They're all the rage but why are they called Lambeth Cakes?
For some odd reason I thought it was because it was a style that came to fruition in the South London District of the same name - haha - nope!
Turns out the style of overpiping, originated in Europe, was made popular in the 1930s by American Joseph Lambeth who moved to England and founded the Lambeth Decorating School. He took the original fashion of creating rows of intricately piped details and put his own spin on the design by adding royal icing baskets, cages and other exaggerated features to the buttercream based cakes. In 1934 he brought the style to the masses with his book "The Lambeth Method of Cake Decorating and Practical Pastries" it was widely popular with fellow cake decorators and enthusiastic home bakers, with its detailed pictures and step by step instructions in creating these lavishly decorated cakes. Hence why the style became known as Lambeth Cakes.
The style fell out of vogue in the 1980's when smooth finished fondant cakes became the preferred for weddings and birthdays. But a recent renaissance has seen the style pop up all over social media; from professional bakers, experimental foodies to aesthetic influencers.
The retro look of the cakes which were more traditionally white or coloured pale pastels, are now taking on more modern striking looks: from bright contrasting colours, with glacé cherries and comical phrases to dark richer coloured or even black Victoriana styled cakes with skulls and roses.
Being a huge fan of all things vintage and nostalgia I love the style! so was over the moon (all puns intended) to have one ordered for Tilly's eighteenth birthday.
I hadn't made one before so was a little apprehensive, but it was so much fun and really there is no right or wrong way to do it! So long as the lines are evenly spaced and relatively uniform; I used a cookie cutter to mark out the largest line of swags and then built the smaller detailing layers beneath.
I kept the piping reasonably simple and didn't add too many layers as I didn't want to draw attention away from the main feature of the cake that the customer had asked for - the moons and stars. Just look at that little yawning moon face! to see the time-lapse of my cake decorating process follow this link to my instagram
So what are your thoughts on the style ? Would you choose it for your next bespoke celebration cake?
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