You will need:

Edibles:

Equipment:

• bright blue flowerpaste
• bright light green flowerpaste
• petal dusts: medium blue, dark blue, navy, black, medium green, dark green
• bright light green flowerpaste

• 26g and 28g white wire
• white floral tape
• a scalpel, razor blade or other sharp and precision knife
• tweezers
• a cutting wheel or bone tool
• veining tool
• 9cm five-petal cutter
• ball tool and firm foam pad
• posy pick
• tablespoons for drying the petals
• FMM creative leaves tappit
• small stamens

1

Roll out the blue flower paste and use the five-petal cutter to cut two and a half shapes. Use a knife to cut these into individual petals; you will need a total of twelve.

2

Place each petal onto the firm foam pad and use a ball tool to soften the edges. Use a veining tool to add veins to the petal and finish by using the ball tool again to add movement to the petal.

3

Holding the base of the petal between your thumb and forefinger, use a little edible to glue to insert a 26g wire. Dry on a spoon as shown to give the petal a slightly curved shape.

4

To make the flower centre, make a cone of flower paste (about the size of a large chickpea) and using a little edible glue, insert a hooked 26g wire into it. Use tweezers to pinch and rough-up the surface of the ball.

5

Once dry, begin by dusting each petal with some bright blue petal dust. Use a little darker blue to darken the base and give definition around the edge of the petal. Add some navy blue to the base, to create the gradient in blue on each petal.

6

Dust the flower centre with navy and little black to make it dramatically dark.

7

Colour your stamens using a combination of navy and black petal dust, to match the flower centre. Bend them in half and using quarter width floral tape, attach.

8

Using quarter width tape, attach the first petal to the centre.

9

Continue adding petals to the centre one at a time, winding the tape at least once around the stem for each petal. Add five petals for the first row.

10

Add the remaining seven petals for the second row and wind the tape all the way to the bottom of the stem so that all the petals are firmly fixed in place.

11

To make the buds, roll flower paste in a range of tear drop sizes, the largest the size of a large chickpea and the smallest the size of a small pea. Make a hook in a piece.

12

Once dry, using a little dark blue petal dust to deepen the colour at the base of each bud. Using quarter width floral tape, tape them into sprigs of three, four or five buds as shown.

13

Roll out the pale green flower paste and cut leaves in a variety of sizes, from very small to approximately 5cm. Insert each onto a 28g wire and pinch the end shut.

14

Once dry, add a little medium green dust to the centre and edges of the leaf and finish with some darker green to the base and edges.

15

Using quarter width tape and starting with the smallest leaves, tape the leaves into little branches, with the leaves increasing in size. Do not include the largest leaves, as these will be used independently in the final arrangement.

16

To assemble the spray, begin by adding a some leaves to the flower. Move them around holding the flower and leaves up to the cake frequently to make sure the positioning is pleasing. Once you are happy, affix with floral tape.

17

Continue adding leaves and the buds until you have an arrangement that you like and will sit well on the cake. Wrap plenty of floral tape around the stem so that everything is well attached and firmly in place.

18

Insert a large posy pick into your cake and insert the spray of leaves and flower into your cake.