Royal Icing: The Wedding Cake of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

The Wedding Cake of the Duke
and Duchess of York
McVitie & Price, 1923
The Royal Collection

Royal weddings are historically lavish affairs. For example, let’s take a look at the principle cake from the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI—of The King’s Speech fame—and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother).

On April 26, 1923, Albert Frederick Arthur George, the Duke of York married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey. The nation joined them in celebrating. While the guest list was as guarded as the one for Friday’s wedding, those in attendance were many in number. A variety of cakes were served to the guests, but, as is still the custom, one principle wedding cake served as the centerpiece.

The grand cake stood at three meters (almost 10 feet) tall and weighed over 350 kilograms (over 770 pounds). The four-tier cake was made by McVitie and Price with ingredients supplied by the Girl Guides of Australia. Full-faced, porcelain figures of winged putti holding rings decorated the massive confection. Two of these figurines survive in the Royal Collection.

Porcelain Putti, 1923The Royal Collection

“Bertie” (as he was known to family and friends) and Elizabeth enjoyed a long and happy marriage despite the troubles of the world around them. Their union brought about two daughter—Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Of course, today, Princess Elizabeth is Queen Elizabeth II.

Object of the Day, Museum Edition: A Slice of Queen Victoria's Wedding Cake

A slice of the wedding cake of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
10 February 1893
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Many brides will save a slice of their wedding cake and tuck it away in the freezer so that, on the first anniversary of the marriage, she and her husband can enjoy it and remember the day.  The Royal Family has long had the same tradition, however, they keep the slices, not in a freezer, but...well, I don't know where...and they keep them forever.  Forever!

On February 10, 1840, a slice of the cake made for the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert was spirited away for posterity and kept in a wee, flat cardboard box decorated just for that purpose. 

I'm glad to say that it remains to this day.  I'm not sure if that orange mummy we're seeing in there is the cake, but if it is, I know I've finally met a piece of cake I don't want to eat.

Royal Icing: The Wedding Cake of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

The Wedding Cake of the Duke
and Duchess of York
McVitie & Price, 1923
The Royal Collection

Royal weddings are historically lavish affairs. For example, let’s take a look at the principle cake from the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI—of The King’s Speech fame—and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother).

On April 26, 1923, Albert Frederick Arthur George, the Duke of York married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey. The nation joined them in celebrating. While the guest list was as guarded as the one for Friday’s wedding, those in attendance were many in number. A variety of cakes were served to the guests, but, as is still the custom, one principle wedding cake served as the centerpiece.

The grand cake stood at three meters (almost 10 feet) tall and weighed over 350 kilograms (over 770 pounds). The four-tier cake was made by McVitie and Price with ingredients supplied by the Girl Guides of Australia. Full-faced, porcelain figures of winged putti holding rings decorated the massive confection. Two of these figurines survive in the Royal Collection.

Porcelain Putti, 1923
The Royal Collection

“Bertie” (as he was known to family and friends) and Elizabeth enjoyed a long and happy marriage despite the troubles of the world around them. Their union brought about two daughter—Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Of course, today, Princess Elizabeth is Queen Elizabeth II.

Treat of the Week: The Most of Christmas Past

Ah! Christmas… It means many things to many people. For me, beyond images of mangers, stars and sparkling trees, Christmas means food. Now, as you all know, my mother treats me and Bertie to a beautiful meal once a week when we visit her and my father. But, on Christmas (and New Year’s Day and Eve), the food is at the very height of its gloriousness. 

So, this week, and next week, for the “Treat of the Week,” we’ll be taking a look back at our sumptuous holiday feasts. It was a grand end to 2012, I’ll tell you! This is especially fitting since the diet has now begun so I won’t be wearing that “grand end” for the rest of the year. I will say that I loved every bite and my motto was, whenever asked if I wanted to eat something, “I want everything I can get.” So, let’s see what there was to get. 

You’ve all already seen the cookies. Oh, the cookies! Lovely, wonderful cookies. But, there was so much more…

On Christmas Eve, we started with a breakfast of homemade scones and scrambled eggs. 

