Monday, 1 August 2011

Prince William and Kate Middleton - The Royal Wedding Cake Epiphany

 I know this gist is as stale as a Karl Lagerfield's Chanel purse from last season but just yesterday I came across a picture of the royal wedding cake. I had seen it before, I was sure I had seen it many times. Who can forget the endless news pouring in on April 29th giving us detail to detail information about the wedding from the bride's dress to the guest list and then the dress code and even Victoria Beckham's funny hat and cute baby bump.And as usual the cake along with everything else had been hyped. I had taken a glance at the cake then but took no note of it cos I thought as with eveything that concerns the royal family it was overly hyped.
The Royal Wedding Cake in all its glory
  But yesterday it struck me in a totally different way. My friend flipped open her lappy and right on the screen was a magnificient cake.I didnt even remember it from the wedding. It was so beautiful- an amazing masterpiece. 'Where is this cake from? I asked.  She squealed 'Ha! see this raz girl o! A whole CEO of Cakes by MizVuitton!'  I prodded her a little and she said it was cake from the royal wedding.  I stood aghast and drew closer to the PC to take an even closer look.

It was beautiful indeed, an infinite masterpiece. In all its glory. it stood beautiful. A beautiful part of history, it was. I looked at the detail on the cake, intricate piping was used to make a three dimensional scroll work, leaves, flowers and other adornments. This technique is known in cake parlance as the Joseph Lambert technique. I immediately doffed my hat for whomever made the cake. I took the laptop and googled the cake maker. It was the famous Fiona Cairns, I wasnt surprised. It had taken her 5 weeks to make and decorate the cake. According to her " I could not believe I finished it in time but we were all really pleased with it,” She says. “I worked at the palace for two days before the wedding setting it up with my team. The hardest part was transporting the cake from Leicestershire to the palace.
Fiona Cairns and her team assembling the Royal Wedding Cake


  Well done Fiona Cairns. It may interest you to know that Fiona Cairns started baking on her kitchen table and now employs over 50 people, that's me in a matter of seconds, gorrit?

The cake is an eight tiered cake decorated in cream and white icing and about 900 delicate sugar paste flowers which symbolizes different things. the cake itself is a rich fruit cake though Ms. Cairns refused to reveal all her ingredients (I was looking to steal some ideas *wink*) It contained a range of produce from dried fruits such as raisins and sultanas to walnuts, cherries, grated oranges and lemon, French brandy and free-range eggs and flour.

From what I was able to gather, The wedding  cake was made up of 17 individual cakes, with 12 forming the base..

  It may also interest you to know that each flower on the cake represents something Rose(white) represents England's national symbol, Daffodil represents the national symbol of Wales, Shamrock represents the national symbol of Ireland while Thistle represents Scotland. These 4 states form what is known as the United Kingdom. The other flowers represent different things ranging from love to marriage, happiness, humility etc.
Garland on the cake matched the architectural garland in the room, the wedding cake was indeed a stunning centrepiece at the Buckingham palace-650 guest reception

You just gotta love the English people especially the royal family.... too much effizy!!!