With Our Natural Dried Flower Cake Toppers

Keeping up with the trends, we now have a selection of dried flower toppers in different colours and styles perfectly suited for any occasion. In this tutorial, we show you how to cover the cake with a soft marble effect and decorate the sides with a subtle foliage pattern, then finish with one of our unique dried flower toppers personalised with a little gold leaf.

We used:
Edibles
1kg Sattina golden delight Madeira cake mix
700g vanilla frosting
Sattina royal icing 250g tub
Sattina soft green sugarpaste 500g
Sattina white sugarpaste 500g
Sugarflair gooseberry paste food colouring
Sugarflair sheet of edible gold leaf
Edible glue

Equipment & Decoration
Dried flower cake topper
7” round cake tin
Non-stick rolling pin
Sugarpaste smoother
Evergreen Mesh Cake Stencil
10” round Masonite cake board – white or pastel yellow
Small brush and Palette knife
Cake pin for attaching flowers to cakes

Baking & Frosting The Cake

We used a kilo box of Sattina golden delight Madeira cake mix and baked three layers using a 7” round tin to create a tall cake. Sattina cake mixes are super easy to use as you simply add water, mix and bake for a deliciously moist cake that tastes
home baked!
Instead of buttercream, that requires refrigeration in hot weather, we layered and covered the cake in our vanilla frosting before covering in a marble effect sugarpaste.

Handy Hint:
After frosting, refrigerate the cake for 20 minutes to firm up before covering in sugarpaste.

Creating A Subtle Marble Effect

a) To create this subtle marble effect over the entire cake, take 500g of white and 500g of soft green sugarpaste, roll into long sausage shapes and line up next to each other alternating the colours as shown.
Sprinkle a little icing sugar over your hands and work surface to stop the icing sticking.

b) Squeeze and roll the sausage shapes together then twist before folding in half and twisting again ready for rolling out.
Sprinkle the worktop with a little more icing sugar then roll out large enough to cover the cake turning the icing every so often to make sure it is not sticking.

c) Carefully lift onto the cake, smoothing the top first then down the sides making sure you do not trap any air bubbles under the icing.
Cut away any excess icing around the bottom of the cake and smooth to create a neat edge on the cake board. Smooth with the palms of your hands if you do not have a smoother.

Handy Hint:
Using a sugarpaste cake smoother really helps to achieve a professional finish! Smooth over the icing on your worktop first before lifting onto the cake then smooth over the entire cake starting at the top and moving down around the sides of the cake. If you see or feel any air bubbles, push a sterilised pin or the end of a cocktail stick into the bubble, gently press the air out then smooth over with a cake smoother until perfect.

Decorating The Sides Using A Stencil

When using a stencil, it’s always best to have a little practice on some spare rolled out icing first. Doing this makes sure that you are happy with the colour and that the consistency of the royal icing is just right!

When using stencils, you need the royal icing to be spreadable but not too wet, so we added a few drops of water to the 250g pot of Sattina royal icing, a little Sugarflair gooseberry paste food colouring and mixed well.

a) Before using the stencil, make sure that the design lines up with the bottom of the cake. You may have to cut a strip off the bottom of the stencil.

b) Attach the stencil to the cake using sterilised pins then using a palette knife, spread the coloured royal icing liberally over the cut-out stencil design.

c) Gently scrape across the stencil with the palette knife removing all excess royal icing. Remove the stencil carefully then wash and tap dry with kitchen paper before repeating all the way around the side of the cake.

Adding A Touch Of Gold To The Topper

Adding just a touch of gold leaf can really jazz up the dried flower topper. Sparingly brush some edible glue onto the leaf or leaves then touch with the gold leaf while still on the sheet. The gold leaf will attach itself to wherever the glue has been brushed. The gold leaf can also be added to the cake using the same technique if required.

Adding The Dried Flower Topper

Lastly, to attach the dried flower topper to the side of the cake, use a cake pin. You can either push the flower and leaf stems into the cake pin (cutting them shorter if needed) or untie the string holding the spray together and re-tie around the spray and onto the cake pin. Push the cake pin firmly into the side of the cake to hold the spray in place.

Be Inspired!

We hope we have inspired you to be creative! Our range of dried flower toppers and stencils come in several designs and are suitable use with sugarpaste or frosted cakes.

Cake Craft Creative Team

Visit our store www.cakecraftworld.co.uk for more products and ideas!