Baker creates a royal cake for Milwaukee viewers
Back in March, the British press announced that Claire Ptak, owner of Violet Bakery in London, would be making the wedding cake for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The flavors were to be lemon and elderflower.
Jennifer Goldbeck, owner of Delicately Delicious bakery in Cedarburg, was intrigued. Then, when a customer called asking if Goldbeck could create a cake like this for a luncheon, she got an idea.
And now, Anglophiles who plan to watch the royal wedding on Saturday (live at 6 a.m. our time or via DVR) can purchase Goldbeck’s interpretation of the royal cake, whole or by the slice, to enjoy along with the pageantry.
Before she embarked on her royal cake project, Goldbeck did a bit of homework online.
“It’s believed that Meghan Markle chose that baker because she had a lifestyle blog before she met Prince Harry, and she had interviewed this woman for the blog,” Goldbeck said. Turns out, Ptak was raised in California and formerly worked as a pastry chef for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. She opened her organic bakery in London in 2010.
Goldbeck was especially excited about one of the flavors.
“I love elderflower,” she said, noting that her favorite cocktail is made with elderflower liqueur, St. Germain. “It’s really pleasant, unlike other flower flavors like lavender or rose that can taste like soap.”
Goldbeck chose a basic yellow cake as the base, to which she added grated lemon zest. For the elderflower, rather than use liqueur, she purchased elderberry syrup, the kind used in coffee shops (she found it on Amazon).
She applied the syrup generously to each cake layer, as you would a simple syrup.
Three of the four layers then were spread with a lemony filling (one part lemon curd to three parts vanilla buttercream). And finally, plain vanilla buttercream was spread on the top and side of the cake.
To decorate the cake, Goldbeck did her best to mimic the London baker’s style.
For the frosting, she kept it simple, alternated a traditional smooth finish with a textured finish. The only other adornments are fresh flowers, something the London baker uses a lot in her cakes: in this case, ranunculus. Goldbeck chose this flower because “I thought they looked ‘English’ and were similar to some I saw on the royal baker’s work.”
“I think their cake will be tall and have lots of tiers,” Goldbeck said of Harry and Meghan’s real cake,” and will still be fancy and elegant, but it won’t be one of those really ornately decorated cakes.
… I think it will be a grand cake in size, but the general feel will be a little more organic and informal, if informal and elegant can go together.”
This seems to reflect the personal style of the bride, she added.
“Her style is so minimalistic, it’s not like she’s always wearing sequins and something really flashy. Her style is so classic and clean.”
If home bakers want to try their hand at this cake, Goldbeck said, they could keep it simple, poking holes in the top of, say, two layers, and pouring in the elderflower syrup before adding the filling and frosting.
They also might want to add extra lemon zest to store-bought curd to intensify the flavor.
Slices of the cake at Delicately Delicious will sell for $5 each. A full 6-inch cake serving six to eight people will cost $30, though customers can order the cake in any size.
Full cakes should be ordered by Thursday noon for Friday or Saturday pickup. Call (262) 377-7268 or use the order form at delicatelydelicious.com
(go to “order cake”).
The bakery’s hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday to Friday.