The Origin of Smashing the Wedding Cake

It's arguable that after all the grief and torment the bride puts everyone through leading up to a wedding, there is no better groomsmen gift than seeing her face being pummeled by a piece of $300 wedding cake. The only thing that's more messy than frosting on your face is the line of logic it takes to explain this GroomStand wedding origin story.

The Wedding Cake Wasn't Always Eaten

The first part of this origin story is one of those things like the diaphragm; it just doesn't make sense anymore. Back in the Roman Empire, certain grains like Wheat or Barley were believed to be a symbol of fertility. Originally, it was common practice to shower the newlyweds with pieces of wheat cake, sometimes it was from above, but mostly it's described as something similar to the tossing of rice as a couple leaves the church. The odd part of the practice is how young unmarried girls were encouraged to pickup and eat the disregarded wheat cake bits to ensure their own betrothals - similar to today's bouquet toss.

Over time, the Roman bakers changed the policy on throwing cake at the couple by creating what we'd now think of as the inspiration to the cupcake. Bakers would prepare a massive batch of the small sweet cakes, and stack them in a pyramid shape as high as possible. It was then believed to be good luck with a dusting of great fertility if the couple could lean over the stack of cakes and kiss without knocking anything over.

That's Cake in Your Face

You can already guess that if you have a short bride, it was nearly impossible to successfully kiss over a mountain of cakes. After frosting was introduced during the reign of King Charles II, it was more than common for the bride and groom to get a face full of cake and frosting on their wedding day.

Nowadays, it costs too much to take the risk of toppling over a wedding cake, so the face-full of frosting is simulated by the bride and groom smashing a piece of cake into each other's faces.