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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

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

From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2026

The early embrace of sunshine as an antiseptic, formalized in New York’s wedding cake towers that were required to step back gradually from the street, soon morphed into a generalized opposition to tall buildings.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2025

To celebrate, Charlie - who is a professional baker - brought a wedding cake from their home in Yorkshire, and distributed slices to the audience.

From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2025

Together they stood on the sidewalk and gazed at the wedding cake in the window.

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

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

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 14, 2024

On a summer afternoon before the crowds arrive, it’s utterly serene, a reflection of Salzburg’s wedding-cake grace.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 19, 2022

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

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