Posted on 04/26/2011 3:37:17 PM PDT by Liz
From Charles and Di's towering showstopper to Princess Grace's musical cake, feast your eyes on these over-the-top confections
PRINCE CHARLES & PRINCESS DIANA Not just one cake would do for Prince Charles and Princess Diana, who served 27 at their July 29, 1981, wedding. While most were donated by royal watchers, the couple's official cake was prepared by chef David Avery of the Royal Naval Cookery School. Topping out at more than 5 feet high, the cake was adorned with both the Prince and his family's royal coat of arms, the couple's first initials and a spray of roses, lilies of the valley and orchids.
QUEEN ELIZABETH & PRINCE PHILIP Charles's mum and dad, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, celebrated their Nov. 20, 1947, wedding with a 9-ft. tall, four-tier cake that weighed in at a whopping 500 lbs. Crafted by McVitie and Price Ltd., the same biscuit company whipping up dessert for William and Kate's big day, the showstopper even depicted scenes from the couple's lives.
KING GEORGE VI & THE QUEEN MUM The official wedding cake of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Queen Elizabeth's Mother) and Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George), was put on display in Reading, England, prior to their April 26, 1923, nuptials. Hordes of onlookers queued up to vie for a view of the ornate, 10-ft. tall confection.
CROWN PRINCE PAVLOS & PRINCESS MARIE-CHANTAL Greece's Crown Prince Pavlos and heiress Marie-Chantal Miller took the phrase "let them eat cake" to heart at their July 1, 1995, nuptials, serving 300 smaller cakes – one per table – in addition to their main confection. The design of the eight-tiered centerpiece by baker Colette Peters was inspired by a china pattern from the Royal Collection.
PRINCE RAINIER & PRINCESS GRACE When Hollywood beauty Grace Kelly wed Monaco's Prince Rainier on April 19, 1956, her six-tier wedding cake proved fit for a princess. Given to the newlyweds by the pastry chefs at Monte-Carlo's famed Hôtel de Paris, the treat's upper two tiers featured a built-in cage that held a pair of live turtledoves – they were released when the couple cut into the cake with Prince Rainier's sword – and was topped off with a revolving miniature of the bride and groom that played "Ave Maria" and Mendelssohn's "Wedding March."
GRACE'S CAKE IN PROGRESS
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PRINCE EDWARD & SOPHIE RHYS-JONES Dispensing with a customary English wedding fruitcake, Prince Edward and his bride selected a seven-tier Devil's Food cake for their June 19, 1999, wedding. Topped with tennis rackets (in a nod to the fund-raiser where the couple met), the 10-ft. tall confection took baker Linda Fripp and her staff 515 hours to create. Continuing to break with tradition, the Earl and Countess of Wessex cut their cake prior to serving dinner – something that was downright 21st century
And Zero got the Royal Snub!
Well, now I am just really, really hungry!
I love the one made from the china pattern. It’s so beautiful. How could you stick a knife in something that pretty?
I like the pink Greek prince cake.
I don’t like real flowers on cakes, though.
They should be edible.
But not me
To me its a
PARADOX!!!!!
How can you eat something so beautiful? But they made it beautiful so they could eat it.........
That picture hurts my brain.
True enough. And right now, I could literally dive headfirst into any one of them. Oh my. Tacky, but very effective when your mouth is watering like mine is right now. Oh boy. Got to check my goody stash.
Yeah. That’s the one made from the china pattern. It’s just gorgeous!
I don’t like Charles and Di’s cake at all. It looks like it was made from an erector set.
LOL! The best part for me is that the kids look, and act, just like my 5-year-old and 2-and-one-half-year-old.
I agree, the Flora Danica cake is gorgeous.
Colette Peters did my best friend’s wedding cake. She is famous for her sugar flowers, every one made by hand.
I don’t like real flowers on a cake either, I think they’re tacky; but Colette’s are all edible. She is a genius and they look unbelievably real. Colette Peters has a few cake decorating books and they are wonderful.
Colette Peters’ books are what inspired me (20 years ago) to become a cake decorator. I bought one after taking my first Wilton class and said “I want to do that!”
Now I do! I have stood at her elbow and focused a video camera on what she was doing for a class at convention, and I have had a number of classes with Nick Lodge, who made one of Princess Dianna’s and Prince Charles’ wedding cakes.
You can tell who my friends are at a wedding. They will walk up and carefully touch a flower to see if it is real or not.
Thanks for posting these. I told my friend the only reason I would like to see the wedding is to see the cake.... and that is not likely to be on TV.
Princess Grace was sure a beauty but I have to
say that bridesmaid standing behind her is stunning.
There were six kids in our family, and it could have been any two of us. :) It just cracks me up to no end. I hope that the two kids in the picture get to share the humor of it in another 30 years.
Oh.... I'm from Atlanta, and that is one of my dreams!! To take a gum paste flower class from Nick Lodge. .......sigh.....
I love this china. When I marry my Prince, the cake will resemble this.
This Royal Collection of Chelsea porcelain is closely derived from the large collection of botanical porcelain acquired over a long period, beginning in 1947, by England's Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Most of the pieces, which date from c.1750, can be seen in the cabinets in the Morning Room, Clarence House. Each shape carries a slightly different design and is made of English Fine Bone China.
An American wedding cake---can compete with the royals, yes?
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