No cake please I'm allergic: Kate's wedding baker couldn't have slice

It was the most famous wedding cake in the world. But one person unable to enjoy William and Kate’s eight-tier creation was the chef.

Evening Standard can reveal that royal baker Fiona Cairns suffers from a severe egg allergy which means she cannot eat her creations without falling ill.

Her brandy-soaked fruit cake that fed 650 guests at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding was such a success that Kate Middleton now has a copy of her Bake and Decorate book.

Mrs Cairns, 57, also makes Christmas cakes for Sir Paul McCartney.

When asked about her condition, she said: “How did you find out about that?”. She then admitted: “I have an egg intolerance and allergy. It is not anaphylactic and not something that has just happened — it is old.

“It is a bit of a nuisance, as you can imagine, and I think it developed years ago when I was working as a pastry chef with over-exposure to eggs.

“It does not stop me from my work, developing recipes. I know what everything tastes like.”

Mrs Cairns said it took her years to work out what the problem was as doctors were not particularly helpful in identifying the cause of her illness.

She said her condition was “stable”, and added: “I taste everything but can’t necessarily eat everything. It is my life and I just live with it.”

Originally trained as a graphic designer, Mrs Cairns set up her business following encouragement from her husband, Kishore Patel, who spotted her talent for baking.

Her company now employs 75 people, including bakers, decorators and a product design group.

They produce more than 750,000 cakes a year — including fairy cakes — for shops including Fortnum & Mason, Harrods, Selfridges, Waitrose, Bon Marché Paris, as well as for private customers including Keith Richards, Bono and members of Pink Floyd.

Her creation for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — the largest commission of her career — consisted of 17 fruit cakes covered in 900 sugar flowers.

It took eight people, including an architect, more than a month to make at their factory in Leicestershire.