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• wedding cake
  wedding cake

  noun

  a white cake, traditionally in tiered layers, covered with white icing and decorated.
• wedding-cake
  wedding-cake

  adjective

  highly ornate or overly elaborate.

wedding cake

¹ American  

noun

• wedding cakes
  plural

1. a white cake, traditionally in tiered layers, covered with white icing and decorated.

2. (in England) a fruit cake, similar in appearance.

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wedding-cake ² American  

[wed-ing-keyk] / ˈwɛd ɪŋˌkeɪk /

adjective

1. highly ornate or overly elaborate.

   wedding-cake architecture.

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wedding cake British  

noun

1. a rich fruit cake, with one, two, or more tiers, covered with almond paste and decorated with royal icing, which is served at a wedding reception

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• wedding cakes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of wedding cake¹

First recorded in 1640–50

Origin of wedding-cake²

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wedding cake wedding-cake

Colleton’s 1820 Greek Revival courthouse is elegant like a wedding cake.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026

The two were deep in conversation about olive oil, wedding cake and other culinary matters, while nearby his co-star Lionel Boyce leaned in for a huddle with “The Studio” co-creator Seth Rogen.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026

This is not a wedding cake; it’s a celebration among friends.

From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2026

With its butter yellow paint, green shutters, and white railings, Gracie Mansion is a wedding cake of a house overlooking the East River.

From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2025

So although I had to tell Izzy Diamondstein what had happened to Allen, I didn't say a word about the top of the wedding cake.

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

Not just standard wedding-cake topper, 1990s romantic-comedy love, but inclusive love.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 14, 2024

The southeastern German state now manages 45 palaces, including the wedding-cake piles of King Ludwig II, who essentially abandoned his royal duties to build some of Europe’s most ornate castles.

From New York Times ● Nov. 4, 2020

For on the fast and sloping practice green between ACC’s first tee and its massive wedding-cake clubhouse, late-afternoon putting matches are a rich thread in the Masters Week tapestry.

From Golf Digest ● Mar. 27, 2017

But then, every once in a while, I’d be in Radcliffe Square and suddenly find myself taken aback at the glory of the place: the wedding-cake Camera.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 7, 2016

There was a strange rumour in Highbury of all the little Perrys being seen with a slice of Mrs. Weston’s wedding-cake in their hands: but Mr. Woodhouse would never believe it.

From "Emma" by Jane Austen