Royal Wedding Cake

The confectioner in the Royal Establishment at Buckingham Palace created the Royal Wedding Cake for the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1840. It was described as “consisting of the most exquisite compounds of all the rich things with which the most expensive cakes can be composed, mingled and mixed together into delightful harmony by the most elaborate science of the confectioner.” The royal cake weighed nearly 300 pounds and was three yards in circumference. The masterpiece was about fourteen inches in depth or thickness. The wedding cake was showcased upon an elegant “superstructure” and cost more than £100.

It was covered with pure white sugar and the weddng cake top featured the figure of Britannia in the act of blessing the illustrious Bride and Bridegroom, who were dressed in the costume of ancient Greece. These figures were not quite a foot in height. At the feet of HRH Prince Albert was the effigy of a dog, said to denote fidelity; and at the feet of Queen Victoria were a pair of turtle doves, denoting the felicities of the marriage state.

A cupid sat writing in a volume expanded on his knees the date of the day of the marriage, with various other cupids bearing emblems of the United Kingdom. On the top surface of the cake were numerous bouquets of Orange Blossoms and Myrtle entwined; similar sprigs were placed loose as presents to the guests at the nuptial breakfast. The elegant Royal Wedding Cake, a symbol of the celebrations of marriage, was placed on the breakfast table of the queen at Buckingham palace following the ceremonies in the chapel royal.