Ingredients
Royal icing
Method
1.Trim cakes. Secure one 20cm cake to largest board; top with remaining 20cm cake, joining cakes with a little jam or ganache. Secure deep 15cm cake to smaller board; top with remaining small cake, joining cakes with jam or ganache. Prepare cakes for covering with ready-made icing.
2.Knead ready-made icing on surface dusted with a little cornflour until icing loses its stickiness. Tint icing pink with colouring.
3.Roll one-third of the icing on cornfloured surface until large enough to cover small cake. Using rolling pin, lift icing onto cake; smooth with hands then smoothing tools. Trim icing neatly around base of cake; reserve scraps.
4.Use remaining icing to cover large cake the same way as small cake; reserve scraps. Dry cakes overnight.
5.Push trimmed skewers into centre of large cake to support the top tier. Secure small cake on top of large cake.
6.To make royal icing, sift icing sugar through very fine sieve. Lightly beat egg white in small bowl; add icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. When icing reaches firm peaks, add juice; beat well.
7.Reserve 1 heaped tablespoon of royal icing. Tint remaining royal icing pink to match cakes. Three-quarters fill piping bag with icing; pipe around base of each cake. Use fingertip to blend icing into any gaps where the cakes join the boards. Dry cakes overnight.
8.Knead modelling paste on surface dusted with cornflour until it loses its stickiness. Roll out a little of the paste to 1mm thick. Cut several blossoms from paste using all cutters. Cover the paste with the vinyl mat to prevent it from drying out.
9.Working quickly, place a blossom in palm of hand dusted with a little cornflour. Using small end of ball tool, gently press tool into blossom to round the petals and centre of blossom. Place blossoms on bakingpaper- lined tray to dry overnight. Repeat with more paste. You need about 35 small, 35 medium and 10 large blossoms.
10.Using paint brush, dust centre of blossoms with equal quantities of combined cornflour and petal dust.
11.Cut stamens to about 1cm long. Half-fill piping bag with reserved white royal icing; pipe a small dot of icing in centre of 6 blossoms. Use tweezers to position a few stamens in the icing in each blossom before it sets; stand until dry. Repeat with remaining blossoms.
12.Colour scraps of reserved ready-made icing brown using a little black and brown colouring.
13.Roll brown icing into thin strips of random thicknesses, lengths and shapes to resemble cherry blossom branches; brush a little water on backs of branches, secure to cakes while still soft and pliable.
14.Secure blossoms to branches with a little royal icing.
Equipment you will need to make this recipe; 30cm round wooden cake board, 15cm round wooden cake board, smoothing tools, 3 wooden skewers, 2 paper piping bags, 5-petal plunger cutter set (small, medium and large), vinyl mat, ball tool, and 2 fine artist’s paint brushes tweezers. The cherry blossom is the symbol of Japan, as well as being the symbol of spring. The contrasting colours of this cake – the pale pink of the blossoms and the brown of the branches – gives it a dramatic effect.
Note
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