Unless you've been living under a very heavy rock for the last five months, you should know that there was a wedding that took place on Friday. Only 1900 of the couple's closest friends attended the ceremony, 650 the reception and over two billion watched worldwide on just about every TV channel but ESPN.
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge and his bride Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. (And that random grumpy flower girl in the bottom left.)
Before I get sidetracked on how gorgeous Kate's gown was, how much in love they looked and how teary eyed I got during the constant replays of the wedding, let's focus on what is most important -- the cake of course! Royal tradition has been a tall and extravagantly decorated fruitcake. Fruitcake?! To me that seems unthinkable, but those Brits eat some strange food and I'm betting that a royal fruitcake tastes better than one you pick up at Safeway down the street at Christmas. But how does Kate and Wills creamy confection stack up to royal wedding cakes past? Let's take a look.
Queen Victoria & Prince Albert, 1840
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| Queen Victoria & Prince Albert, 1840 |
It might be hard to tell from this rendering, but this cake weighed a whooping 300 pounds and measured 9 FEET IN DIAMETER! This is still the widest cake in royal history! But it's not done yet, the cake was topped with a 2 foot tall ice sculpture. Pieces of this cake survive to this day and were even on display at Windsor Castle in 2007.
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| Prince Albert & Lady Elizabeth, 1923 |
Prince Albert & Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, 1923
There is only one thing to say about the cake created for the future Queen Mother -- Holy Moly! This cake was 10 feet tall and weighed over 800 POUNDS! This takes the cake for heaviest royal wedding cake in history. Prince William's great grandmother had quite a fanciful taste in cake...
Princess Elizabeth & Prince Phillip, 1947
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| Princess Elizabeth & Prince Phillip, 1947 |
When the future Queen of England wed her Prince, wartime rationing was in full effect. Many of the ingredients for her cake were donated from the Australian Girl Scouts own rations! Despite the restrictions, the cake still measured over 9 feet and took 5 weeks to create. Only one tier of cake was actually eaten at the wedding and the rest were donated to various schools around the country to supplement the schools rations.
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| Prince Charles & Princess Di, 1981 |
Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, 1981
Even though I wasn't born yet, I remember hearing stories from my mother of the pomp and circumstance surrounding this extravagant affair. The wedding needed 27 cakes to feed all of the guests! The main cake however was over 6 feet tall and featured the Spencer family crest and Prince Charles' coat of arms. The cost of this cake alone was near $40,000 and that was 30 years ago! In 2008, a shrink wrapped slice of this cake went for $1830 at auction. Sadly that slice outlasted the marriage and Diana.
Prince Andrew & Sarah "Fergie" Ferguson, 1986
The gossip from this union has far outlasted the marriage itself and the cake was no stranger to controversy! Fergie's cake weighed 240 pounds and was 5 and a half feet tall. But this royal fruitcake was the first to contain brandy and rum as key ingredients, which rumor has it upset the Queen. The couple also demanded that two cakes be made in case something happened to the original in transport to Buckingham Palace. But no need for that, the cake was safely delivered and cut into 2000 slices!
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| The couple enjoys their wedding lunch. |
Now I know that this next one isn't British royalty, but no royal wedding story would be complete without Princess Grace, so bear with me.
Prince Rainier III of Monaco & Grace Kelly, 1956
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| Prince Rainier & Princess Grace, 1956 |
Grace Kelly was and still is the epitome of grace and elegance. So naturally her wedding cake would be the same. This 6 tiered confection featured a built-in bird cage on the top two tiers and held a pair of live turtle doves. The doves were released when the couple cut the cake with Prince Rainier's sword!
But what about Kate and Wills?! The couple bucked royal tradition and went with British cake designer Fiona Cairns. And what a gorgeous gamble that turned out to be.
This 8 tiered fruitcake took 5 weeks to design and 900 sugar paste flowers to completely adorn it. This cake however makes Diana's look positively cheap. It's price tag came in at a paltry $78,000!
How about those 900 flowers? Each one was added with meaning and symbolism as you can see below:
- White Rose - the national symbol of England
- Daffodil - the national symbol of Wales; new beginnings
- Shamrock - the national symbol of Ireland
- Thistle - the national symbol of Scotland
- Acorns/Oak Leaf - strength and endurance
- Myrtle - love
- Ivy - wedded love; marriage
- Lily of the Valley - sweetness; humility
- Bridal Rose - happiness
- Sweet William - grant me one smile
- Honeysuckle - bond of love
- Apple Blossom - preference; good fortune
- White Heather - protection; wishes come true
- Jasmine - amiability
- Daisy - innocence; beauty; simplicity
- Orange Blossom - marriage; eternal love; fruitfulness
- Lavender - ardent attachment; devotion; success; luck
I can't imagine the amount of time, sweat, stress and tears that went into making this cake and I can only hope that one day I can create such a beautiful masterpiece! But personally, I'd rather do it without the pressure of the Queen's approval :)
On a somewhat smaller scale, but equally befitting of a princess, are cupcakes I made for my dear friend Suzanne's wedding in 2008. Her small ceremony and reception of family didn't need to feed 650 people, so a simple dozen cupcakes was quite enough.
Suzanne carried red roses in her wedding and wanted that carried through to her cake. Each vanilla-peppermint cupcake was adorned with a sugared rose petal resting on sparkling vanilla buttercream.
My favorite is the heart-shaped rose petal on the cupcake below.
Perhaps it's just the erstwhile romantic in me, but I think it is absolutely heartwarming for the world to be so caught up in such a happy occasion. And how can you resist the story of the country girl turned princess?
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