Artist builds life-sized Princess Kate and Prince William cakes

By Adam Dutton

Royal fans have been left doing a double take after a baker created astonishingly lifelike versions of Prince William and Princess Kate, entirely out of cake.

Talented cake artist Emma Jayne Morris, 56, spent three months and up to 18 hours a day painstakingly crafting the royal couple from Rice Krispies, marshmallows, modeling chocolate and fondant.

The jaw-dropping creations, now on display at this year’s Cake International show at Birmingham’s NEC, are built to the couple’s real-life heights, with William towering at 6 ft 2 in and Kate standing 5 ft 9 in.

Together, the edible royals weigh more than 287 pounds and contain a staggering 44 pounds of modeling chocolate and around 220 pounds of fondant.

Cake William is dressed in his red Welsh Guards ceremonial uniform complete with the Order of the Garter, while Cake Kate sports her trademark smile and a replica of the Alexander McQueen dress she wore to King Charles’ coronation.

Emma, a mom-of-three from Aberdare, South Wales, said: “All the outside is modeling chocolate and fondant, the heads are sculpted from modeling chocolate and the inside is Rice Krispies and marshmallow.

“We use that to minimize food waste.

“We spent three months on them, William is 6ft 2ins and Kate is 5ft 9ins.

“I’m 5ft 2ins and I needed a stepping stool to finish William’s head, he was just so tall.

“I would start at 7 a.m. in the morning, and then I would spend until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. most days trying to finish them before the show.

“The night before we came I didn’t get any sleep to make sure they were both perfect before the display.”

The mammoth task even saw her clear supermarket shelves of ingredients.

Emma said: “For the structure, I basically bought Tesco’s and Asda out of their Rice Krispies and marshmallows making this, I wouldn’t know how much I’ve bought.”

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The build begins with the eyes before the rest of the face is sculpted around them using modeling chocolate.

More than 500 g of royal icing was used for intricate finishing touches, including details on Kate’s dress and sleeves, while Swarovski crystals were added to recreate her earrings, tiara and engagement ring.

Emma said: “You’ve got a threaded rod through the middle of it that you coat and then you build the structure around that.

“It must weigh around 287 pounds, probably more than that with all the bits and pieces.

“So I started with the eyes, that’s the first starting point. I then start doing the structure of the head and use the modeling chocolate.

“Both heads are made, once they’re made we build the structure of the bodies.”

She admitted recreating the Princess of Wales was the toughest challenge.

Emma said: “I will say Kate is the hardest, the likeness and the features were hard. Getting the resemblance of this high-profile couple was very difficult.

“She’s very beautiful and to get her warmth was hard, she’s so lovely.

“Also getting William’s uniform correct, with the Order of the Garter, that was very labor-intensive.

“I spent the last three days working on all the details on him.”

The baker, who previously created cake versions of Tutankhamun and King Charles for the annual show, said the display recreates the moment William and Kate appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony during Charles’ coronation.

She added: “This is William and Kate at Charles’ coronation on the Buckingham Palace balcony, so the visitors can take pictures with them.

“It all ties together well.”