Instead of selecting a traditional British fruitcake, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle enlisted Claire Ptak, a London-based pastry chef from California, to make a spring-inspired, lemon elderflower cake for their wedding on May 19. The cake is "decorated with Swiss meringue buttercream and 150 fresh flowers, including peonies and roses," per Kensington Palace. Here's what the final version looks like:
The wedding cake is to be served at the Reception. It was designed by Claire Ptak and features elderflower syrup made at The Queen’s residence in Sandringham from the estate’s own elderflower trees, as well as a light sponge cake uniquely formulated for the couple. #royalwedding pic.twitter.com/kt5lE4tEn9May 19, 2018
The day before the wedding, Kensington Palace revealed the ingredients of the gorgeous cake—including (wait for it) 200 Amalfi lemons, 500 organic eggs from Suffolk, 20 kgs (or around 40 pounds) each of butter, flour, and sugar, and 10 bottles of Sandringham Elderflower Cordial.
🍋 200 Amalfi lemons🥚 500 organic eggs from Suffolk🐄 20kgs of butter🍰 20kgs of flour🍬 20kgs of sugar🥃 10 bottles of Sandringham Elderflower CordialThe baking of the #RoyalWedding cake is under way! pic.twitter.com/b3jhwtOwOPMay 18, 2018
The wedding cake baker was announced in a tweet from Kensington Palace back in March and Londoners have been flocking to Ptak's store, Violet Bakery, ever since.
For their wedding cake Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle have chosen pastry chef Claire Ptak, owner of the London-based bakery @violetcakes. pic.twitter.com/Rx36WBt7kCMarch 20, 2018
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Kensington Palace also revealed in a series of tweets, "Prince Harry and Ms. Markle have asked Claire to create a lemon elderflower cake that will incorporate the bright flavours of spring. It will be covered with buttercream and decorated with fresh flowers."
And that's not all. According to Kensington Palace, Markle knew the chef, Ptak, prior to moving to London. As another tweet read, "Ptak, who was raised in California, focuses on using seasonal and organic ingredients in her cakes. Ms. Markle previously interviewed Chef Ptak for her former lifestyle website The Tig."
Prince Harry and Ms. Markle are looking forward to sharing the cake with guests at their wedding at Windsor Castle on May 19th.March 20, 2018
But perhaps the sweetest tweet of all revealed that "Prince Harry and Ms. Markle are looking forward to sharing the cake with guests at their wedding at Windsor Castle on May 19th."
In an excited post, Ptak also announced the news on her Instagram account:
She wrote, "Kinda excited to announce this one!! Violet has been chosen to make the wedding cake for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. @kensingtonroyal They both share so many of the same values regarding food provenance, sustainability, seasonality and of course, flavour! Xxx."
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