Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue

The recipient of this wedding cake is not from the United States, so I was a little worried that they might not have known of this rhyme and the happy wedded life it is supposed to bring. To remedy this situation I was trying to think of how I could incorporate all of these things into their cake.

Something old: Most people would prefer if they didn't eat an old cake, and I really don't blame them. I had to think a lot about this one, but I quickly saw the thing that brought something old to this cake. The history of the wedding cake goes pretty far back. During the Roman Empire, bread was baked and eaten at the wedding ceremony. This tradition of bread become some sort of sweet pastry in Medieval England. Early 19th century upper class England had a tradition of a bride's pie, which turned into a bride's cake. These simple desserts were nothing like the grandiose concoctions bride's pay thousands of dollars for today, but the tradition of eating and sharing a sweet dessert is what links the idea of a wedding cake throughout history. The tradition is my something old.

Something new: I am a big fan of new ingredients when I'm making a cake. Old eggs, milk, and butter does not seem very appealing to me. As one of my mother's many pets, we had chickens one year. We quickly discovered a few things about eggs. First eggs are actually in a perfectly contained environment and do not need to be refrigerated. We also found out what fresh eggs really look like. Fresh eggs have a nice thick white and a yolk that is picture perfect globe shaped. The yolk has such a nice thick membrane around it that separating the yolk from the white is a job a five year old could do without breaking the yolk. After witnessing these beautiful fresh eggs, it's a little easier to spot the old eggs. The whites on an old egg are watery and kind of pour of the eggs when cracked. The yolk is a funny blob shape and could break just from cracking it into a pan. I used the newest freshest ingredients I could find to make this wedding cake, so I think it's fair to say that they are my something new.

Something borrowed: I have never been asked to make a wedding cake before and I never really had a need to buy the pans for the job. Last year I helped my mom's hairdresser make a anniversary cake for her parents. I knew she had the pans, so I called her up and asked her to borrow them. Without these pans I would have had to cut a bigger cake into the proper size and my job would have been a lot harder. I am very thankful for the something borrowed portion of this cake. The right tools always make the job a little easier.

Something blue: I am still unsure as to the blue that will go into the cake. I haven't bought the flowers for the cake yet, but I can't imagine that any of them will be blue. A tiny bit of blue food coloring will make the icing whiter, so I may be adding that as my cake progresses. I am sure at some point a little bit of blue will find itself in the cake and if not I will find a way to sneak it in.

This rhyme actually has one more part to it. Maybe some of you wedding connoisseurs know about this last line of the poem, but I had not. "And a silver sixpence in her shoe" is the true ending to the poem. Unfortunately there will be no shoes on this cake, but if there were I would be sure to stick a sixpence or some form of an American equivalent into the cake. When I think of what this coin would mean to a new bride I think of the need in our day for savings. One never knows when they might be coming upon hard times and for a young bride, who is going into a marriage, hardship is probably the last thing she is thinking about. This sixpence is, to me, a token of the amount of work a marriage is and the fact that one never knows what might be around the next corner. I am making this cake as a gift to my friends, so they will be saving more than 6 cents. I do hope that whatever they face in the coming months and years they will always have a little set aside to see them through the toughest of times.

Tomorrow I will be putting the cake together. Right now it is sitting all wrapped up in my refrigerator. As a side note my mom's strawberries are coming in and they are delicious. My dad also stopped at a stand by the road to pick up tomatoes yesterday. I hope you are also enjoying these delicious harbingers of summer.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily