Tuesday 20 March 2018

Royal Wedding Countdown: the cake takes shape


Not one but two royal wedding staples have taken a tumble today. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have chosen a lemon and elderflower sponge for their marriage celebrations which means that as well as taking a swerve on the royal tradition of a fruit cake for the big day, they’ve also ensured that another regal custom will be broken. Yep, you can rest easy. This is one royal wedding cake that has no chance of turning up at auction.

I have to say I’m quite relieved. The hygiene obsessed part of me always starts to tremble slightly when another piece of fruit cake cut from an ancient royal wedding pastry appears at auction. Whether it was sliced from William and Kate’s cake or put away for safe keeping after the Queen and Prince Philips’s wedding, I’m always anxious when it reappears in its slightly dusty box, yours for a small fortune and please, please don’t try to eat it.

There will be none of that for Harry and Meghan’s cake. They’ve asked Claire Ptak of Violet Bakery to create a lemon and elderflower cake which will most definitely be a sponge and covered in buttercream for good measure which means it’s not going to last beyond the end of their honeymoon. So if you are lucky enough to get a slice, just eat the thing and don’t put it on ebay.





Meghan has known Claire Ptak for a while and interviewed her for her lifestyle blog, The Tig. Claire’s own website states that elderflower is one of her go to buttercreams for spring cakes, adding that all her icings are made using home made cordials or fresh fruit purees. All the ingredients are organic, too, so the father of the groom will be delighted.

Elderflower has been used in food and drink for centuries and it’s steeped in all kinds of legends. It’s meant to be rather good at helping mums get over childbirth (double doses then for the Duchess of Cambridge who will be attending just weeks after the arrival of baby number three) while the Victorians loved a drop or five of elderflower cordial. Lemon is about as spring like as it comes while the cake will be decked with flowers to give a real taste of sunshine.

Another day, another crumb about the wedding (see what I did there? OK, I won’t do it again). But like everything to do with the big bash at Windsor this May, it’s already huge news. Who knew, first thing this morning, that lemon and elderflower cake would end the day as the must have bake? In a world filled with uncertainty, there is always cake and this is a royal trendsetter.

Photo credit: Clarence House Instagram

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