An Old Wedding Cake

This chunk of wedding cake has had an unusually long shelf life. When Mr and Mrs G Marsh did the honours and doled out slices of cake after their wedding at Inglewood on 6 June 1922 they would have never imagined that part of their nuptial fare would be preserved as part of the region’s bridal heritage. While wedding tradition dictated that the top tier of the cake be preserved, either for the happy couple’s first anniversary or the christening of their first child, it is not known why this particular chunk of cake, which looks like it may be a fruitcake of some sort, escaped being devoured. Whether it was seen as some kind of edible good luck charm, or was just forgotten until well past its best before date, the cake remained in the Marsh family until the early 1990s when someone thought to offer it to Taranaki Museum. The Puke Ariki Heritage Collection has plenty of bridal gowns, wedding regalia and a swag of wedding photos casting light on wedding traditions but unsurprisingly surviving food from wedding receptions is a rarity. Like many other collection items the condition of the cake has been professionally assessed, but thankfully no taste test was required.