There is so much beauty in a cake adorned with fresh blooms. I usually bake my own cake but sometimes it is easier to buy a cake from a good baker or patisserie. So, if time is not on your side you have permission to cheat and buy a cake! My husband introduced me to this utterly scrumptious and moist chocolate mud cake from The Old Oak Patisserie in Sydney’s CBD.

LYN’S TIPS FOR DECORATING A CAKE WITH FRESH FLOWERS

The key elements are SHAPE, COLOUR, TEXTURE and BALANCE when building your floral decorations.

SHAPE – Anything goes when choosing a cake shape however I prefer to dress a round cake. A rustic naked cake with multiple layers, a basic round or two layered sponge cake would be my suggestions. You really can dress to impress and make your cake the centrepiece of your celebration.

COLOUR – Choose a colour palette to complement your cake. I love layering different tones and depths of colour because it adds complexity and really makes your cake pop! If you cannot decide on a colour the simplicity of white flowers and green foliage to me is timeless perfection.

TEXTURE –  Look for flowers and foliage with different sized buds, flowers and leaves to add depth and texture.  A few ideas for adding texture is using fresh or dried fruits, berries and rose petals.

BALANCE – Placement of flowers is important to create a balance which is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Creating a relaxed and less structured arrangement does have to be strategic otherwise your arrangement could end up looking messy. Don’t worry too much if you make a ‘mistake’ with placement as icing is quite forgiving and you can always hide behind a flower!

To start building the arrangement I start from one side and add each stem so it nestles next to the others.  Much like a florist builds a bouquet or arrangement. For a more organic and fluid design place the flowers flowing down one side of the cake. Don’t be afraid to be a little avante garde and add height with cherry blossom twigs or the like. Alternatively, you can start from the centre and create an arrangement that is balanced symmetrically.

CHOOSING FLOWERS

Organically grown flowers are the best choice. If you have a garden or access to flowers which have been grown free from nasty pesticides and chemicals this is the best option. I love garden roses and foraging in the garden for lovely blooms and foliage. Fresh garden herbs, fresh and dried fruits and micro herbs are also a pretty addition to the cake decoration. Edible flowers are now all the rage and you can find them popping up in supermarkets especially organic wholefood markets.

EDIBLE FLOWERS

Here is a list of edible flowers. Petite Ingredient has a wonderful range of organic edible flowers which are grown in Victoria’s Yarra Valley. They are used in sweet and savoury dishes and they have gained popularity in recent years.

begonias

borage

calendula

camelia

carnation

chamomile

chrysanthemums

cornflour

dahlia

daisies

dandelion

dianthus

echinacia

fennel pollen

fuchsia

hibiscus

lavender

lilac

linaria

marigold

nasturtium

pansy

pelargonium

peony

petunia

roses

rosemary flower

snap dragon

sunflower

tulip

viola

violet

PREPARING FLOWERS

Gently wash the flowers and foliage in cold water and dry thoroughly on a paper towel. Check there are no little bugs especially ants hiding in the flowers, strip the flowers of any leaves and remove any thorns. Once you have worked out the placement of the stem, trim the end at an angle and wrap the end of the stem with floral tape to ensure no sap contaminates the cake. Now you are ready to decorate your cake!

STEP-BY-STEP

To get you started here is a step-by-step guide to how I arranged the flowers on the cake pictured. With each cake you decorate you will gain confidence and work out what works and what doesn’t.

LITTLE EXTRAS – Adding delicate handmade bunting to your cake makes it extra special! You can find these handmade glitter feathered bunting in my etsy store. They are available in silver, rose gold and gold glitter and best of all you can re-use it for another celebration.

The Old Oak Patisserie T21, Metcentre 273 George Street Sydney (02) 9241 2050 (open Monday – Friday only)

Koch & Co (floral tape)

Petite Ingredient

Have fun adding a little beauty to your plain cakes for your next celebration!

