Let them eat cake: Kate Middleton to share baking passion with brother James

Liz Hoggard
18 Feb 2010

When news broke at the weekend that Prince William's girlfriend, Kate Middleton, has been working on secret plans to open an upmarket cake shop in King's Road, baking officially became the new desirable career.

According to royal sources, Kate, 28, is to start a business with her younger brother James, 22. Stung by criticism that she doesn't have a full-time job, she has apparently been doing “market research” — or at least frequenting Love Bakery in King's Road, where she ordered one of every cake.

Whatever Kate's intentions, the truth is her brother has been running a baking company since 2007. He developed The Cake Kit Company after quitting Edinburgh University at the end of his first year. Designed partly to encourage children to cook and partly to make the baking of party cakes easier, the Cake Kit provides everything you need: disposable baking tin, cake mix, ready-to-roll icings, decorations, cakeboard, candles and a step-by-step guide.

“I don't look like your average baker,” James Middleton laughs, when I meet him at the Bluebird Café in King's Road. Dressed in Sloaney dark-blue, you might think he was a banker. He shares the dark colouring and high cheekbones of his sister and certainly turns up in the gossip columns more than your average baker.

But he's found his vocation: “I believe with baking there is a certain nostalgic fix; most of us remember baking in our childhood and the excitement which it entailed. I have great memories of my mother baking and I was a willing participant, especially if it meant I could revarnish the kitchen floor with treacle! Baking can be rewarding for children as well as educational. They learn about weights and measures and timings, get a sense of achievement, and everything can be devoured afterwards.”

Middleton doesn't do small talk. Visibly nervous, he can't even say the words “Kate” or “William” without potentially breaching royal protocol (and presumably jeopardising his sister's romance). He's clearly protective of his parents; hardly surprising when they have been on the receiving end of a lot of snobbery about his mother's former career as an airline stewardess. When I ask if it's true he baked Kate's 28th birthday cake, he says tersely: “I couldn't possibly comment.”

But get him on gingerbread and cookie kits and he becomes an affable, articulate young man. And he really has tapped into London's new booming service industry. Apart from the growth in cake shops, see above, at the other end of the scale, this week Greggs revealed huge profit increases and plans to refit 1,400 stores to compete with Starbucks and Pret A Manger.

Cakeology is undoubtedly proving to be recession-proof. “I think cooking helped by the likes of Jamie Oliver and other male chefs has had an impact on how it's perceived by men,” James agrees. “It is now considered cool if you can put something together.” He started his business at home in the kitchen, but “soon got kicked out for making too much mess. So I brought a catering trailer and customised it. As demand grew for the cakes, we needed more space, so moved into our current premises, which I developed.”

He works out of a barn in Berkshire, near their house, but commutes from his Chelsea flat (where he lives with his other sister Pippa, a party planner). In 2008 he launched a range of personalised cupcakes — clients have included Hello!'s 20th birthday party and the Tatler Little Black Book party. And maybe he'll be the trusted baker to design a royal wedding cake.
He doesn't have much time to cook at home. “But for a dream supper party, my ideal guest would be Dawn French. I think she's fantastic! As for anyone from history — well, I suppose I'd like to thank Marie Antoinette for letting them eat cake!”
www.thecakekitcompany.com