A wedding cake is simply a traditional cake served to the guests at a wedding, after a wedding or during a wedding. It is usually a large cake, multi-layered or tiered, and heavily decorated with icing, occasionally over a layer of marzipan or fondant, topped with a small statue representing the couple. Other common motifs include doves, gold rings and horseshoes, the latter symbolising good luck. Achieving a dense, strong cake that can support the decorations while remaining edible can be considered the epitome of the baker's art and skill.

Tradition generally requires that the first cut of the cake be performed by bride and groom together, often with a ceremonial knife. An older tradition had the bride serve all portions to the groom's family, as a symbolic transfer of her household labor from her family to the groom's family.

Tradition may also dictate that the bride and groom feed the first bites of this cake to each other. Again, this may symbolize the new family unit formed and the replacement of the old parent-child union. It is also fairly popular for the bride and groom to shove the cake in each other's faces, rather than eating it.

Other guests may then partake of the cake, portions may be taken home or shipped to people who missed the festivities. (An old tradition held that if a bridesmaid slept with a piece of wedding cake beneath her pillow she might dream of her future husband.)

A portion may be stored, and eaten by the couple at their first wedding anniversary, or at the christening of their first child- The cake may be frozen for this purpose, formerly the top tier of the cake might consist of fruitcake which could be stored for a great length of time.