Cakes For Romantic Occasions (20 page)

Because of the different designs on each tier of the main cake and the great colour combinations, it’s easy to create some really special variations for this cake.

one
Make some chocolate cupcakes following the instructions on page 31.

two
Smooth the cupcakes with chocolate buttercream (see pages 18–19) and then ice with a circle of rolled-out ivory, pink or chocolate sugarpaste.

three
Decorate with different combinations of sugarpaste hearts and mini polka dots, and piped pin stripes.

Dotty Heart Cookies

Make some heart-shaped butter cookies (see pages 34–35) of different sizes and use pink and chocolate sugarpaste and royal icing to decorate them (see pages 36–37) The little button cookies are small circle cookies decorated with a pink or brown chocolate button, which can be purchased from most confectionary shops, secured with a little coloured icing.

Love is in the air! Beautiful deep red sugar roses and pretty pipework ensure
this bold cake is a showstopper at any celebration, while the clean, graphic lines will appeal to even the most modern romantic. Present this to a loved one in your life, whether it’s for your sweetheart at an engagement party, or simply
to show a friend how much you care.

one
Mix around 75g (2½oz) of flowerpaste with the same quantity
of sugarpaste. Add enough red food colouring to turn the mixture a deep red.

two
To make the roses, shape small
balls of red icing and flatten them out with your fingers to make petals, keeping the edges neat. You will need five petals per rose. Take a petal and curl it around to create the centre of the rose. Wrap four further petals around the centre bud to form your rose (
a
). You will need 20 roses for this design. If you have any red icing leftover, make a few extra roses to decorate the plate.

three
Mix some spruce green food
colouring with around 25g (1oz) of white flowerpaste and roll out about 2mm (1⁄16in) thick. Cut out a star shape to make a calyx for each rose. With a blade tool, cut the bottom off each rose so they are about 2cm (¾in) high (
b
). Stick on the calyx with a little water and a paintbrush.

SERVES
About 25

MATERIALS

•One 20cm (8in) round ivory iced cake set onto a round cake board the same size as the cake •2.5cm (1in) purple satin ribbon •White flowerpaste, 100g (3½oz) •White sugarpaste, 75g (2½oz) •White royal icing (see page 26) •Food colouring: red and spruce green
Equipment

•No.1.5 icing nozzle

•Piping bag

•Small star or calyx cutter

•PME blade and shell tool
(or similar blade tool) •Scriber needle or pin

•Tracing paper

•Thin card

•Small paintbrush

•Rolling pin

four
Copy the heart template on page 121 onto tracing paper. Transfer the image onto a piece of thin card and cut it out. Place in the centre of your cake and score around the edge with a scriber needle or pin (
c
).

five
Using a little white royal icing, stick your roses along the scored heart line on top of the cake (
d
).

six
Edge the cake with the purple satin ribbon. Then mix up some royal icing with red food colouring. Fill a piping bag with the no.1.5 nozzle and the red icing. Pipe small dots evenly spaced around the top of the ribbon (
e
). Dab down any icing peaks with a little water.

seven
Pipe dots around the top edge of the cake about
2.5cm (1in) apart.

eight
Slightly tilt your turntable away from you, then pipe swags dot to dot, finishing off the design with a small piped heart (
f
). Pipe another row of hearts in the same way, about 2.5cm (1in) apart around the side of the cake.

tip
If you are unsure how to pipe the dots at an equal height around the cake, pipe your first dot then use a ruler to measure its position from the bottom of the cake. Use this measurement as your guide.