The Royal Wedding Cake: A Step-By-Step Guide

The royal wedding cake is a decadent, luxurious treat, often a multi-tiered, traditional fruit cake with white icing. The recipe for this extravagant dessert has been closely guarded, but some details have emerged, including the use of rich tamarind fruit cake batter, ivory fondant, and gold highlights. The cake is fit for royalty, with intricate pastry designs and a lengthy preparation process. The recipe for the cake, which serves about 120-150 people, includes ingredients like candied cherries, raisins, and mixed candied citrus peel, and it needs to be prepared at least a week in advance to allow the brandy to mature and absorb. For those who want to recreate a royal wedding experience, baking and decorating this cake is a challenging but rewarding endeavour.

Choosing a recipe

The recipe you choose for your royal wedding cake will depend on the flavour and style you wish to achieve.

If you are looking for a traditional fruit cake, you may wish to opt for a recipe such as the one used for Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding cake. This is a rich tamarind fruit cake, which includes candied cherries, golden and dark raisins, candied citrus peel, crystallised ginger, dried currants, and spices. The cake is then covered in marzipan and ivory fondant, with highlights of gold. This cake can be made in advance and will serve a large number of guests, approximately 120-150 people.

Alternatively, if you are looking for a more modern or unique flavour, you could consider a chocolate biscuit cake, which was chosen by Prince William for his wedding. This recipe includes dark chocolate, granulated sugar, unsalted butter, rich tea biscuits, and eggs. The cake is coated in a layer of melted chocolate and decorated with additional chocolate. This cake is a favourite of the Queen and is said to be sent into the Royal dining room repeatedly until it has all been enjoyed.

When choosing a recipe, consider the number of guests you need to serve, the level of difficulty of the recipe, and the time you have available to bake and decorate the cake.

Preparing the fruit cake batter

The day before you plan to bake the cake, begin by preparing the fruit. Rinse and dry 1 1/2 cups of candied cherries, ensuring they are thoroughly dried with paper towels. Once dry, cut each cherry in half. In a large bowl, combine the cherries with 2 cups of golden raisins, 2 cups of dark raisins (preferably Thompson), 1 1/4 cups of mixed candied citrus peel, 2/3 cup of chopped crystallized ginger, 1/2 cup of dried currants, 3 tablespoons of molasses, 3 tablespoons of bitter orange marmalade, 1 teaspoon of tamarind concentrate, the finely grated zest of one organic orange, the finely grated zest of one organic lemon, and 1 heaped tablespoon of apple pie spice. Pour in 6 tablespoons of brandy and stir the mixture well. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature overnight.

The following day, preheat your oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a 9-inch springform pan by lightly buttering it and lining the bottom and sides with parchment paper. To protect the cake from scorching, wrap the outside of the pan with brown paper and secure it with string.

Your batter is now ready to be used in the cake!

Icing the cake

First, prepare your icing or fondant. For a royal wedding cake, a white or ivory fondant is traditional, often with highlights of gold. Roll out the fondant with a rolling pin on a smooth surface dusted with confectioner's sugar. The fondant should be rolled out to a thickness of about 3-5mm. Cut out circular pieces of fondant, each one large enough to cover the top and sides of each cake tier.

Next, place one of your baked and cooled cake tiers onto a thin cake board. Brush the top and sides of the cake with warmed apricot jam that has been pushed through a sieve to create a smooth glaze. This will act as a sticky base for your fondant to adhere to. Carefully lift one of your rolled-out fondant circles and drape it over the cake, smoothing it down the sides with your hands or a smooth tool, such as a fondant smoother. Trim off any excess fondant from the base of the cake with a sharp knife. Repeat this process for each tier.

Once all your tiers are covered in fondant, you can begin assembling your cake. Place each tier onto a cake drum, with the largest tier on the bottom and the smallest on top. Use dowels or supports to ensure the stability of the cake.

Finally, you can add the decorative details. For a royal wedding cake, gold highlights can be added using edible gold paint or gold leaf. Other decorations might include intricate piping, sugar flowers, or monograms. Remember to plan your design carefully and allow yourself plenty of time to create a truly regal cake fit for a royal wedding!

Decorating the cake

First, cover the cake in a thin layer of apricot jam, which has been gently warmed and pushed through a sieve. Next, roll out your marzipan to a thickness of 3–4mm. You will need 6.75 pounds of marzipan to cover the cake. Smooth the marzipan over the cake, ensuring there are no air bubbles. Leave the cake for 24 hours to let the marzipan dry.

Roll out your ivory fondant to a thickness of 5mm and cover the cake, again making sure there are no air bubbles. Smooth the fondant with smoothers or your hands, then cut off any excess with a pizza cutter. Leave the cake for another 24 hours.

Finally, it's time to add the gold highlights. You can use gold dust or gold paint to add some glamour to your cake. You can also use gold leaf, which you can buy from most cake-decorating shops. Use a small, dry paintbrush to apply the gold leaf to the cake.

If you are making a chocolate biscuit cake, like the one served at Prince William's wedding, you will need to melt 8 ounces of dark chocolate and pour it over the cake. Smooth the top and sides with a palette knife and let the chocolate set at room temperature. Then, melt the remaining 1 ounce of chocolate and use it to decorate the top of the cake.

Assembling the cake

To assemble the cake, you will need cake boards and drums in three sizes: 8-inch, 10-inch, and 12-inch squares. You will also need square cake pans in 6-inch, 8-inch, and 10-inch sizes.

Start by making the cake batter, which should be a rich tamarind fruit cake batter. The recipe for this batter includes candied cherries, golden and dark raisins, mixed candied citrus peel, crystallized ginger, dried currants, molasses, bitter orange marmalade, tamarind concentrate, orange and lemon zest, apple pie spice, brandy, blanched almonds, self-rising flour, unsalted butter, brown sugar, almond flour, and eggs.

Once the batter is prepared, grease your cake pans with butter and line them with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pans, making sure to only fill each pan about halfway. Wrap the outside of the pans with brown paper and secure it with string, which will protect the cakes from scorching.

Bake the cakes according to the recipe instructions. Once they are done, let them cool completely before removing them from the pans.

To assemble the tiers, place each cake on a thin cake board that is sized up from the cake itself (so the 6-inch cake goes on the 8-inch board, and so on). Use apricot jam as a glue to attach the cakes to the boards. Once the cakes are secure, brush them with brandy to feed them and let them mature.

Next, cover each cake with a layer of marzipan, followed by a layer of ivory fondant. You can add gold highlights to the fondant for decoration, or stick to white if preferred.

Finally, stack the cakes on top of each other, with the largest cake on the bottom and the smallest on top. Secure each tier with wooden dowels to ensure the cake is stable.

Frequently asked questions