In all things beautiful,

Lyn xx

{DIY} How to decorate a cake with flowers + foliage

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My little miss sweet pea loves turtles and pineapples. I was rather relieved when she wanted a pineapple themed birthday party. Pineapples are fun and colourful and so easy to craft. Before preparing to style a party I like to use Pinterest as a reference and a place to pin my inspiration. This was a fun and engaging project to do together. There really were not many cute ideas to be found on Pinterest or the web for that matter.

One idea was to make little pineapples from cardboard. This was a disaster well maybe not quite a disaster but time consuming. Imagine making 8 pineapples with a zillion little folds it was a literally a technical feat and not so pretty!. A good lesson in math and geometry. Not my favourite subjects at school or ever really. With a couple of test invitations made from cardboard we decided to go back to the drawing board. I had an idea to make an invitation in the shape of a pineapple – a little coloured tissue, special fringing scissors and some twine and voila! This was the end result. I had my husband on the hunt for Allen’s pineapple gummy candy to no avail. He came home with something even sweeter – little hard rock candy with a tiny pineapple in the centre by Sticky. Inside the little paper crafted pineapples was a glass jar filled with these tropical flavoured delights!

Handmade details add a personal touch to a celebration. I played around with watercolours when I studied fashion so I decided to have a go at making place cards with of course pineapples! Handwritten names completed the bespoke details.

There are so many lovely tea towels at Williams & Sonoma. They are a good size and a good thickness so they hold their shape. I wanted the girls to wear aprons while crafting and eating and along my regular pop ins to W&S found these beauties! They were in the perfect colours to complement our pineapple theme. The size of my ‘tea towel’ aprons would fit 5-12 year olds.  They were super easy and quick to whip up on the machine because all the edges are already hemmed…..I call that WINNING!!! A couple of metres of cotton ribbon, tea towel and thread made an economical apron for the girls. Coming in at around $8 a piece plus the time to make them.

Are you ready to party like a P I N E A P P L E? This was the question! For seven eleven year old giggling girls a crafternoon, movie night and sleepover was planned. Little miss sweet pea was thrilled everyone could make her little celebration.

I kept the menu pretty simple. We made the cupcakes together and topped them with green pineapple leaves made from a delightful green tissue paper. My darling husband was a star and made the popcorn and the breakfast pancakes and both were a big hit!

PARTY MENU

CRAFTERNOON  TEA

Pineapple and Coconut Cupcakes

Pineapple and Apple Punch

MOVIE NIGHT

Buttered Popcorn and Sea Salt

Cheese and Tomato Spelt Pizzas

Ham and Pineapple Spelt Pizzas

Banana Split, Vanilla Ice Cream, Butterscotch Sauce and Sprinkles

BREAKFAST

Spelt Pancakes, Blueberries, Raspberries and Vanilla Ice Cream

I am a big list maker. This helps me keep everything in order and not feel overwhelmed. My tip for throwing a party is to be organised, backward schedule and plan your menu so some things can be prepared earlier so you are not stuck in the kitchen the whole time! Not a good place to be when you are hosting a party.

MY PARTY PLANNING TICK LIST

# guest list

# invitations + place cards

# party schedule

# menu planning

# diy preparations for crafternoon

# dividing tasks with husband and the little miss

A craft party whether you are still at school or a retiree is such a great way to celebrate with your girlfriends. You get to chill out, chatter away and end up with something that you made yourslef. Its a win win! I put a call out on facebook and messaged my friends for any old jeans that were ready to be tossed. My idea was to make bags for the girls to decorate. They had a fabulous afternoon laughing, teasing, singing along to pop music and crafting pom poms. On each bespoke denim bag I embroidered the girls initial – they loved their bags and I think it will be something that they will use for many years to come. I even made one for myself!

All the girls left happy with their creative efforts, full bellies and time with their besties. When a party is over it is never really over until the clean up is done. We had a few hours of chill out time before tackling the kitchen and general tidying up. I believe it is important to include the children in this so they value and appreciate the effort and responsibilities when hosting a party. Now, we were ready for party number two that night with Nana and Pa coming to celebrate a very special and sweet young lady who is growing up way too fast.

