Cakes For Romantic Occasions (11 page)

Small paintbrush

Rolling pin

Five plastic dowels

four
Using a scriber needle or pin, score the side of the cake with three lines for the flowers stems (
b
). Repeat around both the cakes, spacing them so that you have seven stems on the large cake and five on the smaller cake.

five
Mix some royal icing with some spruce green and a little melon yellow food colouring for the leaves and stems. Fill a piping bag with a leaf nozzle and the green icing.

six
Pipe down the scored lines on the cake (
c
) and add little leaves to the stems. Dab down any icing peaks with a little water.

seven
Fill a piping bag with a no.1.5 nozzle and some white royal icing. Stick the small flowers to the cake using a little of this icing (
d
).

eight
With the same piping bag, pipe small sugar pearls around the top of the satin ribbon and pipe the centres of the flowers with a tiny dot (
e
). Dab down any icing peaks with a little water.

nine
Take a small amount of melon yellow food colouring and place in a small dish. Add a little water and use this to paint the centres of the flowers (
f
).

tip
An eggcup is the perfect size to mix the food colouring in.

These are the most delicate and pretty cookies – perfect for a springtime wedding when soft pastel shades are everywhere.

one
Bake round butter cookies in two sizes (see pages 34–35). If you want to add a hole to attach a ribbon for hanging, make it with a drinking straw or a small circle cutter before they go into the oven.

two
Ice the cookies in white sugarpaste (see page 36). If you are hanging them, cut a corresponding hole in the icing to allow a ribbon to slip through.

three
Decorate the cookies with Forget-me-nots. The larger size of cookie is perfect for adding a cluster, very similar to the cake (see steps two to seven, pages 41–43). The smaller cookies look very sweet dotted with single blooms and leaves. Finish with a circle of piped white sugar pearls.

On Display

Hanging the cookies from a whitewashed branch makes a beautiful table centrepiece. Pretty pink ribbon is all you need to complete the look. If you want a double-sided effect, stick two cookies together back to back with a few spots of royal icing after you’ve decorated them.