A Cake Fit for a (future) King and Queen

When I first heard about the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine "Kate" Middleton, I probably didn't have the same reaction as most women.


"Aww he gave her his mother's ring!"
"What designer will Kate wear?"
"He sure did wait long enough to propose to her!"
"What celebrities are invited to the wedding?"
"But I'm supposed to marry Prince William!!"

My first reaction: "I wonder what their wedding cake will look like!" Okay, okay I know most of you are pretty sick of hearing about the wedding and are happy that it's finally over with so I'm just going to do a quick commentary on the wedding cake because, well, I'm a baker and I think that Fiona Cairns deserves all the recognition for the beautiful cake she created.

Source for all pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishmonarchy/

Kudos to Fiona Cairns for leaving her graphics design job in the mid 80s to pursue something that she loved doing. She started her business making cakes for friends at her kitchen table and now here she is selling thousands of cakes a week to some of the biggest stores in London. Then to be chosen to make the cake for a royal wedding is amazing. I'm sure thousands of pastry chefs would have died to have that opportunity. From the distant photo of the cake, it looks so simple but up close, it's insane how many details are on this cake. The 8 tiers of fruitcake (I know some of you are making that yucky face but I personally like fruitcake!) covered in cream and icing took her and her team 5 weeks to complete. The piping (the intricate designs on the cake) and string work (royal icing that hangs suspended away from the cake itself) are beautiful and I could not imagine how much time that alone took. Coming from a person who is learning to pipe details, it's not in any way easy on your hands that NEED to remain steady. There are 900 (!!!!) sugar paste flowers of 17 varieties that range from roses, shamrocks, orange and apple blossoms, acorn and oak leaves, etc. that have different meanings for the couple and their families. The only thing that I wish this cake had was a little color. I understand that the bride wanted to keep it elegant but for it being a spring wedding, I think it would have popped more if it were like an English garden and had touches of color here and there in the flowers. But then I saw the groom's cake made by McVities.....

....I think I understood why it was all white. I think the two cakes were a perfect contrast to each other with the groom's cake being dark, angular, and had modern water lilies....very masculine while the main wedding cake is light, rounded, and covered in traditional flowers. You can tell there was not only a lot of hard work but lots of thought put into these cakes.


As a few people know, I'll be heading to London in the fall and I would love to indulge a tiny bit by purchasing a McVities chocolate biscuit (from what I understand, it's like a shortbread cookie to us in the States) and one of Fiona Cairns's fruitcakes from Harrod's. Her website boasts that her cakes not only look good but they taste just as good.


On a side note, I'm currently taking a cake design and flowers cake class on Monday nights. I had my first class last night and we made button flowers and pansies. What did I learn tonight in class: 1) Gum paste and fondant are NOT my mediums of choice. 2) My teacher talks really really fast so who knows what I'll be able to retain 3) I need to put my wedding ring away before class (it went flying when I took it off to roll fondant. I nearly had a heart attack but I did find it!) Next week I'll be making sugar flowers made of royal icing and I'll finally have a piping bag in hand....something I know I am much better at. I promise I'll give an update next week on how class goes. Fiona Cairns better watch out! I might be making Prince Harry's wedding cake soon! ;D


Fiona Cairns website: http://www.fionacairns.com/

Source for more cake details and the meanings for the various flowers: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1381944/Royal-Wedding-cake-Kate-Middleton-requested-8-tiers-decorated-900-flowers.html