While wedding cake is a delectable, sugar-laden, post-dinner treat served at the reception, the towering tiers also double as décor. At Madeline and Patrick Coyle’s nuptials, which took place in January 2024, the confection was definitely the focal point of their ballroom affair at the Savoy in London. For their dessert of choice, the bride and groom presented a 13-foot-tall edible royal castle, complete with towers, turrets, and lights, that cost a whopping $16,500, according to People.
Sam Woodruff, the owner of Bespoke Cakes by Sam in Essex, England, created the masterpiece for Madeline and Patrick’s wedding. Since Madeline has been a long-time client of Woodruff’s, the cake baker and designer was familiar with the bride’s taste and preferences, but Madeline shared her wishes by sending many inspiration images. From there, Woodruff conceptualized the cake and drew sketches. For the construction, building the structure took Woodruff three months and then another six hours on the day of the wedding to actually put the dessert on display—which required assistance from her husband.
To construct the design, she layered six round tiers, which were each eight inches, in a petal design to form the base. She then used polystyrene, a foam-like material, covered in more than 50 kilograms of white fondant icing for support. “It isn’t possible to have a design like this made solely from cake,” Woodruff notes. “For one, it would be too heavy, and could you imagine cutting a slice and then messing with the balance? It would implode or topple over for sure.”
Photo by David Woodruff for Bespoke Cakes by Sam
The cake baker and designer added many details to make the castle more realistic. She topped the fondant icing with gold foliage, silk flowers, cherubs, and miniature Renaissance paintings, and she used 3D printed blue turrets and LED balloon lights to illuminate the windows. “The windows were very delicate,” she explains. “Having them cut out made the structures rather weak. They had to be padded out.”
Although executing the cake was a very involved, labor-intensive process, Woodruff says one of the biggest challenges was simply maneuvering around the castle-inspired dessert, which was located in her kitchen, and transporting the confection to the couple’s venue. “It was a very slow journey—so many bumps in the road and turns,” she recalls.
Despite the amount of time and effort that making this cake required, Woodruff says seeing the couple’s reaction made it a rewarding experience. “[Madeline] was so happy—thrilled with her dream cake in her dream venue,” Woodruff shares. “She said the cake was absolutely beautiful, and she was lost for words.” The project was also a personal achievement for Woodruff. “‘The Madeline’ is certainly the biggest [cake] I have done to date,” she reveals.
