A perfect cake to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

To celebrate 70 years on the throne Maple from Canada UK’s development chef, Olivier Briault, and local students have created a two-tier, seven-layer cake for the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.

The cake is a twist on a traditional Victoria sponge, with seven layers and seven different flavours to represent each decade on the throne – from dark maple syrup, vanilla cream, Earl grey tea buttercream to white chocolate, maple caramel, dark chocolate and lemon curd.

Lecturer in bakery and patisserie Laura Millerchip joined Olivier, alongside students Megan Collinge and Piper King from University College Birmingham and Emily Nelson from Halesowen College , to help make and decorate the cake.

The layers were finished with a maple sugar coating and the cake was decorated with seven edible red roses, a royal blue ‘70’ badge and topped with a gold pastillage crown – taking a total of 24 hours to complete, making enough to serve 50 people.

Olivier Briault said: “Just like the Coronation Chicken and the Battenburg cake recipes, I wanted to develop something that was representative and paid homage to Queen Elizabeth’s reign – and importantly, that was inclusive of maple syrup.

“It was great that the students were able to get involved with this project, they’re currently studying level 2 professional cookery and level 3 bakery and patisserie, so this was a fantastic development for them to be a part of.”

To share the celebrations with those less fortunate and in need, the cake was donated to local charity Feedo Needo which offers food and provisions to vulnerable members of the community.

St Basils charity, which supports young people aged 16-25 who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, also attended the Feedo Needo café in Digbeth for a slice of the cake and a hot drink.

Rafa Ahmed, project manager at Feedo Needo said: “We were delighted that the Maple from Canada team chose to donate such a beautiful cake to our charity, especially with the significant celebration of the Queen just around the corner.

“We offer free food to all members of society at our Café in Digbeth, between 9am and 6pm Monday to Friday, and it was a lovely and special way to bring the community together.”

Barrie Hodge, head of fundraising and communications at St Basils, said: “We’d like to thank the team and Feedo Needo for inviting us to share a slice of the delicious cake with all its flavours.

“We support young people across the West Midlands, who are either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, so it’s amazing that we’re able to be connect with other like-minded charities like Feedo Needo and give back to those who need it most.”