Special Occasion Cakes Recipes - Petal Retirement Cake

Ingredients

• 20cm petal shaped deep light fruit cake

• 45ml apricot jam, warmed and sieved

• 900g marzipan

• mulberry and pink food coloring

• 900g sugar-paste icing

• 275g petal paste

• 15ml royal icing

• 25cm petal shaped silver cake board

• foam sponge

• large and small blossom plunger cutters

• 2m white ribbon, 2cm wide

• 2m fuchsia ribbon, 1 cm wide

• 2m fuchsia ribbon, 3mm wide

• greaseproof paper piping bag

• No 1 writing nozzle

• pink food coloring pen fresh flowers

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Method:

1. Brush the cake with jam and put on the board. Cover with marzipan. Knead mulberry coloring into the sugar-paste icing. Use to cover the cake and board. Dry overnight.

2. Tint the petal paste with pink coloring. Roll and cut out a 5 x 2.5cm rectangle. Fold in half and dry over a foam sponge to make the card. Make holes in the top edges of the fold for the ribbon. Cut out 30 large and four small plunger blossom flowers. Leave to dry.

3. Using the royal icing and a No 1 writing nozzle, secure the white and narrow fuchsia ribbons around the board and the medium ribbon around the cake base. Tie six small bows from the narrow ribbon for the base.

4. Attach the large flowers to the side of the cake with icing. Secure the small flowers to the board. Draw a design and write a message inside the card with the pen. Thread ribbon through the holes and tie a bow. Place on the cake top with the fresh flowers.