I love flowers! And I absolutely love incorporating them into everything I possibly can (which you may have noticed by now!) Sweet violets, violas and pansies are quite popular currently and, luckily for me, I have several beauties growing in my garden. I was making my little girl’s first birthday cake a few weeks ago, started throwing flowers on the side of the cake, and loved it so much I thought I’d share as a bridal shower dessert idea or even an activity to share with your bridesmaids!

Cake decorating is so much fun and can be as simple as placing some blooms prettily on the side of your iced sponge. Small and light flowers work best as they won’t pull away from the cake. They won’t last a long time though, so best to pop them on the cake as close to serving as possible!

What You Will Need:

  • Cake of your choosing (a dense cake works well for this DIY)
  • Buttercream icing (see in the method for recipe)
  • Icing spatula
  • Selection of fresh violets and pansies (or edible, unsprayed flowers of your choosing!)

Step 1. If you’re picking flowers from your own garden (lucky you!), ensure they are cut and placed immediately into cool water. If the blooms are coming from elsewhere, trim the end of the stems and refresh in cool water.

Step 2. Cut rounds of your cake with a cookie cutter (alternatively, bake small rounds with a specific cake tin, which will remove the need for a crumb coat). If you’d like to sandwich two rounds together, you can use ganache, jam or extra icing. Mix buttercream by using a hand held mixer, beating 125g of butter until soft. Add 1.5 cups of icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk, and continue beating until smooth and well combined. You can colour your icing with food dye to any shade that takes your fancy!

Step 2. Once the icing is made (you may need a double batch, depending on how many cakes you are making), use a little to give the cakes a “crumb coat”. Once that has set (you will be able to touch it gently, and it won’t be sticky), ice your cakes. Lay out your flowers on some paper towel to dry.

Step 3. Pat the stems of your blooms dry, and then begin to press them gently into the icing around the cake. You can cluster violets together, spread the flowers out evenly, cover your cake in every flower you can find or stick with one unique bloom, the design is up to you!

Step 4. Once you’re happy with your wild violet design, stand back and admire your handiwork! Adding a little height creates a gorgeous depth to the cake, but keep in mind that violets are reasonably delicate flowers. You can ice your cakes the night before, take them out of the fridge an hour or two before decorating and pop the fresh flowers on then. But if you can only work  several hours before your event, best keep to short stems to avoid drooping flowers.

Ms Zebra Says: Ohhh delicious cake with added beauty of flowers and colour! What a great way to add a ‘pop’ to your cake! Now it won’t only taste delicious but look it too. 

About Ms Honeycomb: Hi, I’m Nicola, the florist and crafter behind rubyandjoy. I’m a gardening, fabric loving, mint tea drinking, brownie baking, book obsessed maker! I love a good adventure having just moved back from five years in Scotland (with my lovely Scottish husband).