Chelsea Flower Show Edible Flowers and Flowerpot Cake

Steps

1. Line the base and sides of a 6” and a 7” cake tin. Place the cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat together well with an electric mixer.
2. Fill the 6” tin ¾’s full and add the remaining mixture to the 7” tin. Bake in the oven. (35 minutes for the 7” cake, 1 hour 5 minutes for the 6” cake). Test the cake so that a skewer when inserted comes away clean. Allow the cakes to cool on a wire rack.
3. To assemble the cake, level the top of the smaller cake and slice in half. Sandwich together with a layer of marmalade. Add another layer of marmalade on the top and add the larger cake to form the flowerpot shape.
4. Beat together the ingredients for the chocolate buttercream and use to coat the flowerpot, reserve the remaining buttercream for later. Place in the fridge to chill whilst you work on the buttercream flowers.
5. Beat together the buttercream for the flowers. Prepare some small squares of non-stick baking paper, a mug, some disposable piping bags and a selection of piping tips. Divide the buttercream into 3 or 4 smaller portions and colour using food colouring.
6. Add a dot of buttercream to the base of mug and secure a small square of baking paper to it. Using your chosen tip and colour of buttercream create a flower. Add sprinkles to the centres of the flower and set onto a tray. Once you have a full tray place it in the fridge to chill until firm.
7. To assemble, build up the edible flowers, leaves and piped flowers on the top of the pot sliding each chilled flower from the baking paper using a spatula, secure to the top of the pot with a dot of reserved chocolate buttercream.
8. Serve.
9. Tip 1: - Buttercream flowers are easy to make and can be achieved with a variety of different piping tips. A petal tip is best for flowers with petals but if you don’t have one then you can cut the end from a disposable piping bag at a sharp angle. A closed star tip can create drop flowers and an open star tip can pipe rosettes.
10. Tip 2: - Piping Flowers - Petal Tip - Hold the tip with the wider part pointing to the centre of the flower, just above the paper.
11. Tip 2: - Piping Flowers - Petal Tip - Gently apply pressure to pipe and turn your piping hand clockwise turning the mug anticlockwise slowly at the same time to create each individual petal.
12. Tip 2: - Piping Flowers - Petal Tip - Create different sizes of flowers using 2 or 3 layers of petals.
13. Tip 3: - Closed Star Tip - Hold the tip perpendicular touching the baking paper. Apply pressure and turn your piping hand clockwise at the same time to create these flowers.
14. Tip 4: - Open Star Tip - Pipe a spiral from the centre of the flower wrapping the buttercream around itself to create these little rosettes.