1930's Lambeth Decorating

The Lambeth style of cake decorating that is directly the opposite of the current trend for minimalist cakes. It's intricate, elaborate and very over the top (looks like a grand Georgian ceiling decoration in cake form!), which is why I love it so much. It's been around since 1934 and is one of the oldest forms of cake decorating. It was named after Joseph Lambeth who popularized it upon the publication of his book on royal icing being over piped for cakes. 

It's absolutely gorgeous to look at....and it requires a great deal of skill and a hell of a lot of patience (and piping bags and nozzles!). All you need is some Royal icing (icing sugar mixed with egg white) and you carefully pipe your design. I first began with getting outlines using cutters to mark out where I wanted everything, and then piped small lines which dried as I went over. 

Piping just happens to be one of my best skills so I thought I'd give myself a challenge. 

I thought I'd share with you the fruits of my labor, sorry that I didn't manage to get photos of the work progressing. 

And here's me looking like a smug yet composed Victorian (actually I lie, a Victorian never would have smiled in a photo):  

Overall I am very proud...and will attempt this method again, and may even add more to this cake at some point (it looks too good to eat). I got the inspiration for this from my favourite childhood film, Alfonso Cuaron's 1995 film A Little Princess. See that it almost looks like netting at the bottom, beautiful!