ROSE PETAL SPREAD RECIPES

Steps:

• To make the roses, pinch off a little icing and roll it in the palm of your hands to make it more malleable. Shape the icing into an oval shape, smooth out one end of the oval to make it thinner so that it resembles the frilly part of the tip of a rose petal. Make 8-10 more rose petals in this way. To make a rose, roll a small ball of icing into a cone shape, then wrap a rose petal around it. Carefully press the remaining rose petals around the central petal to form a rose shape. You may need to ‘tease’ the petals out from each other a little bit.
• Carefully brush the edges of the roses with pink dust. Repeat the process until you have made about 15 roses. Set aside for 2-3 hours, or until the icing has hardened. (The roses can be made up to a month in advance and stored in an airtight container.)
• Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Grease and line a 15cm/6in, 23cm/9in and 30cm/12in round cake tin.
• For the 15cm/6in tier, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl until well combined. Gradually beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Stir in the dried fruit, orange zest and treacle, then fold in the bicarbonate of soda, flour and spices until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven for about two hours, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
• Repeat step 4 for the 23cm/9in tier and bake in the oven for three hours, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
• Repeat step 4 for the 30cm/12in tier and bake in the oven for 4½ hours, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
• When the cakes are cooked, remove them from the oven and set aside to cool for 15 minutes. Remove them from the tin and set aside on a wire rack to cool completely.
• Warm the apricot jam in a saucepan, then pass it through a sieve.
• Level the top of the 15cm/6in fruit cake, paint the top with a little apricot jam, then turn it upside down onto the 15cm/6in thin cake board. Using a piece of string, measure the top and sides of the fruit cake (this is so that you roll the marzipan out to the right size). Paint the fruit cake all over with the apricot jam.
• Dust a work surface with icing sugar and roll 500g/1lb 2oz of the marzipan out until it is large enough to cover the top and sides of the fruit cake (use the piece of string as a guide). Carefully lift the marzipan onto the cake and smooth it on with your hands. Trim off any excess marzipan, ensuring the cake board is also covered.
• Paint the cake with cooled, boiled water. Knead 500g/1lb 2oz of the white icing until soft and pliable and roll it out until it is 5mm/¼in thick and large enough to cover the top and sides of the fruit cake (use the piece of string as a guide). Carefully lift the icing onto the cake and smooth it on with your hands. Trim off any excess icing. Leave the cakes overnight so that the icing can dry (do not store the cakes in the fridge).
• Repeat steps 9, 10 and 11 for the 23cm/9in cake using 1kg/2lb 4oz each of marzipan and icing.
• Repeat steps 9, 10 and 11 for the 30cm/12in cake using 2kg/4lb 8oz each of marzipan and icing.
• Once the icing has dried, apply a thin line of edible glue around the bottom edge of each cake and carefully stick some ribbon around the cake, securing the join with a little extra glue.
• To insert the dowelling rods, hold a dowelling rod at the side of the 23cm/9in cake and mark with a pencil where the icing comes to. Cut the rod and three others to the same length. Push the rods into the cake about 5cm/2in away from the sides, to form the four corners of a square in the centre of the cake. Measure, cut and insert the rods in the same way for the 30cm/12in cake.
• To cover the 20cm/8in thick cake board, knead 400g/14oz of the icing until soft and pliable and roll it out until it is 5mm/¼in thick and large enough to cover the cake board. Spread a little glue over the board, then carefully lift the icing onto the cake board, smoothing it until flat. Trim the edges. Apply a thin line of glue around the edge of the cake board and carefully stick the ribbon around the cake, securing the join with a little extra glue.
• Repeat step 16 using 500g/1lb 2oz icing for the 28cm/11in cake board and 750g/1lb 10oz icing for the 35cm/14in cake board.
• If you’re transporting the cakes to a venue, it’s best to transport them separately and assemble the cake at the venue. To assemble the cakes, first stick the 30cm/12in cake to the 35cm/14in cake board: add a little glue to the middle of the 35cm/14in cake board, then position the 30cm/12in cake in the middle. Place four of the pillars on top of the largest cake, positioning each one over a dowelling rod. Top with the 28cm/11in cake board, and repeat the process with the 23cm/9in cake, finishing with the 20cm/8in cake board and the 15cm/6in cake. Using the edible glue, arrange the fondant roses in a cluster on the top of the cake and around the side of the 23cm/9in and 30cm/12in cake.

