The Queen’s wedding cake saved by 3D printing

New technology has brought Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding cake back from full destruction after it was destroyed by vandals in 2015.

The multi-tiered cake was made for then Princess Elizabeth’s marriage to Prince Philip in 1947 by Peek Frean. However, it was destroyed by vandals who tipped it upside down and covered it in red paint. It remained in the Peek Frean Museum even after it was left empty in 1989 as it was deemed too fragile to move.

Professor Mark Williams at the Warwick Manufacturing Group worked alongside the British Sugarcraft Guild using 3D scanning technology to remake a full sized replica of the wedding cake.

The stunning technology was able to accurately scan the cake within 0.1mm and reproduce it as a high-resolution 3D model that could then be used to digitally repair the cake.

Analysing the surviving parts of the cake, which stood at a gargantuan 6ft with six tiers, Professor Williams was able to discover exactly how the cake was formed and was then able to determine how to restore the cake to its original glory.

The cake was originally made in 1947 and weighed six hundred pounds, at the top was a silver model of St George and the Dragon which was gifted to the royal couple as a souvenir.

Queen Elizabeth wrote how she and Prince Philip “admired the beauty of its design and the excellence of its quality.”

Even though the cake was almost completely destroyed it can now be fully restored thanks to this amazing new technology and the work of Professor Mark Williams.

Professor Mark Williams said: “It was fantastic to apply our technology to such an exciting project and help restore such an iconic cake to its former glory, especially in the year of the Queen’s Golden Anniversary.”

The tiers of the cake were distributed to the seven British Sugarcrafting Guild regions in the autumn of 2016 alongside the materials and templates for the relevant tiers. Detailed decorations will be produced during the Guild’s workshops, and then a smaller team will later reassemble the cake for display at the Peek Frean’s Museum.

This pioneering technology has done a great job of preserving a part of royal history.