And, that evening, we began the celebration with a wonderful pasta al forno with a sauce of cream, asiago cheese, Romano cheese, mozzarella, parmigiano, fontina, ricotta, Gorgonzola, tomato pureé, cream, basil, and scallions which is then baked to bubbly, gooey perfection. We each had our own personalized antipasto to go with it. This is our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, and I always look forward to it.  This year, we added mulled cider to the mix, and it was quite tasty.

Cookies followed.

And, then it snowed. 

Typically, our Christmas tradition begins thusly--a large Italian feast starts of the festivities. This is a nod to our Italian heritage. In case you hadn't guessed, "Crisalli" is an Italian name. Christmas Day, however, we indulge in a traditional English feast--not because we're English, but because we are Anglophiles. This will come as no surprise to regular readers of this site.

So, on Christmas Day, we stuffed ourselves with herbed prime rib and Yorkshire puddings (one of my favorite things in the world) garnished with a luxurious gravy and whipped cream infused with horseradish. Gorgeous! This is accompanied by roasted potatoes and petite, buttered Brussels Sprouts.  Lovely, fluffy homemade biscuits were an ideal companion to the meal.

Both nights, we open crackers and wear our paper crowns despite the fact that the sound bothers Bertie and he has to be coaxed back into the dining room. 

And, so, once Bertie was soothed and convinced we weren't shooting one another, we sliced into this year's Christmas Cottage Cake.

This ginger spice pound cake, in the form of a snow-covered cottage is painstakingly decorated by my mother who takes great care with it--down to ensuring that each of the four trees are trimmed with little icing ornaments. Each year, one or more of you will always ask if my mom is going to make the “cottage cake,” so, we thought of all of you as we ate it. And, we laughed…because you can’t have any. Okay, I’m kidding about the laughing bit. 

We had a wonderful time and , as usual, we are far too much. But, as the song says, “Christmas Comes But Once a Year.” And, so, I’m gonna get all that I can.

Next week, you'll get a look at our New Year's festivities.  And, I will continue to drink water and lemon and very small portions...

Treat of the Week: A Weekend Feast

This weekend was excellent from the standpoint of food.  Bertie and I went to visit my parents and we all enjoyed a magnificent feast.  The meal began with my mother’s homemade braciola (pronounced brah-jole) and polenta.  We haven’t had this in quite some time, so I was particularly happy about it.  Braciola (sometimes inaccurately spelled braciole) is an Italian dish wherein a tender beef roulade is filled with cheeses, herbs (and sometimes spinach and pine nuts).  It’s smothered in a magnificent, chunky tomato sauce.  My mother let this delicious dish simmer in its sauce in the oven in a cast-iron pot which made it all the more tender and glorious.

Polenta is a dense paste of cornmeal which has been boiled (usually in stock).  Sometimes this is served as it is, but often, it is formed into patties or into a load which is sliced and either fried or baked.  I love my mother’s polenta.  She takes the slices and bakes them topped with fresh herbs and mozzarella and Tuscan cheese.  This was served with the same amazing sauce in which the braciola had been baked.  Fresh spinach rounded out the meal.

But, the treats didn’t stop with the main course.  For dessert, we enjoyed a new recipe.  My mother had prepared a beautiful coffee cake—baked in a mold.  This sour-cream-based cake was swirled (by created three layers within the mold) with cocoa, coffee and cinnamon.  Dusted with powdered sugar, it was tender with a gorgeous texture and rich with an elegant mocha flavor.

Yes, it was a very good weekend indeed.

Treat of the Week: Clove Cake

In honor of this year’s “Ham for Miss Landers Day,” my mother created a new recipe. This clove cake is the perfect treat for such a special day. First of all, cloves—a key ingredient in baked ham. But, since ham doesn’t make for a good cake, this clove cake features the sharpness of raisins and the mellow hum of cinnamon.

Baked in a “Bavaria” mold, this delicious clove cake is moist and flavorful. The preparation begins with the creaming of butter and sugar. Then, five eggs are whipped until fluffy separately and added to the creamed mixture before the rest of the ingredients are added.

