Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton have named Fiona Cairns (Leicestershire, England) the official cake designer of their upcoming (April 29th) wedding. The wedding cake, the centerpiece of the reception at Buckingham Palace, will be a multi-tiered traditional English fruit cake. The cake will be decorated with cream and white icing and have a British floral theme using the Joseph Lambeth technique.
Decorated with William and Kate’s new emblem (officially released on their wedding day), the cake will also be embellished with flowers from the home lands: English rose, Scottish thistle, Welsh daffodil and Irish shamrock.
For the groom's cake, Prince William has requested a McVitie's chocolate biscuit cake, one of his childhood favorites. McVitie's Cake Company (the United Biscuits Group) have made many of the wedding and christening cakes for members of the Royal family since the marriage of His Majesty King George V to HM Queen Mary (1893).
Fiona Cairns
Fiona Cairns, the 56-year-old cake designer, started her cake business 25 years ago at her kitchen table. Today, her factory produces 120,000 cakes a year, selling to Harrods, Selfridges and Waitrose. In the early 1980's, when Fiona and her husband moved from London to the countryside of Leicestershire, Fiona left her job in graphics and became a pastry chef in a nearby Michelin-starred restaurant. One Christmas, she made some miniature cakes as gifts.Her husband and friends were so impressed they encouraged Fiona to start her own baking business. Fiona's vintage-style cakes express her creative style, love of flowers and use traditional British ingredients.
The Joseph Lambeth Technique
The Lambeth Method is a style of decorating that was popular in England where bakers use intricate piping to create scrollwork, leaves, flowers, and other decorations on a cake. The Lambeth Method is still popular today and is frequently used by wedding cake decorators to create elegant traditional wedding cakes, often adorned with fresh flowers or fruit.Each of the 17 different flower designs on the official wedding cake has their own individual meaning according to the Language of Flowers. They include:
- White Rose - National symbol of England
- Daffodil – National symbol of Wales, new beginnings
- Shamrock – National symbol of Ireland
- Thistle – National symbol of Scotland
- Acorns, Oak Leaf – Strength, endurance
- Myrtle – Love
- Ivy – Wedded Love, Marriage
- Lily-of-the-Valley – Sweetness, Humility
- Rose (Bridal) – Happiness, Love.
- Sweet William – Grant me one smile
- Honeysuckle – The Bond of Love
- Apple Blossom – Preference, Good Fortune
- White Heather – Protection, Wishes will come true
- Jasmine (White) – Amiability
- Daisy – Innocence, Beauty, Simplicity
- Orange Blossom – Marriage, Eternal Love, Fruitfulness
- Lavender – ardent attachment, devotion, success, and luck.
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