Royal wedding cake designer nervous, but up to the challenge

Cake designer Sophie Cabot has said she is “honoured” to be making the royal wedding cake – which will feature enormous quantities of eggs, butter and flour.

Ms Cabot began baking in earnest in Buckingham Palace’s kitchens on Wednesday for Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s big day on Friday.

The five-tier red velvet and chocolate cake will contain up to 400 eggs, at least 53 packs of unsalted butter, 15 kilograms of organic self raising flour, and 20 kilos of sugar.

Ms Cabot, 33, said she felt “very honoured they have selected me”, and said about her first meeting with Eugenie and Jack in the summer, when she brought cake samples: “The couple were very relaxed, very comfortable. I got the feeling the cake was something they were very excited about.

“It was a fun meeting as well because I don’t think it’s every day you have a meeting about cake and you get to try cake.”

The baker, whose business is based in Fulham in west London, said about being chosen by the Queen’s granddaughter and her fiance: “Of course I was nervous, but at the same time really, really excited.”

The cake will consist of three tiers of red velvet and two of chocolate sponge cake covered with butter cream, white icing and decorated with sugar work with an autumnal theme.

Other ingredients include vanilla essence, vanilla bean paste and red food colouring to give the cake its distinctive hue.

Ms Cabot said about the couple: “They were very excited about having red velvet, during the tastings red velvet and chocolate came out top.

“It’s a lovely thing to have at this time of year as well – it’s a nice rich cake.

“Not one cake is ever the same and this was extra because of the time of year and they wanted to keep it so seasonal – it was a real joy.”

Ms Cabot was initially invited by the office of Eugenie’s father, the Duke of York, to meet the couple and discuss their wedding cake in early July – after supplying decorated bespoke biscuits to one of Andrew’s Pitch@Palace events.

After a number of meetings with the couple to finalise the design, the professional baker began working on the cake in July, creating detailed sugar flowers and foliage, from ivy and acorns to white flowers and maple leaves, which will decorate the five tiers of the cake.

“With such a big cake, you need to start well in advance – especially with all the sugar work, so it was important to get going quite quickly,” she said.

Ms Cabot added: “There are a lot of eggs involved and a lot of butter obviously just for the sheer amount of people who hope to have a piece of cake.”

She went on to say: “It’s a lot of ingredients, it’s a huge scale, it’s a bit different for me. I’m used to baking on a much smaller scale – it’s a challenge.”