This brings out the best in the cloves which can have a very aggressive taste. Here, however, they’re subtle and pleasing, smoothly married to the flavors of the raisins and the cinnamon. It’s the sort of cake Miss Landers would have served with iced tea, lounging on her patio with her tennis-playing boyfriend while Beaver looked on with innocent jealousy. “Something wring, Beaver?” Miss Landers would ask. “Gee, Miss Landers. Ummm…I just want a hunk of cake.” And, a hunk of cake you shall have, Beaver…always.

In the name of the Beaver, the Hoss and the Holy Landers...Amen.

Treat of the Week: Special Double Edition

This weekend was not only Memorial Day; it also marked my mother’s birthday. In order to celebrate, we enjoyed two delicious meals and two exceptional treats of the week. A “White” lasagna of cheese and spinach was my father’s main course offering to the festivities. My father cooks only on Mother’s Day and my Mother’s birthday and always does a great job. He even baked his own bread. This year, he baked and decorated a beautiful lemon cake filled with lemon curd to celebrate my mother’s birthday. Many pieces were enjoyed by all.

Next, we enjoyed a delicious very-American meal of Panko-breaded, Buttermilk chicken, buttermilk herbed mashed potatoes and a carrot and raisin salad. Homemade angel biscuits rounded out the meal. Since we already had a cake, my mother added a lighter baked good to the event with these adorable snickerdoodles (see below). Tender and bursting with cinnamon, these cookies are so beautifully delicate that, when held up to the light, you can almost see through them.

With such good food, fun and the promise of wonderful things in the future, it was certainly a time for much celebration.

Treat of the Week: A Blackberry Jammy Cake

Who doesn’t like jam? One of my favorites is blackberry jam. It’s the perfect amount sweetness and natural fruit flavor and, actually, is a wonderful accompaniment to both sweets and savories. So, then, combining blackberry jam with a spice pound cake is a glorious marriage.


And, that’s what we have here. From my mother’s collection of recipes, we have this joyous Jammy Cake. A light, moist spice pound cake has been baked with a swirl of blackberry jam. Already beautiful from its cathedral-inspired Bundt pan, the cake is further adorned with a wonderful glaze and colored sugar crystals.

This glittering confection is a treat from the inside out. The surprise layer of blackberry jam is enough to brighten even the cloudiest day.  My mother's recipe makes enough batter to also make two miniature Jammy Cakes.  These tasty twins are just as delicious as their full-sized counterpart.  You can use your favorite spice cake recipe or do an online search to find your own beautiful marriage of jam and spice. 

Royal Icing: The Wedding Cake of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

The Wedding Cake of the Duke
and Duchess of York
McVitie & Price, 1923
The Royal Collection

Royal weddings are historically lavish affairs. As we speculate about the details of the upcoming Royal union of Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton, we should look at the wedding traditions which have defined the marriages of his ancestors. For example, let’s take a look at the principle cake from the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI—of The King’s Speech fame—and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother).


Today, in fact, is the eighty-eighth anniversary of those famous nuptials. On April 26, 1923, Albert Frederick Arthur George, the Duke of York married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey. The nation joined them in celebrating. While the guest list was as guarded as the one for Friday’s wedding, those in attendance were many in number. A variety of cakes were served to the guests, but, as is still the custom, one principle wedding cake served as the centerpiece.

The grand cake stood at three meters (almost 10 feet) tall and weighed over 350 kilograms (over 770 pounds). The four-tier cake was made by McVitie and Price with ingredients supplied by the Girl Guides of Australia. Full-faced, porcelain figures of winged putti holding rings decorated the massive confection. Two of these figurines survive in the Royal Collection.

Porcelain Putti, 1923
The Royal Collection

“Bertie” (as he was known to family and friends) and Elizabeth enjoyed a long and happy marriage despite the troubles of the world around them. Their union brought about two daughter—Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Of course, today, Princess Elizabeth is Queen Elizabeth II. I suspect that as Her Majesty prepares for the wedding of her grandson today, she’s stopped to remember the anniversary of her parents’ nuptials eighty-eight years ago.