Some facts about the Sri Lankan wedding cake

Weddings are held in a grand scale in Sri Lanka. The bride, groom and their parents will spend thousand of dollars on the wedding. Most of the money goes for buying the wedding clothes, jewelry, flowers, decorations and the wedding cake.

The wedding cake is unique because under all the layers of fondant/royal icing is a structure made of rigifoam except for a small area. This space is left on the structure for the piece of cake specially made for the bride and groom to cut into to and feed each other. The guests will be served individual pieces of cake wrapped in decorative paper.

The wedding cake is usually made from the traditional rich fruit cake topped with almond paste although some couples may choose a lemon cake, carrot cake or even a chocolate cake.

Cake pieces made from rich cake are first wrapped in wax paper. Wax paper is used because it preserves the cake’s flavor and the cake can be stored for a long time without getting spoilt. The standard size of each piece of cake is 2” by 3”. The cake pieces are wrapped in plain gold or silver paper or in gold and silver paper with designs. The neatly wrapped pieces of cake are packed in gift boxes and presented to each guest as they arrive.

The cake may have as much as 3-4 tiers and sometimes even more.

Some couples find it difficult to decide on the type of wedding structure they want for their wedding. The following are a few tips to help such couples.

• Find a professional wedding cake maker who has experience in designing cakes using fondant icing, butter cream icing, sugar craft and can turn out beautiful tiered cakes made from these type of icings.
• Order your cake in advance to ensure your cake is ready on the day of the wedding. If you’re ordering the traditional fruit cake the cake maker may ask you to place the order 3 months before the wedding. Fruits cakes taste better with age unlike other cakes.
• Choose the design, type of icing including the number of tiers you want for the cake. Round tiers, square tiers and heart tiers are popular ones. Butter cream icing and fondant roll are two popular icings used on wedding cakes. Butter cream frosting is chosen by couples because it tastes better and is cheaper than fondant. Fondant is preferred because it gives the cake a sleeker finished look.

© 2012 Suranee Perera