Contents
- Ideas for decorating a wedding cake in Ukrainian style
- Photo of wedding cakes in Ukrainian national motives
In modern wedding fashion, a revival of original marriage rites is observed. Ethnic-style cake will ideally support this trend, because the confectionery industry now provides great opportunities for decorating desserts. Wedding cake with Ukrainian themes will support the national flavor of the holiday, give the celebration a special meaning. We will tell you how to make the main sweet wedding dish, combining old traditions and trendy trends..
Ideas for decorating a wedding cake in Ukrainian style
Since ancient times, a traditional treat of a wedding feast in Ukraine was a loaf decorated with wheat ears, rings, poppy flowers or sunflowers, a pair of birds and other relevant attributes from baked dough. Confectionery fashion for the use of mastic made its own corrections - a loaf decorated with colorful sugar figures is in great demand among modern newlyweds.
But even more popular are wedding cakes with ethnic patterns and ritual symbols. Ukrainian national ornaments are not only beautiful and spectacular, but also have a deep spiritual meaning. Such a decor is created using sugar mastic, multi-colored prints on special edible paper or in the old fashioned way - with cream and glaze. Decoration with fresh flowers is also relevant. We suggest you evaluate the most popular design options for wedding cakes with Ukrainian themes.
Cake with a bouquet of wildflowers
The traditional headdress of the Ukrainian bride - a wreath - was custom-woven from twelve different wildflowers, which represented the kindness and sincerity of the soul. For this purpose, daisies, poppies, cornflowers, immortelle, forget-me-nots, viburnum flowers, periwinkle, etc. were used. Each flower had a symbolic meaning. Multicolored ribbons interwoven between the flowers. This custom has resonated in our days - the use of wildflowers in decorating a wedding cake is a fashion trend and a tribute to tradition..
With a Cossack and a Cossack in national costumes
Cossacks are an integral part of Ukraine, its historical defense, national pride. Therefore, a wedding cake with figures of a Cossack and Cossack in costumes with an ornament will be a bright ethnic symbol for those Ukrainians who honor the history and traditions of their country. Such decor is also relevant for those newlyweds who have Cossacks in their family. For greater color, you can add a mastic sculpture of the Ukrainian hut, figures of clay pots on wattle, lard, vodka and other attributes.
Cake with big sunflowers
Sunflower is a national flower of Ukraine. Along with wheat, it is grown everywhere, not without reason Ukraine is considered the leader in the production of this crop. The field of sunflowers during the flowering period and the bright summer sky resemble the blue-yellow flag of the country. Sunflower heads are always turned towards the sun, therefore, in world literature this flower is considered a symbol of life, sunlight and prosperity..
Since ancient times, for Ukrainian newlyweds, a sunflower has meant wealth, success, work, devotion, loyalty and happiness for two. Large bright yellow flowers served as an indispensable decoration of weddings in Ukrainian villages. Therefore, a wedding cake decorated with live or mastic sunflowers will be a worthy continuation of the holiday, emphasizing the national flavor.
With Ukrainian traditional ornament
The ethnic patterns with which it is fashionable to decorate modern wedding cakes repeat the motifs of decorative embroidery - an art that is developed and popular in Ukraine to this day. The simplest patterns are easy to apply with a cream and pastry syringe. Complex ornaments are printed on rice paper with food coloring and then applied to the surface of the cake, previously coated with mastic. Almost any Ukrainian ornament goes well with fresh or sugar flowers.
The most common and recognizable Ukrainian wedding pattern is geometric, with rhombuses, zigzags, triangles, crosses and sockets. No less popular are plant motifs (with the image of poppies, lilies, roses, berries or leaves of viburnum, hops, grapes, wheat ears, oak leaves, etc.) or a couple of birds (doves, peacocks, swallows). For weddings, mainly red-black patterns are used, although other colors are common in some areas of Ukraine.
The ancient Ukrainian custom to serve a wedding loaf on an embroidered rushnyk (towel) is reflected in a modern design. Many newlyweds prefer cake as the main wedding treat, which is not very convenient to wrap in fabric. A towel, completely made of snow-white mastic with an exact reproduction of ethnic ornament, will be in this case not only an actual decoration, but also a peculiar tribute to the tradition.
Ukrainian style cake with poppies
Red poppy is a symbol of beauty, youth, virgin purity (all that is fleeting - passes as quickly as poppy petals are showered). Therefore, from ancient times in Ukraine poppies embroidered shirts of unmarried girls. Poppy is also revered by Ukrainians as a symbol of gender, fertility, protection from evil or evil spirits. In wedding symbols, these flowers mean the duty of the young to continue their family.
Decorating a wedding cake with live poppies is problematic because of their fragility and inaccessibility. Therefore, modern confectioners make these flowers from sugar. Thanks to the properties of sugar mastic, an experienced craftsman can make poppy decor, almost identical to real colors. White wedding cakes decorated with large red poppies with a national Ukrainian ornament look very impressive.
With sprigs of viburnum
Guelder-rose is one more symbolic plant for Ukrainians. She personifies motherhood: trunk means «mother», berries - «children». Viburnum leaves - a symbol of fertility - were necessarily baked on a wedding loaf, expressing in this way the wish of a young family to have children as soon as possible. Another meaning of this berry - home, parents, intergenerational communication.
Viburnum or poppies in combination with a national ornament is a common variant of decorating a wedding dessert according to Ukrainian tradition. If the young get married in the fall, the cake (or, according to the old custom, a loaf) is decorated with fresh viburnum. At other times of the year, sugar mastic is used, from which berries with leaves or twigs can be made. Frozen viburnum quickly loses its shape, so it’s not suitable for cake decoration.
Cake with storks
A stork is a symbol of family and offspring, happiness, kindness, new life. No wonder he is revered among many nations as a bird bringing children. Among Ukrainians, the stork is a symbolic sign: the house on the roof of which he nests, is considered blessed. In Ukrainian, the word «stork» sounds like «leleka» - In honor of the god Lel, the patron saint of love and marriage. There is even a sign: if you see two storks in a dream - wait for the matchmaking or wedding.
Storks are known as monogamous birds - having created a pair, they are no longer parted. Therefore, their image on a wedding cake symbolizes fidelity and love until the end of life. Storks used to bake pastry to decorate a cake. Modern confectionery technology allows you to make very realistic three-dimensional color figures that will become a worthy decoration of a wedding cake. This decor is quite edible, but according to tradition, the newlyweds leave it as a souvenir.
Photo of wedding cakes in Ukrainian national motives
Preserving the old customs at weddings is considered a good sign, respect for the ancestors and their land. To do this, it is not necessary to reproduce exactly all the rites. The cake can become just that highlight that will make the wedding more authentic, different from the string of the same type of modern European weddings. Photos of cakes in our gallery will tell you how to give the wedding a national flavor with a Ukrainian accent.
