The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-04-05

and the obstacle over which the brides
father hung with persistent reluctance.
MANY of the fashionable weddings OF
Easter. notably Of Washington and New
York. will have q cake decorated with
wedding colors. Suppose this TO be pink.
Tho cake Is baked and iced and placed
upon the centre of the dining table. In
the ton of IL is set a silver or cut-glass
vase. and this Is filled with pink hot
house roses. This style Is much admired
by everybody. except the caterer who
supplies the ornament. To his mercenary
eye the vase of pink roses is an unworthy
substitute for the sugar bell.
There has for long time been a large
import trade In wedding-cake decorations.
The very finest paste and sugar orna-
ments have come from abroad. Paris.
Berlin. and Vienna sending them to this
country. The foreign wedding-cake de-
corations are the work OF fine artists and
are worth preserving as a good piece OF
sugar sculpture.
The difference between the work at
home and that abroad. is that the foreign
decorator makes his ornaments exquisite
ly fine. You can examine them minutely
and not find a grain of sugar misplaced.
or a wipe OF paste too deep. This care Is
exercised throughout the making OF the
decorations UNTIL when completed, they
are frail, but marvellous works OF sugar
art.
The home wedding-cake artists strive
after effect They model with the hands
quickly or cast It in a mould. Their work
is a thousand times as pretty from a dis
lance And is more acceptable for a
roomful OF people who must view II over
each others shoulders. The foreign cake
IS too minute In workmanship TO be ap-
preciated. except by the select few OF the
bridal party. But these can forever pre-
serve the work as a wedding souvenir.
Both kinds OF workmanship thus have
their own advantages.
The wedding-cake industry Is a growing
now. Scarcely any one now but has
marriage cake. II you look over the
Bureaus Of vital Statistics, until you como
10 the marriage list, you can put down
the result as the number OF wedding cakes
made during the year. so few there are
who do not have a cake.
GRoOM'S CAKE.
The groom's cake is a smaller one than
the brides, ard may have any tiny de-
coration upon It. Few weddings have
a groom's cake, but there are old settlers
and foreigners who preserve the independ-
ent custom OF two cakes. The cuts from
the grOom's cake are taken by his rela-
tlves ito dream upon" and the slices from
the brides cake by her relatives. The
two cakes are shared alike by friends.
The style in wedding cakes changes a
little. A few years ago there were many
square cakes. Now there are none but
round ones. II very large wedding cake
is to be made II IS baked in quarters and
put together carefully. The four pans
that bake the four quarters ore shaped
irregularly as the quarter OF round cake
must be. In olden days there would have
been several square ones baked and made
into a great square cake, but now the
wedding cake must show the never-epding
circle of true love like the wedding ring.
The Harrison wedding cake will sta nd
trusting the same reliable little chirpcr
almost as tall as Benjamin himself-with
the ornament counted in. And doubtless
a piece of it will travel TO all political
friends. whether they be Democrats or
rivals for honors upos the same field as
that upon which the groom may fight
while the scent of the wedding cake Is yet
fresh in the house.
HARRY GERMAINE.