Royal wedding cake recipe: Who is Claire Ptak? The Hackney bakery Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have chosen

Ailis Brennan18 May 2018

Ever since the we got giddy over their engagement, many of us have been craving crumbs of information on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s impending nuptials.

Back in March we learnt that the cake for the upcoming royal wedding will be a lemon and elderflower flavoured concoction courtesy of Hackney-based Violet Bakery.

With the ceremony just a day away, Kensington Palace announced this morning that the baking of the cake was under way, and gave details of the ingredients involved.

The recipe includes a staggering 200 Amalfi lemons and an indulgent 20kg of butter.

So who are the people charged with bringing "the bright flavours of spring" to Harry and Meghan’s wedding? Here’s what you need to know.

Who’s behind Violet Bakery?

The Violet Bakery Cookbook (Kristin Perers)
Kristin Perers

Violet Bakery is the brainchild of Claire Ptak, a pastry chef, food writer and stylist, who champions flavourful baking with organic ingredients. She has written for The Guardian and released four cookbooks to date, with the latest, The Violet Bakery Cookbook, released in 2015.

Ptak grew up in Inverness but not the Scottish one – the now-London-based baker was raised in an area north of San Francisco. In California, she worked with renowned US chef Alice Water, before spending time at St John and Moro in London.

Where can you find them?

Not where you might expect. Ptak started her independent bakery work as a stall in East London’s Broadway Market, before opening up Violet Bakery – not in Chelsea, not in Kensington, but in Hackney. Incidentally, it’s on the same road as a pub called Prince George.

What can you eat there?

The Violet Bakery Cookbook (Kristin Perers)
Kristin Perers

An awful lot if you try hard enough. Violet Bakery uses only organic flour, sugar, milk and eggs, and strives to use high quality ingredients to create traditional flavours with a twist. Cakes made to order come with light and bright flavourings including seasonal fruit, Amalfi lemon and coconut cream.

At the richer end of the menu, you can find a chocolate devil’s food cake made with Valrhona cocoa and yoghurt. The menu also features a vegan chocolate spelt and agave layer cake, as well as gluten free options made from polenta and buckwheat and almond.

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For more information, visit violetcakes.com

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