Royal wedding cake baker reveals how Meghan Markle gave her the ‘best brief ever’

The baker who made the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding cake has revealed how Meghan Markle gave her the ‘best job ever’ in court.

East London baker Claire Ptak made the couple’s wedding cake in 2018, and was also asked by Harry and Meghan to make their daughter Lilibet’s first birthday cake last year.

She has now opened up about the process of baking the treats for the Duke and Duchess, revealing how Meghan commissioned her to make the wedding cake.

She said Tatler“Meghan, she specifically said to me, ‘I don’t want to tell you what to do… the reason I chose you is because I love your baking and your work and your point of view and your ethos.’ .. and I was like, “oh my god, that’s so cool. The best vacancy text ever!’

Elsewhere, despite her connection to Harry and Meghan, she said she’s a fan of King Charles, adding that it’s “funny to be associated with half the family.”

East London baker Claire Ptak made the couple’s wedding cake in 2018 and was also asked by Harry and Meghan to make their daughter Lilibet’s first birthday cake last year.

She has now talked about the process of baking the treats for the Duke and Duchess, revealing how Meghan commissioned her to make the wedding cake.

During the interview, she explained that she came up with six different options for the couple before landing on the lemon and elderflower option.

Californian Claire Ptak made the cake with 200 Amalfi lemons, 500 eggs and 10 bottles of elderflower syrup made at Queen’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

In keeping with the bride and groom’s modern approach to their big day, the cake, adorned with three different types of peonies – a favorite flower of Meghan – was not a traditional layered creation, but featured layers of varying sizes displayed on individual gold pedestals of varying heights.

The baker, who owns the trendy Violet Bakery in East London, worked full-time in Buckingham Palace’s grand kitchens for five days with her team of six bakers ahead of the big day.

Slices of the cake were served to the 600 guests at the lunchtime reception at St George’s Hall.

Her recipe uses 200 Amalfi lemons, 10 bottles of Sandringham Elderflower Cordial made with elderflower from the Queen’s Sandringham estate, 20kg of butter, 20kg of flour, 20kg of sugar and 500 organic eggs from Suffolk.

It is believed to have cost £80 each, and the three-piece tiered centerpiece is rumored to have cost up to £50,000 to make.

Claire created treats for Lilibet’s first birthday party, including a two-layer cake with a seasonal strawberry buttercream

East London baker Claire revealed a photo of a two-tier floral cake with strawberry buttercream costing £244 made for Lilibets first birthday

Claire said in the days before the wedding: ‘It’s a lemon sponge – a special sponge I developed especially for the couple, and we drizzle the layers with elderflower syrup from the Sandringham estate, so it’s really delicious and as local as you can get can get.

‘We made a lemon curd from Amalfi lemons that has the best taste for me. And then we have elderflower Swiss meringue buttercream.’

She described the cake’s flavor as a balance of sweet and tart, combined with “ethereal” elderflower.

“The buttercream is sweet and the lemon curd is very tart, so you get a really nice thing when you take a bite, which is to get all these flavors and sensations perfectly balanced,” she added.

Last year, she teamed up with the pair for a second time when she created treats for Lilibet’s first birthday party in Windsor.

Among them was a two-tier cake with a seasonal strawberry buttercream.

It was complete with an Amalfi lemon and elderflower filling and topped with a light buttercream.

The bakery’s website describes the cake as having “three layers of vanilla cake drizzled with elderflower syrup and filled with Amalfi lemon curd.”

The top and sides of the cake are “iced with buttercream, scented with the juice and zest of lemons from the Amalfi Coast, and decorated with chopped candied Amalfi lemon rind.”

Claire – who owns the bakery and painstakingly designed the incredible cake – wrote on the brand’s Instagram at the time: ‘It was an absolute pleasure to make this special cake for Lilibets birthday last week.

“I wish her a very happy year!”

She added: “The inside was the Amalfi lemon elderflower cake I made for the Duke and Duchess’s wedding in 2018, but this time we topped it with a strawberry buttercream just for Lilibet.”