I know, you read the title and said, cake pulls? I thought southerners were in to truck pulls…Never heard of a cake pull, and what does it have to do with wedding traditions?  A cake pull actually comes to us from our Victorian ancestors and as it turns out that Southerners are the ones who usually carry on this tradition.

What Is A Cake PULL

A cake pull is where the wedding cake has silk ribbons with charms slipped under the last layer.  These charms are made of sterling silver. Traditionally the charms are a ring, a heart, a star, hot air balloon, and anchor, to name a few. These charms have symbolic meaning.  The charms are placed under the last layers and are made to easily pull out by the brides maids as the tradition goes.  If a bride’s maid pulled out the ring, this symbolizes a wedding in the future. A star symbolizes wishes come true while a heart means a new love.

Sad but true a friend of a friend decided she was going to do the cake pull tradition at her wedding.  Except she baked the cake pulls into her cake. (Not a good idea, it ruins the cake when you pull the charms out.) If you decided to do this tradition, please make sure you have the bakery put the charms under the last layer and I also recommend that they use some parchment paper between the cake and the cake pulls, this makes it easier to pull them out.

Modern Day Cake Pulls

I suggest using the cake pull tradition but not with the wedding cake.  Imagine the horror of someone pulling the cake pull a bit to roughly and your whole wedding cake falling to the floor.  My suggestion is to do it as a separate cake for the bridesmaids, maybe at the bridal shower, or as a novel way to give the bridesmaids their bridesmaid’s gifts.  You can personalize them by choosing charms that means something to you and your bridesmaids.

I also like the idea that the Bride's Mother and the Groom's Mother have their own Mother's cake and this is where the cake pulls are.  This idea works well for small weddings. The mothers buy the charms and have the cake made. As the guests come into the reception hall each guest is asked to do a cake pull.  Each guest then gives the bride the charms for her to put on a bracelet that the fathers have bought and given to the bride.

Don't you agree that the tradition of cake pulls needs to make a come back, of course with a modern twist?