Regal Jubilee Crown Cake

Well it's only two weeks until the Queen's Jubilee and I for one can't wait for a right royal knees up! Even if you're not a Royalist, it's a good opportunity for a get together. So to celebrate Her Majesty's 60 years on the throne I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate with a Jubilee themed cake.

The cake design is by Fiona Cairns, who made the Royal wedding cake no less. I just happened to see it online a couple of weeks ago and decided that I'd like to give it a go...possibly a bit gungho at that point!

So how is was it made? Well firstly the cake inside is made up of four 8" Victoria sponge layers, sandwiched together with buttercream and raspberry jam. The stack was then chilled to make it a bit firmer for carving. The top edges were carved to give a smooth curve and then the cake was tapered down to a 6" cake drum.

I love the colour of the sugarpaste for this cake,  Renshaw's amethyst paste...and it's the perfect colour to add a regal touch to the crown. To create the gold strips, it is just sugarpaste painted with a mixture of edible gold dust and dipping solution (alcohol). However, to make the ball and cross, I mixed the sugarpaste with some CMC the night before to make it really firm, otherwise the cross wouldn't stay up there on it's own.

To add the finishing touches, a 'fur' trim was created around the base...this is made out of priceless Fox's glacier mints, which were given an almight bash with a rolling pin...it's actually harder than you think to break a Fox's glacier mint! Then the little pearls were stuck on with royal icing, as were the jelly diamonds...I may have been a little cross-eyed after all that sticking! But the result...a crown fit for the Queen!

This month Homemade by Fleur is hosting a Blogging Jubilee Baking Competition so I think this is the perfect entry, what says Jubilee better than a Coronation crown. The competition is sponsored by Appliances Online.

Today is also World Baking Day and I couldn't resist joining in with a little 'Caking'. Check out the World Baking Day website if you want to find out more but it involved me taking my cake for a little walk and taking a picture of it in an unusual place! Here is the result, it drew more than a couple of strange looks from passersbys but the Royal Mail postbox goes perfectly with the Royal cake!

I hope you enjoy your Jubilee celebrations...God Save the Queen!