Nearly all cultures include some kind of food or feasting in their marriage celebrations. Traditional Chinese banquets include up to twelve courses of delicacies. Caribbean wedding guests are treated to a rich black cake made with fruit and rum. Dutch wedding desserts are a cornucopia cake or a rich marzipan cake. Malaysian weddings guests get decorated hard-boiled eggs, a symbol of fertility, in lieu of cake. While Ukrainian couples share korovai, a wedding bread that represents eternity and the joining of two families.

The traditional Icelandic Wedding Cake, is designed by layering (wedding) rings of almond pastry of decreasing diameters. The rings are piled one on top of another to make a ring structure that looks much like the stacking ring toy we all played with as toddlers. The rings are coated with white icing and filled with the finest chocolates or candies.

This recipe is the updated version of that cake. To taste its best, the cake should be baked at least 4 weeks before the event. The literal translation of Vínarterta is "Vienna cake" and the recipe for a 9 inch round cake with five layer, follows.

Filling:
1 lb. pitted prunes cold water ¾ c. regular sugar ½ c. cooking liquid 1 T. cinnamon 1 T. vanilla

Layers:
waxed paper 9 inch round cake tins 1 c. salted butter 1½ c. super fine fruit sugar 2 eggs 4 c. flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. ground cardamom 3 T. cream 1 T. almond extract

Preparation:
1. Filling: Cut each prune in half and remove any pits. Immerse the prunes into a pot of cold water. Cover. Bring to a boil. Simmer 10-15 minutes until tender. Watch carefully, so the prunes don't burn. 2. Drain and reserve liquid. 3. Put prunes into food chopper and purée. 4. Return the prunes to pot. Add sugar, cooking liquid and cinnamon. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring constantly until thick. Watch for burning. When the prunes resemble boiling chocolate pudding and you can see the bottom of the pot for a longer bit of time after each time you stir, the prune mixture is ready. 5. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Cool. 6. Layers: Using the outside of one of the cake tins, trace 9 inch circle onto waxed paper. Cut out five circles. Set aside. 7. Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs one at a time. 8. Into a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and cardamom. If you've bought whole cardamom pods, remove the outer husk and grind the seeds in a coffee grinder. Green cardamom pods are preferable to white or brown. 9. Add a small amount of dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix in cream and almond extract. Mix in rest of flour. 10. Divide the dough into five equal parts. Put a waxed paper round into each of the two 9 inch cake tins. Press one ball each onto wax papered 9 inch cake tins. Make sure they are even and flat. Bake only two at a time at 375 degrees, until each is very delicate gold on the edge. (10-12 minutes) 11. Let each layer cool separately. 12. Assembly: Put cooled layers together with prune filling evenly distributed in four parts. There is no prune filling on the top layer. 13. Wrap tightly in plastic then again in foil and in another plastic bag or cake tin. Store in a cooler part of the kitchen (not in the refrigerator for about three weeks before serving. When the cake is served, cut it in small squares.

This cake is never iced, not even for weddings.