When Prince Harry married Meghan Markle, they agreed on a rather lovely-sounding wedding cake: lemon elderflower. It was a controversial choice because the traditional British-wedding-cake choice is always some form of fruitcake. Big Fruitcake has a stranglehold on the cakes for traditional, aristocratic and/or royal weddings. Prince William and Kate Middleton had a fruitcake at their wedding. So I sort of expected Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank to go traditional, especially considering that Meg and Harry’s avant-garde choice was so controversial. But no: Eugenie and Jack are going non-traditional too.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank have something different up their sleeves for their wedding cake! For their wedding day, the couple chose bespoke cake designer Sophie Cabot.
“The red velvet and chocolate cake will be a traditional cake, with a modern feel,” Kensington Palace said in a statement on Saturday. “It will incorporate the rich colours of autumn in its design and will be covered with detailed sugar work including ivy.”
“I am incredibly excited to be given this wonderful opportunity to create such a special and unique cake,” Cabot said in a statement. “It has been lovely working with Princess Eugenie and Jack and I really hope they enjoy the cake on the day.”
The couple first took notice of Cabot because of the bespoke biscuits she made for her father’s Pitch@Palace program.
On one side, I’m glad that they’re getting the cake THEY want rather than doing something traditional. On the other side, I feel like this cake might be a mess? I’m sure there are stylish and pretty ways to incorporate autumnal colors into a wedding cake, but I can’t help but think that this cake is going to end up looking so ugly and depressing, all browns and oranges and dead leaves.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail made a big deal about how Princess Eugenie has gone on a drastic diet ahead of the wedding so she can be as thin as possible. She has apparently “recruited the same diet guru who helped Prince Harry trim down for his wedding,” a guru named Gabriela Peacock, who sells “a range of powders” which are supposedly “slimming supplements.” I hope not.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red, WENN.
Ooooo red velvet and chocolate? I would eat the heck out of that!! Go girl!
As for “powders” and “slimming supplements”, dang snake oil salesmen never go out of style do they. Just decrease your caloric intake and exercise, girl.
My granddaughter LOVES red velvet. I could see her wedding cake being all red velvet.
Ugh, I don’t get red velvet. Isn’t it just chocolate with food coloring?
Thank you! It literally is devil’s food with coloring!
@ DLC : thank you. This is what I have always said. I never understood the fuss. I’ll eat it but IMO it’s no double chocolate:)
Actually its not Chocolate cake. They use different ingredients.
I’ve made red velvet and there is very little chocolate in it.
Then you’ve never eaten real red velvet. It has its own unique flavor. There is a little cocoa in the recipe, but chocolate is not the dominate taste. If you get red velvet and it just takes like chocolate cake, you should get your money back because you have been cheated.
The red originally was achieved by the acidity from the natural cocoa reacting to vinegar or bicarb, no dye needed. I’ve never made a red velvet, but I’d love to try. Red food dye to make “red velvet” is relatively new and I agree, blech!!
I’ve heard that the original Red Velvet cake got its color from beet juice. Obv. that’s no longer the case.
Correct. It’s the cocoa, specifically Dutch process cocoa, and the buttermilk interacting that makes it red. And real red velvet is not bright red, it’s a dark reddish-brown. Ironically most red velvet enthusiasts today won’t recognize real red velvet because, while distinctly red, it isn’t *bright* red.
Some recipes will substitute red food color with beet juice, but that just makes your cake taste like beets. That’s what I call the Waldorf red velvet because after learning of the cake in the early 1900s, the chefs there weren’t able to replicate the color and so started adding beet juice for color. Then, in the 1940s a struggling Texas food coloring company realized they could take out the beets and add their dye, and voila, a southern tradition began. But real red velvet is just buttermilk and Dutch process cocoa (add the cocoa slowly until batter turns rusty).
If it’s made right, it doesn’t taste at all like chocolate. Store bought is really bad.
It’s a sponge cake with red food coloring.
There is beetroot in every goddamned thing in the UK nowadays. (I hate beetroot). It won’t be the red velvet cake you’re all looking for.
Sigh. She looks beautiful as she is.
I hate that thinness = beauty.
She’s very pretty. She just needs to learn how to dress for her shape. And to make better fashion choices, period 😊. (And PLEASE, THROW AWAY those circular “robot” sunglasses! lol)
I find it funny that people diet for their wedding. Like you marrying someone based on who you are.
To be fair she will face huge scrutiny on her wedding day than us, so I’ll give her that. She and her sister also grew up being criticised for their look so while it’s not encouraged, I think we can cut her some slack.
I’m Harry’s age and definitely remember the criticism the York girls got for their looks. They were the horsey, chubby, unattractive, less-important cousins. It was really disgusting. Given that history, I can’t say I wouldn’t diet and try to make myself above that particular criticism as well.
I do remember Bea being criticized for her fuller figure, but more for her big eyes and teeth (something she can not help!).
