A CAR, carrying a 60lb cake, left Somerset on Tuesday, April 18, heading for Buckingham Palace and the 80th birthday celebrations of the Queen.

The cake, the 17th Taunton-based baker Graham Chubb has baked for a royal celebration, was made using the secret family fruit cake recipe, which his grandfather first used in 1900.

The cake comprised two tiers with the sides of the bottom one festooned with wisteria. The Queen’s love of horses was reflected in sugarpaste horses’ heads on the side of the top tier. A rearing horse featured at the very top of the cake.

The cipher and signature of the Queen was also used in the design with a sweeping mass of pink Queen Elizabeth roses from the top tier to the bottom.

The creation was used as part of a display at a Palace lunch party given by Her Majesty for other 80-year olds, who shared her birth date.

Mr Chubb’s last significant cake was a birthday cake for the late Queen Elizabeth – the Queen Mother – in celebration of her 100th birthday.