Additional Ingredients

To Decorate:

	28cm/11inch Square Cake Board
	Daisy and Blossom Flower Cutters
	Decorators icing palette or crumpled cling film to dry the flowers in
150 grams	Ready Rolled White Icing (Silver Spoon Create)
150 grams	Ready to Roll Icing (Silver Spoon Create) coloured pink
250 grams	Royal Icing Sugar (Silver Spoon)
2 kg	Ready to Roll Icing (Silver Spoon Create) coloured blue

How to make 40th Cake

• Click on the text to highlight the different stages as you go along,
  or click the button below to enlarge all text

1. Grease and line an 8in round, deep cake tin with baking parchment and pre heat your oven to 150°C (130°C fan) Gas mark 2.
2. Cream the butter and the sugar until they are light and fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and mix again.
3. In another bowl measure the flours and baking powder.
4. Whisk all the eggs in a bowl and gradually beat into the sugar and butter mixture. Add a tablespoon of flour at a time to prevent the mixture from curdling. fold in the remaining flour and the water until smooth.
5. Spread the mixture in the cake tin and bake for 45 minutes. Check to see if the cake is done by pressing a finger gently on the top. If it bounces back it is ready, if not it will leave an indent and needs a little longer. Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out and allow to cool.
6. To make the buttercream beat softened butter with sifted icing sugar, until light and creamy adding 1 tsp hot water if necessary. Store in an airtight container.
7. To make the flowers. Choose three colours of icing and roll out the first batch. Dust a decorator’s pallet with a little icing sugar ready to give the flowers the curved look. (or crumple up some foil or cling film to make shallow containers to dry the flowers in) With this cake two style flower cutters have been used. Daisy and blossom. By combining the different sizes and shapes of the flowers the look will be different for each bloom.
8. To make the blossom flowers. Start by cutting out the largest flower. Place it in the well of the pallet and press it down with your finger, being careful not to tear the icing. Repeat till you have made the desired number of large flowers then use a brush dampened with clear alcohol to wet the centre of each flower. Next cut out a smaller flower and place it on the centre of the large flower. The easiest way to do this accurately is to use plunger cutters and press the flower out directly where you want it on the large flower. This step can be repeated so that you have three layers of icing petals to create each flower. Leave to dry
9. To make the Daisy flowers. These can be made with the largest flower flat. Then dampen the middle of the flower with a little clear alcohol and use a small or tiny blossom cutter to create a centre for each flower. As you press the small flower onto the large daisy the petals may lift up slightly. Leave them to dry.
10. For really large daisy flowers use a cutter that is much bigger than the well in the pallet. Place the icing cut out over the well and press down so that the centre has a big dip and the petals overflow the edge. Use a smaller daisy cutter for the next layer and then finish with a small blossom for the centre. This flower will take longer to dry and will be more delicate, but it will become a focal part of the cake.
11. To decorate the cake Cover cake with apricot jam or buttercream Position your cake on the cake board and cover the whole cake and board in one go in pale blue icing. Smooth to a perfect finish. Position the cake near the back of the board to make room for the flowers at the front.
12. Cut out the number you are celebrating from white icing and position centrally using clear alcohol.
13. Mix up some white royal icing so that it is soft and use an artist’s paint brush to add a little under each flower as you position it. Make sure that you mix and match the colours, sizes and shapes of flowers as you decorate the cake. Place some up the side of the cake in clusters to create the overall effect.
14. To complete the look position a matching blue ribbon around the cake board. Secure with stick glue for instant adhesion. Use a pearl pin to keep the ends of the ribbon in place at the back and you're finished.

Reviews