Anya Taylor-Joy's Wedding Cake Was An Anatomically Correct Heart

Actress Anya Taylor-Joy has an impressive portfolio. Her starring role in "The Queen's Gambit" arguably made her a household name, and her role in the critically acclaimed 2022 thriller "The Menu" spread her fame to the culinary realm. Taylor-Joy spilled the tea on her co-star Nicholas Hoult's scenes after the fact, but in the film itself, her character attends a nightmarish Michelin-starred meal. Speaking of nightmares, on April 2, 2024, the actress posted an Instagram photo of her anatomically correct heart-shaped wedding cake, and it immediately went viral.

Taylor-Joy "secretly" married her now-husband, Malcolm McRae, in a quiet New Orleans ceremony in April 2022, as she shared in the post's caption. That year, rumors of a courthouse wedding between the two circulated, and photos of a larger wedding party in Venice appeared in October 2023. Along with the reveal of her secret New Orleans wedding, Taylor-Joy also shared pictures of the couple's one-of-a-kind wedding cake.

When you hear about a heart-shaped dessert, Valentine's Day likely comes to mind — not a recreation of real human anatomy. Even so, one of Taylor-Joy's wedding photos shows a plate with two anatomically correct heart cakes (one for her and one for McRae), complete with aortas. "Yes, I am the vampire Lestat," the actress joked in her caption.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Malcolm McRae's unconventional cakes evoke the realistic cake trend that was all over social media in 2021. The trend had people guessing whether random objects — think shoes, bags, and other foods — were real or just hyper-realistic desserts. The truth was only revealed by cutting into them. Much like in the trend, those who skipped Taylor-Joy's Instagram caption were in for a surprise when they finally saw the heart cakes' realism.

Besides sharing congratulations in the comment section, fans played along with Taylor-Joy's vampire concept. "Who doesn't enjoy eating a heart every now and again?" one account asked. If the heart-shaped cake tastes like chocolate or vanilla and comes with strawberry sauce, then we're in. "We prefer real hearts, but this is nice too," commented the official account of the "Diablo" video games.

The medically accurate desserts were certainly a unique touch to the wedding, and even if the realism went a bit too far for some onlookers, as one commenter expressed, "A wedding without ... human hearts is considered a dull affair." It's a good thing someone snapped a photo because, according to Taylor-Joy, the actress gets in trouble for not taking photos of her food.