the cake was so firm. This is one reason brides turned to bland white cakes.) The tradition of the Groom’s Cake, at least here in the South became small pieces of a rich Chocolate Cake, frosted like a petit four as it was easier to make and did not require the month’s of aging. It seems to me in this age of elaborate and overdone weddings that someone would revive this custom as a wonderful favor to send home with the guests.

Erma Tip of the Day: When making a heavy cake, like fruitcake, in a sheet pan, line the pan with waxed foil (even in the Teflon coated pans), so when the cake is cooled you can lift the cake out easily. Use a pizza cutter to make the long, crisp cuts into bars. The pizza cutter works better than any knife.