Tradition Breaker: Baker Claire Ptak Reveals Royal Cake Secrets
The ingredient list includes 200 Amalfi lemons and 500 organic eggs.
Image: Hannah McKay/AFP/Getty Images
We learned back in March that Claire Ptak of London’s Violet Bakery would be cranking out the royal wedding cake, but aside from the basic ingredients and flavor profile—consisting of elderflower and lemon with buttercream frosting—we didn't know much.
That changed this week, when the royal family opened up the kitchens of Buckingham Palace for a media demo, in which Ptak spilled the beans to the press. Without spoiling the surprise of the its final, decorated appearance, Ptak composed a sample of the sponge cake—a break in the long tradition of royal wedding fruitcakes.
If you want to replicate the three-tiered layer cake this weekend for your early-morning viewing party, you're going to need a whole lot of ingredients. According to The Independent, the cake recipe calls for 200 Amalfi lemons, 10 bottles of Sandringham elderflower syrup, 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of butter, 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of sugar and 500 organic eggs (specifically from Suffolk).
The lemon will partially be used to make the sponge cake layers, which will be coated with elderflower syrup. A lemon curd will be sandwiched, along with buttercream, between the layers. The outer frosting will be an elderflower meringue buttercream.
Ptak claims that the layout of the cake will be “non-traditional,” so don’t expect three cakes stacked on top of one another. She described the taste of the cake as “ethereal.”
Confident in her team’s logistical skills, Ptak has opted not to create a backup cake. Any leftovers will be donated to charity.
Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong, lest the ants on the ground become the first ones to taste this world-famous cake.
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