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Royal Wedding cake to contain 200 lemons, elderflower from Queen's Sandringham estate and displayed

MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry's lemon and elderflower wedding cake will be displayed in a special installation, their baker has revealed.

Claire Ptak, who is making the culinary centrepiece for the couple's big day, said the layered cake will contain 200 Amalfi lemons and elderflower from The Queen's Sandringham estate.

The final design will be unveiled on the big day although Meghan and Harry are in on the plans.

She said: "You'll have to wait and see on the day. It's an installation of the way that we're putting it out.

"It's the last thing that we'll reveal. It's a non-traditional layout. It's a slight shift from tradition."

The chef, who owns the small, trendy Violet Bakery in east London, has been working with her team of six bakers full time for five days in the large kitchens of Buckingham Palace.

What we know so far…

She described the flavour of the cake as being a balance of sweet and tart, combined with "ethereal" elderflower.

The cake, which is being decorated on the outside with a white, elderflower swiss meringue buttercream, is made of layered lemon sponge, drizzled with an elderflower syrup to a recipe specially created for the couple.

The layers are sandwiched with buttercream and lemon curd.

Some 200 Amalfi lemons are being used in the recipe, as well as 10 bottles of Sandringham Elderflower Cordial made using elderflower from the Queen's Sandringham estate, 44lbs of butter, 44lbs of flour, 44lbs of sugar and 500 organic eggs from Suffolk.

Claire said: "It's a lemon sponge - a special sponge that I developed just for the couple, and we drizzle the layers with elderflower cordial from the Sandringham estate so it's really lovely and as local as you can get.

"We have a lemon curd made from Amalfi lemons which to me have the most delicious flavour. And then we've got elderflower swiss meringue buttercream."

She added: "The buttercream is sweet and the lemon curd is very tart so you get a very lovely thing happening when you take a bite, which is to get all of these flavours and sensations perfectly balanced."

Claire, who is American like Ms Markle, said; "The elderflower is so quintessentially British to me as a Californian.

"It's of this moment. It's May so they're just opening this week.

How to make a lemon and elderflower drizzle cake

This Belvoir Fruit Farms recipe could be ideal if you are hosting a royal wedding party on the day.

The website says the following recipe serves 12, takes 20 minutes to prep and 45-50 minutes of baking time.

Ingredients

  • 225g/8oz butter, softened
  • 225g/8oz caster sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 225g/8oz self-raising flour, sifted
  • zest and juice 1 lemon
  • 100ml/4fl oz Belvoir Elderflower Cordial
  • 30ml/2tbsp granulated sugar

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/Gas Mark 4. Grease a 20cm round, deep, loose-based tin and line with baking parchment.
  • Place the butter, sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl. Use an electric whisk to beat the butter and sugar together until they are pale and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, whisking well between additions and adding 2 tbsp of the flour with the last egg – this will prevent curdling.
  • Sift over the remaining flour, then gently fold in with a metal spoon along with 2 tbsp hot water. Spoon into the prepared tin, level the surface and bake for 45-50mins or until it is shrinking away from the sides of the tin. A fine skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 mins.
  • Squeeze the lemon juice, then sieve to remove the bits, and stir in the cordial. Use a fine skewer to prick the cake all over. Pour over the syrup, then sprinkle over the sugar – it should sink in but leave a crunchy crust.
  • Alternatively decorate the top with a thin glaze made from icing sugar and lemon juice. Add edible flowers.
  • Leave to cool completely before removing the cake from the tin.

    • Reproduced with permission from Belvoir Fruit Farms.

    "It's a kind of an ethereal, floral flavour which I think is very special, especially for a wedding."

    Slices of the cake will be served to the 600 guests at the lunchtime reception in St George's Hall after the ceremony.

    Three types of Meghan's favourite flowers peonies - Madame Claude, Bowl of Cream, and the aptly titled Duchess - in shades of white and cream will decorate the cakes, along with four different white and cream roses - Patience, Purity, Jeanne Moreau and Princess Miyuki.

    The flowers will be removed before guests tuck in to the cake, but the slices will be served with edible rose petals.

    The team from Violet Bakery, who were dressed in matching white polo necks, khaki trousers and cream aprons, have been working busily in the well quipped palace kitchen.

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    Claire, who was on Thursday removing one of the circular cakes from its large tin, before beginning to ice it with buttercream, was helped by Violet Bakery's head baker Izaak Adams.

    She added of how the baking was going: "There's a few logistics of serving so many people at the same time. But it's been a great process."

    She said Harry and Meghan loved the lemon and elderflower cake after trying a number of different samples.

    "They loved it. They tried quite a collection. What they said to me is that they really loved the idea of the seasonality and the freshness."

    Claire is not making a back up cake in case of a disaster, saying: "It's cake. It can't go that wrong.

    "We have enough cake and we don't want to be wasteful. Anything that is left over, we were going to donate to charity."

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    The chef had to call in some of her former workers to have enough staff to work on the cake and keep her bakery open.

    Part of the cake is still being baked and iced.

    It will be transported to Windsor Castle where the flowers will be added, and the installation assembled on the morning of the wedding.

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