BOTH women were more talked about for their (lack of) fashion sense and the horrid satorial choices they make (IUD headpiece anyone? The uneven hemmed blue dress Eug wore to W & K’s wedding?). There have been SO MANY unfortunate outfits. These women have SO much money and help at their disposal, and yet end up looking SO bad SO much of the time.
I think E and B are both attractive young women, they just needed help dressing and someone to ask “Do you really want to wear that?”
Beatrice was mercilessly attacked after some bikini shots of her were published. She went on a big health and weight loss effort that included participating in the London Marathon. She said in an interview about how much those comments hurt, and that Eugenie has always taken negative comments even harder than she does.
I think a lot of people might want to look as good as possible in all the wedding photographs, which follow you around for life. I’m trying to lose a bit (healthfully though) for my son’s wedding for that reason!!
I would imagine the “slimming powders” are diuretics and laxatives. I’m getting stomach cramps just thinking about it.
That would be awful. Hate it when people will harm themselves to try to look “good”.
I’m, who’s going to tell them that those two flavors are essentially the same?
Where are all the articles about breaking protocol?
Are you even Royal if you don’t have fruitcake at your wedding, tho?
I’m still laughing at “Big Fruitcake.”
OMG I love red velvet and chocolate! It always feels so . . . sinful.
I think Eugenie’s strong point is her beautiful coloring, which she gets from her father who I think got it from his mother and maternal grandmother – all with creamy complexions, blue eyes, and dark brown hair. I hope she frames that and doesn’t show up drowning in a ball gown with puffy sleeves.
Yes, and she’s not the tallest person…I hope she goes simple and sleek.
@minx – if it’s Erdem I wouldn’t hold by breath on simple and sleek, but that said, I think a ball gown bottom would be fine if only she keeps the bodice and sleeves fitted. And I’m dying to see which tiara she wears.
Violet—I didn’t know it was Erdem, so, yes, we’ll have to see.
I would like to see her not wear a higher neckline in her gown. A scoop, a sweetheart neckline, an extended V (NOT deep, of course, but more of a shoulder to shoulder look) would all make her look smaller on top. So many times she seems to wear clothes that accentuate her fuller bust, which tends to make her look heavier than she is. She is NOT overweight; just her clothes choices make her look chubby, in my opinion.
I’d love seeing her in Sarah’s tiara. It’s so beautiful. And I think since she’s so close to her mother, she’d love to give that “nod” to Sarah. But with her eyes, wonder if she’d borrow something with sapphires?
There was a Spanish royal-adjacent wedding the other day. Fernando Fitz-James Stuart y Solis Duke of Huescar (future Duke of Alba after his father) and Sofia Palazuelo Barroso. Bride’s dress was lovely and simple, with a built-in shoulder train that isn’t easy to do well. Reminded me of the back detail on Maria-Teresa of Luxembourg’s.
Dress was from the bride’s aunt, Teresa Palazuelo. Something like that would look good on Eugenie, but with 3/4 sleeves for the UK October weather.
@ Violet, I think she will wear Sarah’s tiara, which comes with matching earrings and a bracelet: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/10/5/17943492/princess-eugenie-jack-brooksbank-royal-wedding-sarah-ferguson-prince-andrew-scandals
@WTW – I think the betting is also on the York set as well as on Erdem. Me, I’d feel funny wearing a wedding gift for a failed marriage (feel the same way about Diana’s engagement ring, but hey, if Mr. Prince pulls it out of his pocket it would be a brave woman who said, “Um, nothing against your Mom, but can I have something different?”), but perhaps they view it as some sort of vindication. The tiara is very pretty. And she’ll need height as she’s so short. I’m guessing she’s maybe 5’2″?
Wishing hard for a gown by Westwood. Fergie’s tiara or the Strathmore Rose if it has been repaired.
@minx – The betting is on Erdem as she is known to like his work, but I haven’t seen a confirmation, so it’s just hearsay for the moment. I can’t stand his stuff so I hope it’s someone else but, who knows, I could be pleasantly surprised.
Westwood would be a superb choice. I recall a TV programme years ago when she designed the clothes for a Scottish wedding and her take on a contemporary touches of tartan-inspired dress was just magnificent. I could imagine Eugenie in that kind of dress. I dread it will be Erdem as Eugenie tends to wear a lot of it. I hope no puffy flounces, no walking meringue like her mother/Diana had. Eugenie always looks better in pared down looks. I do recall Beatrice employing a very good stylist years ago and she looked fantastic as a result. I love the fact that both girls have a go but they do need someone to lock the door and not let them out in some of the garb they wear. When they stray from what suits their body types, disaster follow. Both are attractive and unfairly criticised; it’s just meanness.
The Yorks can look amazing in the right outfits. They are nice to wear up and coming designers, but those designers do not know how to dress women with curves.