Three bakes worthy of a royal wedding

With the royal wedding fast approaching, we asked David from BakingBar to help us out with a few bakes that would be fit for a royal bash. Read on for a stunning Victoria sponge, melt in the mouth Viennese biscuits, and lighter than air Madeleines.
 
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of months you will certainly know that the big day is quickly approaching. The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle takes place on the 19th May 2018, and we’re all terribly excited about this.
 
We thought this would be the perfect time to look at some of our favourite bakes which we think the royal couple would love at their reception. Maybe they’ll take some of our ideas onboard. We also hope that you will join us in having a mini party for yourself on the day, so perhaps some of these suggestions, as well as some of the fantastic products from Rex London, will create a party fit for a prince and princess.

La Petite Rose cake tins, £12.95 and Gingham Union Jack bunting, £9.95 (was £24.95)

The addition of some products from Rex London helped complete the royal theme we wanted. The wonderful Vintage Union Jack Bunting is brilliant to quickly create a patriotic vibe, whether inside or outside. The blue gingham Union Jack flag party bunting is approximately eight metres long and has 15 gorgeous pennants. The La Petite Rose storage tins are perfect for storing your baked goods in before the big day, and perfect for serving out of too! These have a wonderful spring/summer floral pattern which is timeless. Our favourite serving platter from Rex London is the Santana platter which comes in four wonderful colours. We chose the royal blue (cobalt) specially for this occasion.

Victoria Sponge

The most classic, simple, yet always stunning cake is of course the Victoria sponge. Perfect in the run up to summer, this cake would be ideal for their guests to enjoy with a selection of other sweet treats.
A Victoria sponge is made up of two layers of light sponge cake usually flavoured with vanilla with a layer of jam and cream (or buttercream) in between. It’s often dusted with icing for a finishing touch. It’s the king of cakes! The good news for you is that it is easy to make and once you master it you’ll be wanting to make one every weekend.

Ingredients

The cake:
4 eggs
200g caster sugar
200g butter
200g self-raising flour
1tbsp milk
1tsp baking powder
 
The filling:
Half jar of strawberry jam
50g butter
150g icing sugar
0.5tsp vanilla extract

How-to

• Preheat oven to 180c.
• The next step is quite unusual when making a cake but is essential for the perfect Victoria sponge. Weigh the 4 eggs. These normally come to around 200-250g. It is highly recommended that you then use the same weight for each the caster sugar, butter and flour. For example if the 4 eggs weigh 210g, then use 210g of caster sugar, 210g of butter and 210g of flour in the recipe.
• Allow the ingredients to come to room temperature, especially the butter. Add the butter and caster sugar into the mixer bowl and cream this together until light and fluffy.
• Add the 4 eggs one at a time and then the milk to the mixer bowl.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder together and add this to the bowl.
• Slowly begin to fold all the ingredients together until you form a smooth cake batter.
• Pour this cake batter into two 20cm cake tins already greased and lined.
• Place on the centre shelf of the oven and bake for 20 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
• Allow to cool for 10 mins in the cake tins before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once cool they are ready to fill.

• To make the filling, ensure the butter is at room temperature as this will make it a lot easier to mix. Add the butter to the mixer bowl and beat until it becomes creamy.
• Sieve the icing sugar into the bowl. Using a wooden spoon or spatula slowly combine the icing sugar with the butter roughly. Add the vanilla extract and turn on to a low speed.Once the mixture comes together beat on a higher speed until smooth and creamy.
• The filling should be quite thick, as this stops the cake halves sliding around when you try and slice the cake. If it is too dry and not coming together, add 1tsp of milk at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
• Spread the cream filling on the bottom half of the cake and top this with the jam. Place on the top half of the cake and dust with icing sugar to finish off.

Viennese Biscuits

These biscuits are a firm favourite in the UK. The inclusion of cornflour in the recipe makes them melt in your mouth. The fact that these have jam and a buttercream centre makes them somewhat like miniature Victoria sponges in the form of biscuits. These are great to make in bulk and store away in a tin. So great for large parties, which we can imagine Harry and Meghan’s wedding will be!

Ingredients

The biscuit:
230g butter
200g plain flour
30g cornflour / cornstarch
70g icing sugar
0.5tsp vanilla extract

The filling:
50g butter
170g icing sugar
0.5tsp vanilla extract
1tsp milk
A few tablespoons of jam

How-to

• Preheat oven to 170c.
• Cream the butter and sugar until combined and light in colour.
• Sieve the flour and cornflour into the creamed butter mixture.
• Mix until well combined and until there are no lumps of flour left.
• Spoon the mixture into a piping bag, you will want to use quite a large piping nozzle, an open star attachment is perfect but this is your own choice.
• Pipe the biscuit mixture onto  a non stick baking mat or piece of baking paper, you can either pipe in straight finger shaped biscuits or pipe in round swirls.
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 10-15 mins until lightly golden. They will be quite soft when they come out of the oven but they firm up as they cool.

We now need to make the buttercream filling - this is very simple. 

• In a bowl cream the butter with a spatula until it is smooth and creamy, gradually sieve the icing sugar into the butter and mix together. 
• Add the vanilla extract before the milk as depending on temperature etc you may only need 0.5tsp of milk. Mix together until there are no lumps. To thicken the mixture add more icing sugar, to thin it add more milk.
• When completely cool either use a small piping nozzle or teaspoon to place some buttercream and jam on the biscuits. Gently press together.

French Madeleines

Ingredients

200g plain flour
250g icing sugar
250g butter
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
1.5tsp lemon zest
0.5tsp baking powder

How-To

• Melt butter in a small bowl and set aside to cool. Heat only long enough to melt the butter, as the more you heat it the longer it will take to cool.
• Preheat oven to 180c.
• Beat the eggs, vanilla extract and lemon zest at high speed until combined.
• Sieve in the icing sugar and continue beating at high speed for 8 minutes until the mixture is thickened.
• Pour this mixture into a mixing bowl so you can comfortably mix by hand.
• Sieve in 1/4 of the flour and fold together.
• Pour in 1/4 of the cooled melted butter and fold together.
• Continue adding the flour and cooled melted butter in quarters, gently folding together.
• Using a pastry brush, grease the Madeleine pan with some excess melted butter.
• Using a tablespoon, spoon the Madeleine batter into the individual compartments filling them 3/4 full.
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 9-10 mins until the edges begin to brown.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 2-3 mins before gently removing them with the assistance of a knife.

Thank you to David for those three delicious recipes! We’d love to see your own classic bakes, royal or otherwise. Tag them with #RexLondonBakes so we can see and share our favourites!