Ingredients
Method
1.Knead ready-made icing on surface dusted with a little cornflour until icing loses its stickiness. Reserve 200g of icing for flowers.
2.Trim cakes. Secure 25cm cake to largest board; secure remaining cakes to same-sized boards. Prepare cakes for covering with ready-made icing.
3.Roll 400g of the icing on surface dusted with cornflour until large enough to cover small cake. Using rolling pin, lift icing onto cake, smooth with hands then smoothing tools. Trim icing neatly around base of cake.
4.Use 600g of the icing to cover medium cake in the same way as small cake. Use remaining icing to cover large cake. Reserve icing scraps.
5.Use the fine wooden skewer to mark the icing in random lengths all around cakes before the icing sets. Dry cakes overnight.
6.Push 3 trimmed skewers into centres of large and medium cakes to support top tiers. Assemble cakes, securing each tier to the tier below.
7.Knead ½ teaspoon tylose powder into reserved icing and scraps. Divide icing into four portions, colour three portions different shades of pink. Leave remaining portion white. Press small amounts of each coloured icing into flower moulds, using spatula, scrape excess icing from backs of flowers so the shapes are flush with the mould. Bend mould gently to release flowers. Place the flowers, top-side up, on baking-paper-lined tray to dry overnight.
8.Fit piping bag with tube. Half-fill bag with royal icing. Pipe snail trail (page 224) around base of each cake. Pipe white vertical lines in some of the grooves on the cakes. Wash and dry piping tube; place in clean piping bag.
9.Mix leftover icing in piping bag with remaining royal icing, divide between three small bowls. Colour each batch a different shade of pink, cover surface with plastic wrap to keep airtight. Working with one colour at a time, pipe vertical lines in some of the grooves on the cakes. Repeat with remaining icings leaving some grooves plain. Wash and dry piping tube after each colour.
10.Using a few flowers at a time, pipe a little royal icing onto back of flowers, secure over cake in a random pattern.
Equipment 35cm (14-inch) round wooden cake board 20cm (8-inch) round wooden cake board 15cm (6-inch) round wooden cake board Smoothing tools 6 wooden skewers Fine long wooden skewer Silicone flower mould Small metal spatula 4 small piping bags Small (number 2) plain piping tube Silicone moulds come in myriad shapes and sizes. The mould we used gave us three different-sized flowers. The ‘snail trail’ edging around the cake bases requires a little practice before you start on the cakes.
Note
