Curiously cutting edge royal memorabilia

Wedding cakes are a curious phenomenon and a rare opportunity for bakers to go totally over the top. But Royal wedding cakes take the biscuit in terms of elaborate decoration and conspicuous excess.

If you’re following the Royal Wedding news, you’ll have heard that William and Kate have opted for ‘his and hers’ wedding cakes. Hers will be the official multi-tiered fruit cake, decorated with edible flowers - representing the emblems of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland...










His choice, of an unbaked chocolate biscuit cake by McVitie’s, is not quite as curious as it seems: In 1923, The Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later George VI and The Queen Mother) picked the Scottish company to make their cake, in recognition of the bride’s Scottish roots.





So, what are we to expect? The ‘bride cake’ for Queen Victoria’s wedding in 1840 was nearly 3 metres wide and weighed more than 135 kg. Even the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s 2005 nuptials boasted a cake that included 1,080 eggs, 100 kg of marzipan and 36 bottles of booze.

A fair part of any royal cake will be sliced up to be presented in commemorative tins for the guests. A piece of cake from the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana fetched £1,000 at an auction in 2008.




Of course, every wedding cake also needs an appropriate knife, and we may have found just the thing: This curiously collectable vintage cake knife from ShopCurious commemorates the Queen’s Coronation in 1953.

Presented in its original gold and red embossed box, this charming piece of cutlery is in excellent condition, and would make a lovely wedding gift - though I’m not sure it was designed to cut through a cake made from frozen chocolate biscuits.

Are you?

Taking the commemorative royal biscuit

In the previous post I forgot to mention some other useful gifts at ShopCurious: These characteful retro souvenir tins, commemorating royal weddings have just arrived. Not only do they come in handy for storing biccies and/or collecting curious stuff, but they’re also likely to appreciate in value - especially in view of the forthcoming demand for royal wedding memorabilia.









Despite the monarchy’s wealth and status, even Prince William and Kate Middleton seem to prefer life’s simple pleasures over the pomp and circumstance of ceremonial occasion. It’s a touching tribute to both Princess Diana and his future wife that, as someone who could have his pick of virtually any piece of designer jewellery in the world, Prince William chose to give Kate Middleton his late mother’s engagement ring as a gift of his love.






And it’s also a testament to the Prince and his future brides’ commitment to their country and its economic wellbeing that they’ve chosen to have a very formal and very public wedding. I don’t think Kate will be making her own wedding dress, but it’s good to note that our prospective King and Queen are a resourceful couple, who understand their duties and responsibilities - and seem genuinely able to identify with the thoughts, feelings and opinions of the average British citizen.























Anyway, I don’t care what anyone else says or thinks about previous royal weddings, I find Wills and Kate totally charming. And now I’m off to have a celebratory cheap and cheery cuppa. In fact, I was going to ask you to join me in commemorating the royal occasion by dunking a biscuit or two from one of these curiously collectable tins…but somebody seems to have eaten them all. You look awfully guilty…

Are you?