THE STORY OF THE ROYAL WEDDING CAKE
of
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES
and
THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL

My sister in law, Mary Robinson & myself Dawn Blunden can reveal one of the best kept secrets of
The Royal Wedding, we were given the honour of making the wedding cake for Prince Charles
& Camilla Parker Bowles.

My son Darren, a freelance chef who cooks for the Prince on occasion, happened to mention that his mum
and aunt ran a small specialist cake business in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire and we were asked to send some
of our rich fruit cake to the palace for His Royal Highness to taste. He enjoyed it and we were later asked to
supply 3 different types of cake for sale at his Highgrove gift shop.

Several months later we were asked to attend a meeting at Clarence House in London to discuss the wedding cake.
Having secured the commission we were given just 4 weeks notice to plan, bake and decorate not only the
huge wedding cake itself but 2,500 slices of additional cake for special commemorative tins, all the while keeping
the whole thing secret!

We began by working out the amounts of ingredients needed and ordering extra tins. The octagonal tin, for the
top tier, had to be specially made. My brother an engineer came to the rescue and made it for us. All the local
chickens were working overtime frantically laying the 1080 eggs we needed!
We then phoned a trusted friend in Norfolk to use his bakery. Three days were spent double lining tins, mixing
all the ingredients by hand and baking 93 x12 inch (31cm ) rich fruit cakes and of course the large octagonal
top tier.
All this then had to be transported back to Lincolnshire. 20 bottles of brandy were then used to feed all the cakes.
Our adult education students, all being sworn to secrecy, were drafted in to help cut, coat and wrap the 2,500
slices which measured 2 x 4 x 1 inches (5x10x 2.5cm). 8 of the 12 inch (31cm) cakes were used for the bottom
tier of the wedding cake which measured (uncoated) 24 inches (61cm) square and 6 inches (16cm) deep,
the octagonal top tier was 18 inches (46cm) across the base and again 6 inches (16cm) deep.

The palace supplied the base board, a beautiful piece of solid oak, bevelled around the edges and measuring
30 inches (76cm) square and 2 inches (5cm) depth. When finished the mammoth cake weighed in at a staggering
17 stone (110kg)!
We spent the last few days prior to the wedding finishing it under lock and key in front of the altar of our village
Methodist church. It took approximately 130 hours to coat and decorate. Delicate sugar roses, leeks, daffodils
and thistles ( to depict England, Scotland and Wales) lay alongside royal iced lattice work and 4 of the Prince’s
Royal Crests all hand iced in royal icing. The finished pure white cake was stunning.
Some of the ingredients used:
383lb (175kg) dried fruit
139lb (63kg) sugar
139lb (63kg) flour
139lb (63kg) butter
1080 eggs
36 bottles of alcohol
220lb (100kg) marzipan
220lb (100kg) sugarpaste
And lastly a lot of blood, sweat and tears!

We asked and received permission from the palace to make a full size replica and they were kind enough to send
back the original oak board. So this time with no pressure, a large portion of insanity and with the participation of
our students we did it all over again!!
It was a monumental job to have taken on and we feel honoured to have done it we also feel so proud to have
achieved what we did, but we couldn’t have done it without the help of everyone involved. The replica is now
on show at the shop Sophisticake, Unit 6, The Broadway Centre, Woodhall Spa.