As the cheering subsides and everyone goes back to grumbling, the Royal Wedding does seem to have made us all a little more optimistic. For once the all important cake seemed to get some of the limelight. In February Fiona Cairns got the dramatic phone call and learnt that she was commissioned to make Will and Kate’s wedding cake. (Ms Cairns cakes are sold in Harrods and Selfridges and she counts Paul McCartney among her fans – he orders one of her fruit cakes each Christmas). The cake that dominated the Picture Gallery at Buckingham Palace for the wedding of the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge took two days to set up, having been brought down from Leicestershire in sections. As well as being enormous the cake had a wealth of detail all linked to the “language of flowers”, so Ms Cairns and her crew had to dash off several bouquets’ worth of roses, daffodils, shamrock, thistles, oak leaves and acorns, myrtle, ivy leaves and lily of the valley all in white icing. It’s a far cry from that pink and yellow stalwart – the Battenberg cake – which was first created in honour of the marriage in 1884 of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter to Prince Louis of Battenberg, with the four squares representing the four Battenberg princes: Louis, Alexander, Henry and Francis Joseph.
Prince William also put in a special request for one of his childhood favourites the “chocolate biscuit cake” which has always been a winner with the sweet toothed royals. This delicacy is made from crumbled Rich Tea biscuits and dark chocolate. McVities were delighted to get the call and Paul Courtney, the firm’s cake designer and development head chef, rustled up a large and elegant version of the Windsor’s tea time staple. In some ways it was a very traditional option because McVities have made many of the wedding and christening cakes for members of the Royal Family starting with the wedding cake for the marriage of George V to Queen Mary in 1893!
Chocolate biscuit cake may be very delicious, but the hearty congratulations go to Ms Cairns and her team. Even when all the tiers have survived the journey to the venue it’s still a tense and nervous time, and until it is assembled properly there is always the unthinkable possibility of dropping a vital layer only to see it smash on the floor! Best wishes to the happy couple from all of us at Country Style.