After Miss Taylor's bride cake, I looked to find out more about groom's cake although it's never mentioned there was one for M. Weston (or any of the male characters in Emma). The century-old tradition of serving two cakes instead of one at wedding parties had been forgotten by the 1800s, only to be revived in the Victorian era.
Groom's cake in history
Wedding cakes in ancient Rome were flatcakes broken on the maiden's head for good luck. During the Middle Ages they were made of piled rolls or buns. The couple were invited to kiss over this pile, which meant their life would be a happy one, and both of them united against perils. Early Modern weddings introduced the bride's (salted) pie but also the making of two sweet cakes -a pound cake for the bride & a smaller cake for the groom. The latter was a fruitcake. After 1700, only the bride's cake survived. The groom's cake reappeared in the 19th century. It was a dark rich cake as featured in the British Baker of 1897, which also became popular in the American colonies. Groom's cakes today follow the same tradition although most people go for a single cake, divided in layers and wrapped in royal icing. (By the way, the name for the white sugar icing used for glazing festive cakes received its name from Queen Victoria's wedding-cake.)
Feminine vs. masculine
Wedding cakes in ancient Rome were flatcakes broken on the maiden's head for good luck. During the Middle Ages they were made of piled rolls or buns. The couple were invited to kiss over this pile, which meant their life would be a happy one, and both of them united against perils. Early Modern weddings introduced the bride's (salted) pie but also the making of two sweet cakes -a pound cake for the bride & a smaller cake for the groom. The latter was a fruitcake. After 1700, only the bride's cake survived. The groom's cake reappeared in the 19th century. It was a dark rich cake as featured in the British Baker of 1897, which also became popular in the American colonies. Groom's cakes today follow the same tradition although most people go for a single cake, divided in layers and wrapped in royal icing. (By the way, the name for the white sugar icing used for glazing festive cakes received its name from Queen Victoria's wedding-cake.)
Feminine vs. masculine
The different look of wedding cakes in the Victorian era reflected the stereotype features attributed to genders. Pure, delicate and mild (at her best), the bride was given dainty cakes with royal sugar icing; wild, energetic & loud (at his worst), the gentleman was offered a richer, darker version. Even before Romanticism, the bride's gentle character found its expression in the clothes, the manners, and the sweets favored by the 'weaker sex'. The sheer dresses made in pastel colours, the gentle phrasing of her thoughts, the whiteness of the bride cake rendered the middle-to-higher class young woman as pure and delicate and mild as was shown in the novels. But what about the gentleman?
The bridegrooms in Emma
Not all of Emma's characters would have deserved the luscious groom's cake established in recent times. Take M. Weston for example, whose manners had nothing of the wilder, louder features associated with the male gender in 19th century literature. This is how Jane Austen introduced him: "M. Weston was a native of Highbury, and born of a respectable family, which for the last two or three generations had been rising into gentility and property. He had received a good education, but on succeeding early in life to a small independence, had become indisposed for any of the more homely pursuits in which his brothers were engaged, and had satisfied an active, cheerful mind and social temper by entering into the militia of his county, then embodied." By the time he proposed to Miss Taylor, however, this youthful energy would be considerably lessened although M. Weston rarely sounded boring. Of course, the rules of hospitality, including wedding customs, applied to everyone in those days, regardless of their character. If dense fruitcake soaked in liquor was required for the party, neither M. Weston nor any other groom would have neglected the tradition. Speaking of which, it crossed my mind to re-invent not one but five 'groom's cakes' in honor of the men who found a bride in Emma: M. Weston, M. Elton, Robert Martin, Frank Churchill & M. Knightey. (Apparently, this month is going to witness a series of posts on festive cakes.)
Not all of Emma's characters would have deserved the luscious groom's cake established in recent times. Take M. Weston for example, whose manners had nothing of the wilder, louder features associated with the male gender in 19th century literature. This is how Jane Austen introduced him: "M. Weston was a native of Highbury, and born of a respectable family, which for the last two or three generations had been rising into gentility and property. He had received a good education, but on succeeding early in life to a small independence, had become indisposed for any of the more homely pursuits in which his brothers were engaged, and had satisfied an active, cheerful mind and social temper by entering into the militia of his county, then embodied." By the time he proposed to Miss Taylor, however, this youthful energy would be considerably lessened although M. Weston rarely sounded boring. Of course, the rules of hospitality, including wedding customs, applied to everyone in those days, regardless of their character. If dense fruitcake soaked in liquor was required for the party, neither M. Weston nor any other groom would have neglected the tradition. Speaking of which, it crossed my mind to re-invent not one but five 'groom's cakes' in honor of the men who found a bride in Emma: M. Weston, M. Elton, Robert Martin, Frank Churchill & M. Knightey. (Apparently, this month is going to witness a series of posts on festive cakes.)
A case of anachronism
Cutting and pasting between sources to make groom's cakes when there were none is sheer anachronism. Still I am going to do it, sharing as much of history as possible, besides adapting recipes. Since five cakes must be done, I've looked up texts from all the periods when this sort of cake existed (17th century, Victoria era, recent times) as well as books that were still popular around 1800, and came up with the following delights: 1. Branbury cake from The English Huswife by Gervase Markham (1615) [for M. Knightley] 2. Rice pudding from The accomplisht cook by Robert May (1660) [for Robert Martin] 3. Ginger-Bread from The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy by Hannah Glasse (1747) [for M. Weston] 4. A good plum cake from The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald (1769) [for M. Elton] 5. Dried fruit cake from Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia cookbook (1886) [for Frank Churchill]
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