With just a few days left until the royal wedding, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's chosen pastry chef Claire Ptak is already hard at work creating the perfect cake. The owner of the London-based bakery Violet Cakes shared a photo of her preparations for the lemon elderflower cake on Tuesday morning, showing six crates of fresh lemons ready to be juiced and added into the seasonal confection.
"And so it begins," Claire captioned the photo, adding a lemon emoji. The photo received an excited response from followers, with many wishing the chef luck for creating the cake that will be served to Harry, Meghan and the 200 guests at their wedding reception on Saturday.
Preparations are underway for the royal wedding cake
Claire is making a lemon elderflower cake which promises to "incorporate the bright flavours of spring", with buttercream frosting and decorated with fresh flowers. She was chosen by the couple due to her focus on using seasonal and organic ingredients in their cakes, and has known Meghan for some time, after the actress interviewed her in 2015 for her former lifestyle website The Tig.
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Meghan wrote of Claire at the time: "[Claire] has hit the nail on the head with her London bakery serving up delightful treats that have garnered a cult following (in that ever so civilized British way) in the UK and beyond."
Claire Ptak is the owner of London bakery Violet's Cakes
Meanwhile, Claire said she was "delighted" to have been chosen by the couple to bake their royal wedding cake. "I can't tell you how delighted I am to be chosen to make Prince Harry and Ms. Markle’s wedding cake," she said. "Knowing that they really share the same values as I do about food provenance, sustainability, seasonality and most importantly flavour, makes this the most exciting event to be a part of."
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Harry and Meghan have placed a big emphasis on using seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients at their wedding, and will also serve canapés and bowl food created using produce from the Queen's estates at their reception hosted by the Queen at St George's Hall.