Steps:

• For the vanilla custard, pour the milk into a pan with the vanilla seeds and vanilla pod and place over a low heat until just simmering. Remove from the heat.
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour together until pale and creamy.
• Remove the vanilla pod from the warm milk. (You can rinse this off to use in making vanilla sugar.)
• Stir the warm milk slowly into the egg mixture. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over a low heat for 4-5 minutes, whisking, until the mixture thickens. (It should be very thick.)
• Remove from the heat and beat in the butter until melted and incorporated. Transfer to a bowl, cover the surface with clingfilm to prevent a skin forming and leave to cool. Set aside to chill in the fridge.
• For the jam, tip the raspberries into a deep saucepan with the sugar and two tablespoons of water. Cook gently over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved. Bring the mixture to the boil and boil vigorously for about four minutes, or until the temperature reaches 104C/219F on a sugar thermometer. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and leave to cool completely.
• For the sponge, preheat the oven to 180C/160C(fan)/Gas 4. Grease and line the base of a 23cm/9in springform tin with baking parchment.
• Put the eggs and sugar into a large bowl and using an electric mixer, whisk together until the mixture is very pale and thick and the whisk leaves a trail on the surface when lifted. This will take about five minutes.
• Sift the cornflour, flour and baking powder over the egg mixture and carefully fold in using a large metal spoon. Fold in the melted butter, taking care not to over mix.
• Pour the mixture into the lined tin and bake for 25-30 minutes until the sponge is golden-brown and has just started to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. When cool enough to handle, turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the fondant rose, roll 10 little pieces of fondant into small balls about the size of a cherry stone.
• Dust two small pieces of greaseproof paper with icing sugar and one by one, place the balls of fondant between the sheets of greaseproof and flatten each ball out with your fingers, to a thin circle, approximately 2cm/1in in diameter. These form the petals. Roll the first petal up like a sausage to form a bud and wrap the remaining petals around the bud to make a rose. Bend and curl the edges of the petals, to make them look more realistic. Leave to dry for at least an hour.
• To assemble the cake, using a serrated knife, cut the cake horizontally into three even layers. Place one of the sponges onto a serving plate. Spread a very thin layer of custard over the base of the first sponge.
• Spoon a quarter of the custard into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and pipe a border around the edge of the sponge – this is to contain the jam.
• Spoon the jam over the sponge, and spread evenly within the border.
• In a bowl, whip 600ml/20fl oz of the double cream to firm peaks. Fold half of the whipped cream into the remaining custard.
• Spread one-third of the custard cream over the jam.
• Place the second sponge on top and spread over the remaining custard cream.
• Place the third sponge on top. Spoon over the remaining whipped cream covering the sides and smoothing into a small dome shape on the top. Set aside in the fridge for an hour.
• For the marzipan, mix the ground almonds and sugars in a mixer fitted with a dough hook, before adding the eggs and almond extract.
• Knead in the bowl until it forms a stiff dough. Turn out onto a surface dusted with icing sugar. Using a cocktail stick add a tiny amount of green food colouring and knead to an even pastel green colour.
• Roll out the marzipan on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar, to a 40cm/16in diameter circle, large enough to cover the cake. Lift the marzipan up over the cake and using your hands, shape the marzipan around the sides of the cake to get a smooth finish. Trim any excess.
• Whip the remaining 150ml/5½fl oz of cream to medium peaks and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle. Pipe around the base of the cake.
• Spoon the melted chocolate into a small paper piping bag. Snip off the end and pipe a swirl over the top of the cake. Top with the fondant rose.