PREPARATION

1 Copy the wing template and place it under waxed paper. Using a small spoon, pour a small amount of melted gelatine liquid over each template. Move the template and repeat. Once set, cut lines through jelly as shown then allow to thoroughly dry out in a warm place. 2 Cut 4cm wide wafer paper strips. Top tip: use a trimmer or guillotine if you have one. Stack three strips on top of each other and cut out leaf and bract shapes using the templates and scissors. 3 Place the leaves and bracts onto a piece of kitchen towel. Mix a selection of green food dusts with vegetable oil and paint over both sides of the wafer paper shapes as shown. Note the edges of the leaves are darker and the base is lighter. 4 To shape each leaf and bract, carefully soften a section of a wafer paper shape using steam. Whilst it’s pliable encourage it into shape. Once away from the steam, it will set very quickly. 5 The thin tips of the shapes should be rolled and curled, as shown. The sides of the shapes encouraged upwards to create a ‘C’ shape and the ends encouraged downwards. 6 For the petals, cut 2cm wide wafer paper strips. Stack a few on top of each other and cut out petal shapes using the templates and scissors. You will probably need at least 30 petals. 7 Place the petals onto a piece of kitchen towel. Mix a selection of yellow and orange food dusts with vegetable oil and paint over both sides of the wafer paper petals, firstly with yellow and then add orange to the base of each. Blend the colours using oil as necessary. 8 Shape each petal using steam. Encourage the tips of the petals to tuck under and the sides of the petals to curve upwards into a ‘C’ shape.

9 Cut three strips of 1.5cm wide wafer paper. Using sharp scissors, cut approximately 5mm into the stacked strips. Repeat, as close as you can to the previous cut, and continue, as shown, until you have about 22cm of textured paper. 10 Place the strips on kitchen paper, then mix brown food dust with oil and paint over the cut sections of each strip. Using steam, separate and add movement. These strips will be used to represent the brown tops of the outer disc florets. DECORATING THE CAKE 11 Cover your stacked cake with white sugarpaste. Before the icing sets, take the smallest hexagon multicutter (2cm hexagon wide) and place it against the cake. Press the cutter into the cake using a rocking action to emboss the honeycomb. 12 Line up the cutter and repeat until you have honeycomb all around the base of the cake. Then carefully line up the cutter and add the next layer of pattern. Repeat until you have embossed the whole cake. 13 Take a small piece of honeycomb foundation wax, if using, and emboss over a few of the larger hexagons, as shown. Note: the hexagons on honeycomb are always orientated the way I have shown i.e., all the sides of the hexagon point downwards. 14 Decide where the front of your cake will be. Then, take the 7cm circle cutter and emboss a circle, 4cm down from the top edge of your cake. Rocking the cutter from side to side to ensure the circle is fully embossed. This will be the centre of your flower. 15 Place yellow, orange and brown food dust on a white plate. Add a little cocoa butter. Position the plate over a source of heat. Once the cocoa butter has melted, mix a little into the dusts to create suitable paints. 16 Load a large brush with pale yellow paint and apply radial strokes around the embossed circle. Gradually darken the paint as you move outwards. Note: you can always adjust the colour balance away from the flower once the cake is completed. 17 To make a thick glue, use your wafer paper offcuts mixed with hot water. Use this along with a little white sugarpaste to attach leaves to the left-hand side of the sunflower head. Use plastic-headed pins to hold it in place whilst the glue dries as necessary. 18 Roll a thin sausage of white sugarpaste and attach it around half of the embossed circle. Insert two overlapping layers of bracts into this sausage pressing firmly in place using a Dresden tool. 19 Add the first layer of sunflower petals, leaving a gap between each to allow space for the next layer.

20 Add a second layer of petals. Adjusting their position as you go. Note the petals point further away from the cake surface than the first layer. Add more petals until you are happy this section of the flower head resembles a sunflower. 21 Take your sunflower petal veiners. I made my own using a sunflower petal and silicone putty. Place some thinly rolled-out white modelling between the two halves of the veiners and squeeze together. Release and cut out the resulting petal with a cutting wheel. Repeat. 22 You will require approximately 16 sugar petals. Once the petals have all been cut, attach the them in place around the remaining half of the sunflower in two overlapping rows. Adjust the position of each petal as desired and cut away the sections overlapping the centre. 23 Using the glue, attach the fringed brown water paper to the edge of the circle on top of the petals. You will probably find it easier to cut the paper into small lengths before attaching. 24 Colour some of your remaining sugarpaste yellow. Roll this out to approximately 5mm thick. Take your sunflower head/centre mould and press it firmly into your rolled-out paste. Remove the mould and cut the paste into a 7cm circle. 25 Use the mould to texture the cut edges of the circle then carefully attach in place in the centre of the sunflower. Take a petal tube and emboss the outer ring of the centre to exaggerate the texture created by the mould. 26 Mix brown food dust with melted cocoa butter and use it to stipple over the outer ring of the centre. Try to just paint the paste on the top surface so that the yellow shows through underneath. 27 Mix up some black food dust with melted cocoa butter and paint over the centre of the flower. Finally using a diluted brown paint blend the outer ring with the centre. Adjusting the finish as desired. 28 Using the yellow and orange cocoa butter paint left over from painting the cake, paint the modelling paste petals. Using the orange at the base of the petals graduating out to a light yellow.

29 To make the honeycomb hexagons, cut out three sizes of hexagons from modelling paste. For honeycomb textured hexagons, texture the paste first and then cut out the shapes. Allow to firm up. Then roll droplets of honey and attach them using glue. 30 Once firmed up, attach a ball of paste behind each hexagon and position as desired on the cake so that the honey looks as if it is dripping. Using a small sunflower mould, create sunflowers from modelling paste coloured yellow and attach them in place. Paint as desired. 31 For the honeybee, colour some modelling paste cream. Roll a 2cm abdomen, a 1cm thorax and a 5mm ball for her head. Texture the abdomen using a Dresden tool or similar, using short strokes in rings, as shown. 32 Attach to the cake, joining the sections together. Add texture to her thorax and head. Roll six legs and position these in a natural position, coming from her thorax. Top tip: take a look at pictures of honeybees on the web to help guide you. 33 Using brown, black and yellow cocoa butter paint, paint the honeybee firstly with brown, as shown, then pale yellow on the tip of her abdomen and black for her strips, top of her thorax and head. 34 Select two lengths of vermicelli and insert them into the front of her head for antennae, referring to the finished cake for guidance. Cut to size once in position using scissors. Paint to give colour. 35 Add more honeycomb hexagons and small sunflowers as desired. Here I am tucking another sunflower under the honey hexagons. How many you add is up to you. Paint any additional items added. 36 Select your best pair of dried gelatine wings, ones you made during the preparation stage and carefully insert them into the thorax of the honeybee. Stand back from your cake and decide if you need to adjust any colouring and adjust if required.