Recipe: Groom's Cake Information

Hi Deanna:-) So far my search for a recipe for you has come up empty but I'll keep looking or maybe someone else will have a recipe for you. I do have a couple of spice cake recipes (Betty Crocker) and also a White Spice Pound Cake from the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum that can either be baked as a loaf or in a fluted tube pan, cooled, then dusted with confectioner's sugar. I gather that the groom's cake was originally a fruit cake which would have spices as you mention but you are probably not looking for a fruit cake. Some people who make bridal cakes say they often use a carrot cake (also with spices) for the groom's cake. There are many recipes for Carrot Cake posted here at recipelink which you will find if you do a search for them. Below is a bit of information regarding groom's cake that is interesting.

Groom's cake

Groom's cake seems to be relatively modern tradition that probably originated in the Southern United States sometime in the 19th Century. The traditional cake ingredients and folklore are reflect ancient Wedding cake customs; current recipes and serving ideas reflect modern wedding tastes.

"Already in the 1890s, therefore, a choice of cakes had been established in America. The types could be played with, for commercial and/or symbolic effect. One idea was to give the bridegroom a cake to match the bride's, and this might be simply achieved by renaming the rich fruit style. A 'Lady Cake or Plain Bridegroom Cake' for which the recipe was published in "The British Baker" in 1897 as an importation from 'across the herring pond'...was, however, a white cake. The author explains that it is 'supposed to be cut by the bridegroom and distributed with a glass of wine to the bridesmaids before going to church'. In Britain neither practice nor cake met with any success, but in the United States the two cakes did persist, with the light cake usually being associated with the bride, the dark with the groom. From the mid-century a possible combination of the two has been described from Virginia. The bride's would be on the bottom..."
--Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley [Routledge:London] 1992 (p. 23)

"Cake historians say the [grooms cake] practice first came to the wedding party in the mid-19th century. About that time the bride's cake--for a long time a single-tier, dense fruitcake--had evolved into a stacked pound cake in the shape of a church steeple. But revelers still desired some of the old-style, rich, fruity cake. Enter: the Bridegroom's Cake. Each guest was given a slice of fruitcake in a box to take home. As the story goes, single women who slipped a slice under their pillow would have sweet dreams of a mate. Today, groom's cakes are baked and iced in the bridegroom's favorite flavors...A groom's cake is a have-to-have in the deep South."
---"A Cake of His Own," Washington Post, April 15, 1998 (p. E01)

"The grooms cake...The tradition of sending wedding guests home with a piece of second cake, called a "grooms cake," has its origins in early southern [U.S.] tradition. It is a tradition that almost disappeared by today is experiencing a revival of sorts. The modern-day groom's cake is often a chocolate cake, iced in chocolate, or baked in a shape, such as a football or a book, that reflects an interest of the groom. It is to be used as a second dessert, it is placed on a separate table from the wedding cake and cut and served by the wait staff. At a small, at-home wedding, it is placed on a separate table from the wedding cake and is served. Having a special groom's cake is a charming personal touch. Some couples ask to have the groom's cake packaged, festively wrapped and tied with a ribbon, in small boxes to send home with departing guests."
---Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette, Peggy Post, 4th edition (p. 339)

"The tradition of the groom's cake dates from the mid-nineteenth century, when guests took home slices of a dark fruitcake that was not served at the wedding. Those who were unmarried would slip their slices under their pillow to encourage dreams about their future mate. Although this tradition has faded, it's still fun to serve a dark chocolate cake along with the white bride's cake."
---Colette's Wedding Cakes, Colette Peters (p. 23)

"A reliable history of the groom's cake is tough to trace. Most bakers thin it's a Southern tradition with Texas roots. The story goes that a bride wanted a chocolate cake for her wedding, but didn't want to sacrifice the white-on-white theme. So the smaller dark cake was assigned to the groom, served separately and decorated more modestly. As it's become more common, the groom's cake has taken on a life of its own. It has design flair, and usually includes radical flavorings to match the decorating style."
---"Here comes the...Groom's Cake," Palm Beach Post, April 15, 1999 (p. 1FN)