Croquembouche, the history of the French wedding cake

The wedding cake is one of the most awaited moments of the celebration, when all the guests gather around the couple, have a toast together and enjoy a lovely dessert. But I want to talk to you about a particular cake, the croquembouche, which is a typical French wedding cake.

What is a croquembouche wedding cake?

The croquembouche cake is a typical French wedding cake which has never lost its charm over the years. It is a big size cake mounted as a pyramid as it is a majestic and impressive style of cake but you can also find different versions of it nowadays.

It is considered as being a piece of art and the pastry chef takes care in assembling it. This particular cake is not only seen in France but you can find it in many countries, as it is a classic choice. If you have a professional baker, who might have learned in France or who has worked with a French patissier, then you know that he/she can make it.

How do you make a croquembouche wedding cake?

The croquembouche wedding cake,  is made of many small choux,  filled with vanilla mousse or vanilla cream which has then been covered by caramel and nougatine.  The caramel allows the little balls to be mounted on one another and once they dry they hold as though they were glued together.

In the past few years, a modern version of it has been created with macarons in various colours instead of the choux. But the wonderful choux filled with delicious vanilla mousse make it a very delicate and tasty version.

The history of the French croquembouche  wedding cake

The history of this cake comes from the Greek tradition, as they used to break pieces of bread on the couples heads, as it was a sign of happiness and fertility. During medieval times big pieces of bread were exchanged with smaller ones and they were supposed to create a pyramid with these small  bread balls.

This is where the tradition of the pyramid comes from. Time went by and the bread balls were iced, then a patissier in the XIX century created a pyramid with fruit and caramel and called it croquembouche.

The evolution brought us to know the lovely choux filled with vanilla know followed by the more modern versions with different flavoured fillings.

If you decide on getting a croquembouche for your wedding you must count about 3 to 4 choux per person and make sure to have an expert patissier as it can be a tricky cake to make. You must also decide what kind of structure you want as you can be very creative and have different creations, not only pyramids.

As I always say, be creative and be uncommon even if you choose a classic cake.

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