The Italian Wedding Cake.

The Italian Wedding Cake.

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One of the most interesting weddings that I ever had the pleasure in organizing was for an Italian family living in north Somerset. Like most mothers of the bride she was very nervous and anxious for everything to go smoothly for her little girl. We had several family meetings where I went through step by step with what will happen at the reception from start to finish. I found out there were a few Italian traditions that had to be woven in to the proceedings. One of which was the cake.

The cake in the photo is the style that was made, except that it eight tiers altogether and the baker of the cake was on hand to cut up the cake after the initial traditional cut by the bride and groom. The reason is that the cake is nothing like the traditional English fruit cake with Royal Icing, but is a very light sponge texture with a soft cream icing. The making of the cake started in the middle of the night prior to the wedding. It is assembled by the baker at the reception hall and the final decoration is completed. When served it again traditional to be served with a small glass of Sambuca. So with all this pre-assembly by the baker, it is most sensible that he dis-assemble it and cut it into portions to be served to the waiting guests by the catering staff.

Towards the end of the evening the father of the bride took me to one side to thank me for organizing the reception, and in doing so passed the remark that he had never seen his wife so relaxed. To me that was an accolade that I will never forget.