christmas is just around the corner. whats more apt than a christmas wreath cake? before making this, i did my research looking at pictures of christmas wreaths, not the kind with fake decorations like baubles but those made with real flowers so i came up with this. i adorned my wreath cake with twine, red roses, raspberries, holly berries, pine cones and noble fir (or something along that line). i feel that among all the flower cakes i've made, this one is the most true to life because of the colors.


my favorite part would have to be the raspberries. they're so lifelike i'm surprised myself!


for the cake itself, i made a four layer red and white genoise sponge cake. i need to talk about this cake because i learned a new method in torting/cutting it into layers and it was pretty easy. maybe not new, but for me, it is. previously i tried methods like using the wilton layer tool (the kind that looks like a hanger), placing two wooden board strips by each side of the cake, or even the cake cutting "thingies" where you clip at both ends of the knife, i even tried using a dental floss! but i find that using a ruler to mark around the cake and then cutting along the markings with a very large and heavy knife does the trick. i bought a huge serrated cake knife and its very heavy so the knife does not slant when you slice with it.


i had fun making this cake and its really simple to put together, unlike one adorned with flowers. for the genoise sponge, i used the recipe from here. its a pretty good recipe though it didn't rise much for me. i did do the hot water bath thing and whisked the batter til ribbon stage so i have no idea! i only managed to obtain 2 slices so i would suggest making the 18cm one and doubling the quantity if you intend to do a 4 layer cake like mine.

over the past few days i learned to pipe a ton of new flowers. it was really fun so i'm here to spam some pictures! i actually had plan to make a round cake but i thought cupcakes would be more interesting since i've never tried making flower cupcake before. they all turned out very romantic shabby chic, it reminds me of an english rose garden! the pic above shows ranunculus buds and english/david austin rose.


to be honest i have no idea what this flower is but the koreans do it, ALOT. it might be another type of ranunculus or ribbon rose. i also did baby's breath as a filler, for the first time. previously i did larger buds but i think the smaller ones are way prettier.


my favorite - open rose, hydrangea and apple blossom.


pink and white (actually very light minty green but it doesn't really show) hydrangeas. i love hydrangeas and these have become my favorite flower to pipe now.


full shot of all the cupcakes


packed in a kraft cupcake box. i think some of the flowers were too huge to use on a cupcake. thats because i originally made them to be placed on a cake. definitely needs some scaling down.


i'm not really adventurous when it comes to the color combination, choosing to be in the safe zone still, such as using pink, white and green shades. i did experiment with different tone so i think the flowers look more life-like now. i've seen the dark red, blue and turquoise flower cake on instagram and they look amazing. can't wait to try experimenting with more flowers!

i had a couple of orders for these buttercream flower cakes for the month of nov, and because this is not something i do on a regular basis nor did i openly say i'm taking orders for them, i'm surprised people would ask. i also felt the need to tell my customers i have very limited knowledge on piping flowers so i'll not be very good at it. heck, i'm not even good at frosting whole cakes but my customers were really nice about it, so i went ahead. it must be a good 6 months since i practiced piping any flowers, and i was a little apprehensive to be honest.


for this bouquet cake i did roses, ranunculus and some buds/berries. having gone overboard with the leaves for my first attempt on my wedding anniversary cake, i learned that "less is more".


for this wreath cake, its several styles of roses plus chrysanthemums and buds. not being very satisfied with the previous leaf color, i simply added matcha powder to the buttercream this time, its a lot lighter in color but also more natural.


another perspective.



and finally, a buttercream tulip cake. this is the first time i'm using such strong colors in cake decorating but i think it turned out pretty well.

if anything for these couple of attempts, its that i'm really getting better at piping roses (i think). i also realized that piping flowers is really more about the technique, variety and color combination than "which tip to use". its a challenging thing for me since i don't attend any classes for these, not even the wilton method. not 100% happy with my attempts of course, but with constant practice, i know i can be better.