Bake & Decorate

Today was the Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. (I am sure that you forgot and are just now amazed that it happened without you. Never fear, it is being shown over and over and over again throughout today ad probably for the next few months.)

Still, it is only fitting and proper that we feature a cookbook by the baker who is in charge of the Wedding Cake. Fiona Cairns has written a a lovely little baking book called Bake & Decorate. The Book came put before she got the Royal gig, so in true marketing fashion, she will be releasing a new book just in time for Christmas.


Here is Fiona with finished Wedding Cake.

This cake adorns the cover of Bake & Decorate. Care to speculate what is on the cover of the next book?

Pansy Wreath Cake

175g unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the tin
175g self-raising flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
175g golden caster sugar
the zest, finely grated, and juice of
1 large unwaxed lemon

For the topping

the juice of 1 large lemon
100g white granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Lightly butter an 18cm, 7.5cm deep, round springform tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment. Sift the flour with a pinch of salt into a bowl and set aside.

Melt the butter in a small pan and set aside to cool slightly. Using an electric whisk or mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together until very light and fluffy (about five minutes). Blend in the melted butter; then very gently fold in the flour and zest. Finally, slowly fold in the juice.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cake springs back to the touch, or a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Meanwhile, make the crunchy topping by mixing the juice and sugar together. Immediately the cake comes from the oven, prick tiny holes all over it with a fine skewer or cocktail stick. Pour the lemon syrup evenly all over the surface. Leave to cool completely in the tin.

To decorate

150g icing sugar, sifted
purple food colour
20-25 crystallised small violas and pansies
50g bag white royal icing

Place the cake upside down on your serving plate or cake stand. Tip the icing sugar into a small bowl and add 1½-2 tablespoons of water and a tiny amount of purple food colour. The icing should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Spoon it over the cake and allow it to drizzle down the sides. Arrange the violas and pansies in a circle, using the royal icing to affix them, if you like, then place a few in the middle of the cake.

Check out Prince William's cake here.

Eating Royally --REDUX

With the wedding today, we felt that we should revisit Eating Royally. Mainly we felt we should re-visit it because between the pages of this book rests the recipe for Prince William's Grooms Cake.

The actual cake is being made by McVitie's Cake Company. It is being made with the "secret" royal family recipe. McVitie's has been making cakes for royal weddings and christenings since the wedding in 1893 of the Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George V and Queen Mary. They made the 60th wedding anniversary cake for the Queen and Prince Phillip in 2007. The United Biscuits Group , who now owns McVitie's says about 1700 McVitie's Rich Tea Biscuits and over 16kg of chocolate will be used in the reception cake.


Darren McGrady, the author of Eating Royally and the chef to Princess Diana included the no-bake chocolate cake in his book. Though The United biscuit Group will not confirm that it is the recipe, it is just too close to deny.

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

1/2 teaspoon soft butter
8 ounces McVities rich tea biscuits
4 ounces soft butter
1/2 cup sugar
4 ounces dark chocolate
1 egg, beaten
8 ounces dark chocolate for icing
1 ounce white chocolate for decoration

1. Line the base of a springform pan with silicone paper, and butter the sides. Break the biscuits into almond-sized pieces and set aside.

2. Cream the sugar and butter in a bowl. Melt 4 ounces dark chocolate and mix with butter, add the beaten egg and mix well. Add biscuits and coat well.

3. Pour into the pan, making sure the bottom is well covered as this will be the top of the cake when it is unmoulded. Let set in a fridge for three hours. Let partially warm outside of the fridge while 8 ounces dark chocolate and white chocolate are melted. Flip cake and drizzle chocolate on top.

Now you too, know the secret.


As for the formal Wedding Cake, Fiona Cairns is in charge. Check out the post here.

For more Royal Wedding info head over to Lucindaville for Etiquette and a Tiara or Two!

Court Favorites

As a child, Elizabeth Craig kept a look out for unusual recipes, especially recipes dealing with the royal family. While other girls were out playing games, Craig was carefully copying out recipes from magazines and newspapers, so it is no wonder that she spent her life writing cookery books.

Court Favorites came about a fluke. Craig knew a woman who knew a Princess who had a keen interest in housewifery. They often dined together and the Princess spoke of a household scrapbook kept by Queen Victoria when she was a girl. It came to Queen Victoria from Princess Charlotte; the daughter of George IV and the Queen gave the scrapbook to a housekeeper to use.

The book had recipes written in an old Italian hand and others that were simply undecipherable. There were recipes for wine and peacock as well as elixirs for teeth and complexion. Elizabeth Craig asked if perhaps she might get a recipe or two for a book of royal recipes. Several months later she receive a large parcel of recipes and permission to reprint them Court Favorites was born.



This recipe came written in Queen Victoria's own hand:

Queen Victoria’s Marrow Toasts

Get a large marrow bone and have it well broken. Cut the marrow extracted therefrom into small pieces, about the size of a filbert nut, and parboil same for a minute in boiling water. Drain instantly upon a sieve. Season with pepper and salt, and parsley, and maybe a suspicion of shallot. Toss lightly together and spread upon crisp slices of toast. c. 1845

Ten years earlier at Kensington Palace, Queen Victoria offered up this little recipe for icing.

Icing for Cakes

Mix a pound of refined sugar, sifted very fine with the whites of twenty-four eggs, in an earthen pan. Whisk them well for three or four hours, till the whites are thick and white, and then with a thin broad knife or bunch of feathers, spread it all over the top and sides of the cake. Set the cake before a clear fire and keep it turning continually that it may not change color. But better to place in a cool oven for and hour. This will harden it.

Clearly, it pays to be a Queen. You get to live in Kensington Palace and you don't have to mow the lawn and you have someone to whisk icing for four hours! As much as I love to cook there is no way I’m whisking icing for FOUR hours.