The Queen's Wedding Cake
Wow - What an Honour! The British Sugarcraft Guild has received a Civic Award for the Queens Wedding Cake Restoration The British Sugarcraft Guild has received notification from The Worshipful Mayor of Southwark that we have been honoured in the Southwark Civic Awards in 2018 for the restoration of our work on the Queens Wedding Cake Restoration and afforded the Liberty of the Old Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey. Each year these awards publicly recognise exceptional contributions of individuals and organisations to life in Southwark. A nomination has been made by a member of the public and has passed through several committee stages before approval was given. The award will be presented at the civic celebrations later in the month. This is fantastic news and an amazing achievement.Members of The British Sugarcraft Guild feel very proud of what they have achieved together. If you would like to read any more about the Queens cake, see details of the construction, step by step picture can be found on the National BSG Facebook page or http://bsguk.org/ Update on the cake - all 6 tiers have been completed and delivered to the Peek Frean Museum. They have been placed on a stand in a glass case in time for the Queen & the Duke of Edinburgh's 70th Anniversary last November The British Sugarcraft Guild was approached to recreate a replica of the Queen Elizabeth ll’s wedding cake originally created by Peek Frean in 1947 for her marriage to Prince Phillip. The cake was completed for Queen & Duke of Edinburgh’s 70th wedding anniversary in November 2017 At the time Peek Frean made a full size replica which was displayed in the reception of Peek Frean’s factory and remained there until 1989 when the factory closed. In September 2005 a permanent exhibition about the company was opened at The Pumphouse Education Museum in Rotherhithe, south east London, and the replica cake was a part of that exhibition. Unfortunately due to funding by Southwark Council, the Museum had to move out of the Pumphouse back to the ordinal factory building. At the time the replica cake was considered too large, delicate and expensive to move and was left in the Pumphouse building until other arrangements could be made. Vandalised Sadly in July 2015 squatters gained access during the night. They broke the casing and dismantled parts of the cake, reassembled it upside down and threw red paint over the whole display, (see photo) What remains has now been moved to a safe place. Eddie Spenser MBE, an honorary member of our Guild and a world renowned royal icing expert, is happy to help the project as technical adviser. Guild committee members visited the museum to take photographs and measurements. Investigations were made to get sponsorship for some or all of the materials & equipment to be used, and various companies agreed to help. Different regions of the sugarcraft guild to worked on different parts & tiers of the cake. The cake was 3D laser scanned so that moulds can be made without making contact with the actual panels. Some panels on the sides of the cake are pastillage and depict different buildings that represented places significant in the Princess’ life. An article about the cake appeared in the company’s journal in December 1947 The original cake was delivered to Buckingham Palace in a specially modified car, which was driven at walking pace to avoid damage. The then Princess Elizabeth wrote to Peek Frean thanking them ‘for the trouble they took’ and saying ‘The Duke of Edinburgh and I were delighted with the wedding cake which Messrs Peek, Frean Co.Ltd so kindly gave to us and would the Directors, management and employees to know how greatly we admired the beauty of its design and the excellence of its quality’
|