I will be posting recipes and the crafty diy projects from the PARTY LIKE A PINEAPPLE PARTY very soon.

In all things beautiful,

Lyn xx

ps The true star of the show was my fur baby. He was in heaven with seven girls fawning over him…..I am sure he thought it was his party! Here he is being a good sport. OSCAR we love you xxx

{Party like a Pineapple} DIY everything

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Birthdays and milestones are important to me. On these days time stands still to celebrate an age, a victory or a well earned certificate or acknowledgement for a job well done. They are momentous and they are worth marking in history. Life is filled with challenges, mountains to climb and flags to fly on our mountain to say ‘I made it’! I reached a goal, a dream and I pushed through the hard times and most of all I didn’t give up. I am here and golly gosh I am going to make an occasion of it. The icing on the cake is that you get to invite those that mean the most to you, have supported, encouraged and continued to love you. A party really is about being with the ones you love whether it is with ‘your’ person or a whole ballroom filled with people. It is what you make of it whether it is big or small, grand or humble, home-cooked or catered – my only rule is to have fun!

As an event stylist I have styled many birthdays, weddings and christenings. When it comes to my own celebrations I feel pressure (self imposed) to come up with something fabulous and as a perfectionist I am my biggest critic. There it is I said it that dreaded P word P E R F E C T I O N I S T. It has followed me around like a shadow. I guess it comes with being a creative. Creatives share something so personal in such a public way. Where there are artists you will find art critics. There seems to be a critic and an expert for everything these days and you can find them with a few taps of the keyboard. As I grow older and wiser I realise that perfection is not real. We create our own ideal of what perfect is. There is a lot of truth in the saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder – what is perfect to one may be imperfect to another. I am now kinder to myself and just be the best I can be.

I love the Organic Belvoir Cordials from the UK. My favourite flavour is the Rose and Raspberry just add it to sparkling water for a non alcoholic refreshment.

This was my first attempt at fancy icing. It took forever but was worth all this prettiness. I will do a tutorial on this darling paper bunting to make your next celebration cake extra special. Continuing the bunting theme I sewed fabric bunting in an assortment of fabrics in shades of pink, stripes, polka dots and florals. These little favour boxes are a signature design from my stationery and favour collection at Rosebud Designs. Guests filled these with candy to take home.

These are baby rolls of menthos I recovered in polka dot and striped paper. Tied with strips of fabric cut with pinking shears. 

Who wants a boring bowl of sugared almonds? I gussied these up in little bags, with matching floral, polka dot and striped paper – finished off with a little pink and white striped bow.

Fancy glass jars filled with candy and chocolate in pinks, aquas and whites. Attached to each sweet was a printed tag each one secured with pink and white twine.

I love all things girly and pretty so I could not resist serving high tea at our restaurant. My brother and I designed a high tea menu of savoury and sweet delights to serve for birthday’s, hen’s and baby showers. All this organic goodness was served with fresh pots of tea, cocktails and moscato. I found beautiful Limoges inspired china, white damask clothes and fresh flowers adorned the tables. To complete the look I handmade fabric napkins in an assortment of patterns all in pink of course! With all this beauty I had to have a high tea birthday party with my girlfriends at Agape Organic Restaurant. With the addition of a ‘dress up’ rack of clothes and accessories, a perfume station and a candy bar we were ready to celebrate.

My gorgeous friend Anni Payne from Milk and Honey Photography came along and captured these dreamy images from the day. Anni is the loveliest, calmest, seriously patient and talented photographers in the industry. Believe me you need these virtues as a wedding and portrait photographer. Along with her husband Matthew Duchesne they are award winning photographers and are amongst Australia’s leading wedding photographers. They have an eye for detail and are an amazing team. Their website is so sweet. You must visit it to swoon over the photos or just to see the beautiful illustrations by artist Nikki Catalano.

I encourage you to celebrate the moments, make them magical and memorable with those that bring joy and beauty to your world.

In all things beautiful,

Lyn xx

Polka Dot Bride featured my High Tea Party here. 

{High Tea} Inspiration + Styling + Photography

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