Royal Icing

At our house we watch a variety of shows. More recently my husband has taken a liking to Top Gear which airs on BBC America. This week during the commercial breaks there has been preview after preview for the upcoming royal nuptials. While some want to know everything there is to know about the April 29th ceremony, I had only one question. What kind of cake will they eat at the reception? How big will it be? I guess that is actually two questions...inquiring minds and all. There are several reports about who has, in fact, been commissioned to design and deliver the cake. Perhaps this means there will be several cakes on display, not uncommon at royal wedding receptions. One thing is for sure, the cake flavor will be traditional  English fruit cake. That is right people, the royals and their guests will be enjoying the very cake that I often think of when deciding what to purchase for my secret Santa gag gift. I know there are people who genuinely enjoy this type of cake, I don't know any one of them personally. Many are making a strong argument that the English version, referred to as "Fruit Cake", tastes much better than the American version, referred to as "Fruitcake." For that to be completely true there must be a much more significant difference in the two than just the spelling.  As far as how big it will be, apparently those details are not being disclosed to the public. I would not be surprised if it tops 9 feet, now that's a whole lot of cake. Another interesting thing I found while researching online is that the royal cakes are often covered with a hardened, sugary icing called Royal Icing. I have worked with this type of icing before and definitely understand why the cake cutting ceremonies for royalty are often performed with some type of sword. Royal Icing would not be my choice to cover my cake with, but it will definitely allow for very precise and intricate designs to be placed on the cake. There are some people who will be planning parties to watch the ceremony. I will not be one of them, I prefer to be asleep in my own bed at 3 a.m. On the off chance that you are one of the royal followers and you would like to serve Fruit Cake at your shin dig Here is the recipe that is said to be very close to the one that will be served to Prince William and Kate. Good luck figuring out what buttered paper is, how to steam a cake and exactly what temperature a "slow oven" would be. I am sure with enough Google you can find those answers.

Traditional English Fruit Cake

Fruit Cake

1 lb butter                                                              
1/2 tsp clove
1 lb sugar
3 lbs raisins
12 eggs
1 lb flour
1 lb currants
2 tsp cinnamon
1 lb citron, thinly sliced and cut into strips
Nutmeg, Allspice, Mace 3/4 tsp each

Royal Icing

1 lb figs, finely chopped                                                  
1/4 cup brandy
2 Tbs lemon juice

Cream butter, add sugar gradually, beat together thoroughly.  Separate yolks and whites of eggs, beat yolks until thick and lemon colored. Beat whites until stiff and dry. Add egg whites and yolks to butter mixture, add flour (reserving 1/3 cup), spices, brandy and lemon juice. Add all fruit except citron. Dredge citron on reserved flour (this will be placed between layers of cake mix when placed in pans. Put mixture in buttered deep pans (does not specify a size), cover with buttered paper, steam 3 hours and bake 1 1/2 hours in a slow oven or 4 hours in a very slow oven.I am not sure how much cake this makes.

Or you could always chose Prince William's Chocolate Biscuit Grooms Cake....Google it...it would be my choice!