A Royal Mystery

Appears in
Tried, Tested and True: Stories and Recipes Celebrating the Traditions of Australian Community Cookbooks
Tried, Tested and True

By Liz Harfull

Published 2018

  • About

Frankston Methodist Cookery Book, c. 1960 (State Library of Victoria).

One of the more mysterious recipes that pops up frequently in community cookbooks produced during the 1960s is the Queen’s Cake, also sometimes labelled the Queen Mother’s Cake.

It was usually published alongside brief text explaining that the recipe was a favourite of either Queen Elizabeth II, or her mother, depending on the version, and the only cake the Queen ever made herself. It always came with a warning: ‘It must not be passed on—but sold only for Charity’.