Ingredients
Method
1.Trim cakes. Secure 20cm cake to largest board; secure small cake to remaining board. Prepare cakes for covering with ready-made icing.
2.Knead ready-made icing on surface dusted with a little cornflour until icing loses its stickiness. Roll 400g (12½ ounces) of icing on cornfloured surface 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.
3.Use 550g (1 pound) of the icing to cover large cake in the same way. Dry cakes overnight.
4.Push trimmed skewers into centre of large cake to support the top tier. Secure small cake to large cake. Dry cakes overnight.
5.Use paint brush to lightly brush water around sides of cakes to cover where the pink bands of icing will be positioned.
6.Tint remaining icing pink, reserve one-third of the icing in plastic wrap.
7.Measure around large cake. Roll icing into a strip long enough to wrap around cake and wide enough to almost cover sides of cake. Using a ruler and knife, or pizza cutter, cut icing into a neat strip, almost as wide as the side of the cake. Lift into position around cake. Repeat with small cake.
8.Gently press frill cutter, at an angle, into top of pink icing to scallop edge; remove excess icing. Using eyelet and flower cutters, and picture as a guide, cut out or mark random shapes on the cakes. Use a pin to remove some of the cut pieces.
9.To make royal icing, sift the icing sugar through a fine sieve. Lightly beat the egg white in a small bowl with an electric mixer until mixture is just broken up; do not whip into peaks. Beat in the icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time, to get the required consistency. When icing reaches the right consistency, mix in the lemon juice using a wooden spoon.
10.Tint royal icing pink. Fit piping bag with tube. Half-fill bag with icing; pipe around scallop edges and some of the cut outs.
11.Using tweezers, attach cachous to cakes with a little royal icing.
12.Re-roll scraps of pink icing, cut out several flower shapes; insert pieces of floral wire into shapes, stand on baking-paper-covered tray to dry overnight. Position wired flowers on day of serving.
Equipment: 25cm (10-inch) square wooden cake board; 15cm (6-inch) square wooden cake board; 4 wooden skewers; medium artist’s paint brush; tape measure & plastic ruler; scalloped-edge frill cutter; set of eyelet cutters; 1.5cm & 2cm (¾ inch) flower cutters; fine pearl-headed pin; small piping bag small (number 2); plain piping tube; tweezers; 22cm (8¾-inch) 20-gauge floral wire.
Note
