Ingredients
One 18 x 25 cm (7 x 10 inch) oval cake (we used mud cake, but you could use butter, chocolate or coconut cake)
Floodwork flowers
1 egg white
250 g (8 oz) pure icing sugar
3 teaspoons lemon juice assorted food colourings
White chocolate buttercream
80 ml (23/4 fl oz) cream
150 g (5 oz) white chocolate melts
200 g (6V2 oz) unsalted butter
80 g (23/4 oz) icing sugar
Directions
the bowls covered or the icing will dry out quickly). Using paper piping bags, pipe the icing inside the flower outlines. Place the sheets on baking trays and dry overnight.
4 -To make the buttercream, bring a little water in a pan to a simmer and remove from the heat. Put the cream and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place over the pan (not touching, the water). Stir until smooth, then allow to cool slightly. Beat the butter until light and creamy, then slowly beat in the icing sugar until thick and white. Beat in the cool chocolate mixture.
5- Cut the dome off the cake and put the cake upside down on a serving plate. Spread two thirds of the buttercream over the cake, smoothing the surface. Carefully lift the flowers off the baking paper with a palette knife (be very careful as they break easily). Press the flowers around the top edge of the cake, so they stand up slightly higher than the cake. Arrange the remainder in a bunch in the centre.
6 -Tint some of the remaining buttercream pink and the rest green. Using a paper piping bag, pipe green stems down from the flowers on the side of the cake and from the bunch in the centre. To make pointed leaves, cut the tip of the bag into a V, press firmly, then pull away. Pipe a pink bow in the middle of the bunch of flowers.
Draw the flowers on paper, tape to a work surface and cover with baking paper.
Pipe the white icing around the outlines of the flowers, using a fine nozzle.
With the thicker, coloured icing fill in the petals and centres of the flowers.
The floodwork flowers are fragile so use a palette knife to gently remove them.
Cut a V in the tip of the piping bag to make pointed leaves on the stems.
Ahead of time: The cake will keep for 3 days after icing. The flowers can be made up to a week in advance: when dry, store in a single layer in an airtight container.
