--- title: Supreme Court Wedding Cake Case: Why a Cake Matters So Much description: The three men at the center of the case are not the first to find deep meaning baked into a wedding cake. canonical: https://time.com/5047981/wedding-cake-lgbt-history/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-05T14:30:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:26.127Z article:section: History og:title: Supreme Court Wedding Cake Case: Why a Cake Matters So Much og:description: Wedding cakes have been meaningful since Ancient Rome og:url: https://time.com/5047981/wedding-cake-lgbt-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta66f5fdc3e2b62c4/6988f3aa22fb854adfe23e93/wedding-cake-lgbt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: wedding-cake-lgbt og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Supreme Court Wedding Cake Case: Why a Cake Matters So Much twitter:description: Wedding cakes have been meaningful since Ancient Rome twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta66f5fdc3e2b62c4/6988f3aa22fb854adfe23e93/wedding-cake-lgbt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Masterpiece Cakeshop Isn't the First to Bake Larger Meaning Into Wedding Cakes > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=650a7295-ab99-4aeb-ab88-2bfdf570432a&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) * TIME Subscriptions: [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=650a7295-ab99-4aeb-ab88-2bfdf570432a&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Royal Engagements Through the Years [Watch (HLS stream): Royal Engagements Through the Years](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zDbc0GkK.m3u8) (1:57)  _Published 2017-11-28. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement is the latest in a long line of U.K. royal betrothals that have caught the public's imagination_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Dec 5, 2017 2:30 PM UTC  Jack Phillips stands for a portrait near a display of wedding cakes in his Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, CO, on September 1, 2016. Jack Phillips stands for a portrait near a display of wedding cakes in his Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, CO, on September 1, 2016. Matthew Staver for The Washington Post—Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Dec 5, 2017 2:30 PM UTC On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in the [Masterpiece Cakeshop](http://time.com/4991839/masterpiece-cakeshop-supreme-court-gay-discrimination/) case, in which a conservative Christian baker in Colorado [refused](http://time.com/5045071/colorado-wedding-cake-case-scotus/) to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple because he opposes same-sex marriage and believes his actions are protected by the First Amendment. At first glance, the object at the center of the case — a wedding cake — may seem like an unlikely candidate for a fight over civil rights. But the baker at the center of the case, Jack Phillips, has [said](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/16/us/supreme-court-baker-same-sex-marriage.html) that his cakes are a deep artistic expression of his religious beliefs, and the couple who tried to hire him, David Mullins and Charlie Craig, have found that the dessert has become a [symbol](http://time.com/4991839/masterpiece-cakeshop-supreme-court-gay-discrimination/) of equality or the lack thereof. And in fact, wedding cakes have never been about just flour and sugar. [Many different meanings](http://time.com/4933819/bakeries-supreme-court-lgbt-trump-religious-beliefs/) have been baked into wedding cakes throughout history. To the ancient Romans, for example, a wedding cake was a symbol of good luck. “Ancient Roman wedding ceremonies were finalized by breaking a cake of wheat or barley (_mustaceum_) over the bride’s head as a symbol of good fortune,” [according to the food studies journal ](https://gastronomica.org/2005/05/05/wedding-cake-a-slice-history/)_Gastronomica. “_The newly married couple then ate a few crumbs in a custom known as _confarreatio_ — eating together. Afterwards, the wedding guests gathered up the crumbs as tokens of good luck_._ The Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius, in _De Rerum Natura_ (_On the Nature of Things_), wrote that the breaking of the cake over the bride’s head mellowed into crumbling the sweet wheat cakes over her head.” That history has even been linked by some to the modern tradition of the couple [smearing the cake](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-05-01/features/8501260841%5F1%5Fwedding-cake-dear-abby-bride-and-groom) onto each other’s faces. Similarly, in medieval England, if the bride and groom could share a kiss over a tall stack of sweet buns, then they’d experience a “lifetime of prosperity,” according to the article, by Carol Wilson. Guests could get a taste of that “lifetime of prosperity” as well. In one iteration of a so-called “bride pie,” the guest who happened to be served a slice containing a coin would be blessed with good fortune — a tradition similar to the one surrounding [King Cakes](http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1881375,00.html) — and if a guest found a ring, then that was thought to mean that he or she would be married in a year. There is also a record of a savory “bride pie” or “Bride’s Pye” made out of “oysters, pine kernels, cockscombs, lambstones (testicles)” in the 1685 cookbook _The Accomplisht Cook_. Another iteration served in Yorkshire is said to have served with a “plump hen full of eggs” in the center lined with minced meats “said to sum up the complexities of marriage.” How the cake is eaten has thought to have mattered as well. “A taste of the cake before the wedding means loss of the husband’s love (while a piece of cake kept