AN ENGLISH TEA PARTY AT PATSY FAULKNER AND PHIL JONIK’S SECRET GARDEN IN INVERNESS, CELEBRATING CLAIRE PTAK’S ROYAL WEDDING CAKE COMMISSION FOR THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE HARRY AND MEHGAN MARKLE — MAY 15, 2018
Claire Ptak, born and raised in West Marin, grew up baking with her mother, Elisabeth, in Inverness. After working as a teenager at the Bovine Bakery and later as the pastry chef at Alice Waters’s restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, she moved to London, where she eventually opened her own establishment, called Violet Cakes. In March, Kensington Palace announced that Claire had been chosen to create the cake for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s spring wedding. Claire and her crew created the elderflower cakes with lemon curd filling and Swiss meringue buttercream icing over four days at Buckingham Palace. The layers were then transported to Windsor Castle, where the cake was assembled and decorated with fresh flowers and placed on gilt stands from the royal family’s collection. Elisabeth made a small version of the lemon and elderflower cake, as well as other English fare, that was served at the tea party hosted by Patsy and Phil.
“Prince Harry and Meghan and I both share so many of the same values regarding food provenance, sustainability, seasonality, and flavor, all of which I learned growing up in West Marin. It’s been an incredible honor to make this historic cake. I wish I could have been there for the tea party, too.” — Claire Ptak, London, May 2018