I thought I would share with you the full tutorial for this easy to make Carnation Cake! With Mother’s Day around the corner, this could be the perfect thing to try, and it’s much easier to make than it looks!
[fancy_header]You will need:[/fancy_header]
Ingredients:
- 1 x 8″ Sponge Cake – I used three layers rather than two and a Victoria Sponge Recipe
- 2 x Tubs of Vanilla Frosting
- 1 x Jar of Strawberry Jam
- 600g Pink Fondant ‘ Sugarpaste (If you decide to make a larger cake, you can use this Cake Covering Guide to work out how much you need, removing a little amount if, like me, you don’t cover the top).
- 300g White Flower Paste / Modelling Paste
- Edible Glue
- 1 Pot of Shimmer Pink Edible Lustre Dust
- 1 Pot of Oyster Pearlised Sugar Pearls
Tools:
- Set of Carnation Cutters (£2.49 from Iced Jems Shop)
- Bulbulous Cone Tool (part of Pink 8 Piece Cake Decorating Set for just £4.50)
- Cutting and Embossing Wheel (£1.99 from Iced Jems Shop)
- Rolling Pin
- Small Paintbrush
- Foam Dry Tray (or empty chocolate box)
Start by making the Carnations, as these will need some time to dry before placing on the cake. For the Carnations you will need the rolling pin, carnation cutters, cone tool, paintbrush, flower paste and lustre dust.
Roll out a small amount of the flower paste to about 3mm thickness. Use the Carnation Tools to press out the shapes, you should have three different sizes.
Now use the cone tool to flatten down and roll out the edges of the carnation layers, causing them to rise in places and almost give a ripple effect. If the flower paste starts to stick to your cone tool, just use a little Baking Lard or similar to grease it.
Once all three layers are done, you can colour the edges with the Pink edible lustre dust. Just use the paintbrush to dip into the pot and using light strokes towards the outside of the layer, brush the lustre dust in.
Now you simply need to put the layers together and leave to dry. As mentioned earlier in the tools section, if you don’t have a foam drying mat (I had lost mine on the day), you can use an empty chocolate box to dry the flowers into shape! I used an empty Ferrero Rocher Box! Place the largest layer into the cavity, pressing down the middle so the edges are curving upwards, then dab a little edible glue in the middle and place on the second layer.
For the final and smallest layer, you need to pinch the middle from underneath, causing the layer to scrunch up slightly and fold. Then with another dab of edible glue, secure this to the other layers and leave to dry. Repeat this process until you have enough flowers to cover the top of your cake, I used about 300g of flower paste making all of mine.
Once you have left your flowers to dry, you can cover your main cake. I used Vanilla Frosting and Strawberry Jam to cover each of the three layers in mine!
Roll out your Pink Fondant Icing to cover the cake. I just used one long strip to cover the outer edges and not the top – I find when using fondant, less is always more! But you can of course cover the whole cake, just amend your quantities! Once you have placed your fondant around the cake, trim off any excess around the bottom and top.
Check that your Carnations have completely dried, and if they have, decorate the top of the cake with them, placing them as close together as possible to close any gaps. They should stick to the buttercream, if this has dried out you can use more of the edible glue.
Now you need to use the Cutting and Embossing Wheel to make a quilting effect on the cake. Use the wheel shown above, and mark out where you want your lines to start and end on the cake before starting to ensure they are even.
Run the wheel down the cake pressing firmly, you may want to use a ruler to ensure you get perfect straight lines. Continue until you have diamond shapes.
To finish, simply press sugar pearls into the cake where each line meets another! If they won’t stick, you can use a tiny dab of edible glue.
There you have it, a simple tutorial on how to make this pretty pink cake!
Have fun!
Jem x
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