after the big day ensures his fidelity),” the article adds. And eating the cake was also not only associated with being rich in terms of money but also fertility, so guests were thought to have been specifically required to eat a piece to ensure that the couple would be able to have children. The origins of the modern wedding cake can be traced back to the one made for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840, argues Claire Stewart in the book _As Long As We Both Shall Eat: A History of Wedding Food and Feasts_. “The massive cake was festooned with a sugar sculpture of Britannia (the female figure who stands in as the physical embodiment of Britain),” [she write_s_](https://books.google.com/books?id=%5FhMMDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA130&lpg=PA130&dq=%22The+massive+cake+was+festooned+with+a+sugar+sculpture+of+Britannia+%28the+female+figure+who+stands+in+as+the+physical+embodiment+of+Britain%29,%22&source=bl&ots=0ZAwud6fFd&sig=rq2iSEvk-UZhYwb4RO4COZmO390&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKjKad%5FfDXAhUD92MKHf7RApMQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=%22The%20massive%20cake%20was%20festooned%20with%20a%20sugar%20sculpture%20of%20Britannia%20%28the%20female%20figure%20who%20stands%20in%20as%20the%20physical%20embodiment%20of%20Britain%29%2C%22&f=false). “A dog at Britannia’s feet represented faithfulness, with sculptures of the bride and groom, amid fluttering turtledoves, draped safely in classical Roman garb.” It was coated with white icing, which was a luxury at the time due to the cost of refined sugar and the time required to make it. The white icing has also been interpreted as a symbol of [virginity,](https://www.brides.com/story/your-wedding-cake-holds-a-secret-meaning-you-never-knew) and this wedding would also popularize another tradition at the center of the modern wedding: wearing a [white wedding dress](http://time.com/3698249/white-weddings/). These traditions would make their way across the pond as American lifestyle magazines like _Godey’s Lady Book_ wrote about them. In 1886, the 49-year-old Grover Cleveland became the only President to get married in a White House ceremony, when he wed the 21-year-old Frances Folsom — and pieces of their wedding cake, a fruitcake, have since become [tourist attractions.](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/10/arts/design/cakes-for-celebrities-coveted-by-collectors.html) By the 1930s, the tradition of the bride cutting the first slice had evolved. “Since she was soon to become a housewife, it made sense for the bride to take on these serving activities a preparation for a lifetime role,” Cele C. Otnes and Elizabeth Pleck argue in [_Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding_](https://books.google.com/books?id=OYBB%5FDGQN7kC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Cinderella+Dreams:+The+Allure+of+the+Lavish+Wedding,&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiT-5qMiPHXAhVfF2MKHR9ID7EQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=%22wedding%20cake%22&f=false)_._ By the ’40s, and ’50s, they write, the tradition of the groom helping the bride cut the cake emerged, a response to the development of a harder-to-cut stiffer icing and also a demonstration of “the male provider role.” Cake toppers became popular in the ’50s, amid the rise of increased economic stability represented by the growing middle class and suburbanization. TIME [observed that phenomenon](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-06-16/page/63/) in 1961, as the burgeoning “wedding industry” offered many options for customizing every aspect of wedding tradition — including the cake: “In Los Angeles many brides blithely order chocolate wedding cakes instead of the traditional fruitcake,” the story noted, and one planner encouraged the couple’s parents to arrange to store “a layer of frozen wedding cake for presentation to the bride and groom as a first-wedding-anniversary present.” That business would only get [bigger ](http://time.com/4818805/bachelorette-parties-history-rough-night/)in the age of television and then the Internet, and so did the [rituals](http://time.com/4818805/bachelorette-parties-history-rough-night/) it supports. And no matter what the Supreme Court decides, the cake’s meanings will continue to evolve. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Pictures marking such an event as this royal engagement would not be complete without focusing for a moment on the diamond and platinum engagement ring. It is a glimpse of two very happy people, which appeals to us. Before the great news was given, the princess' fiance was quite unknown to the people of Britain. Now everyone knows he's twenty- nine, the same age as Princess Margaret and he's unconventional, talented, and very popular. That he's a commoner is proof that it's a romantic love match Match. A royal romance in Britain. An announcement from the Palace and a sapphire and diamond ring have now set the seal on a romance which had been rumored for months. [ MUSIC ] [ SOUND ] Thank you. I managed to take her completely by surprise. She had no idea that it was coming. [ APPLAUSE ] [ MUSIC ] Well, as you may have recognized now, it's my mother's engagement ring, so, of course it's very special to me. It was my way of making sure my mother didn't miss out on today, and the excitement, and the fact that we're going to spend the rest of our live together. How are you both feeling? You know, Thrilled. Over the moon, very glad it's not raining as well . >> And Meghan how are you feeling ? >> So happy . >> Harry, when did you know she was the one ? >> When did I know she was the one? The very first time we met. Meghan, can you show us the ring please? Thank you! Thank you! 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