This week our blog aims to raise awareness for a fantastic cause, as well as showing you a few tips and tricks in the cupcake department! We’ll be demonstrating how to make a beautiful sugar paste daffodil in dedication to The Great Daffodil Appeal, run by Marie Curie Cancer Care.

“Each March, the Great Daffodil Appeal aims to get everyone to wear a daffodil in support of our Marie Curie Nurses and raise money to help us provide more free care to people with terminal cancer and other illnesses.” (Marie Curie website, February 2012)

We think its really important to support causes as worthy as this one, so this March we’ll have our very own box of daffodil pins, courtesy of Marie Curie Cancer Care. They’ll be available to all our lovely customers, visiting us for classes or our shop, for a small donation to the charity.

And now to make our daffodil….

What you’ll need

Non-stick Rolling Mat
Rolling Pin
Sugarpaste coloured with a little Egg Yellow Gel Colour
Petunia Cutter & Mould Set
Foam Drying Pad
Lemon Yellow Dusting Colour
Paintbrush
Cocktail Stick
Edible Glue
Cupcake & Buttercream for frosting

1. Roll out the yellow paste reasonably thinly and cut out the petunia shape. Then place the shape in the mould and press down gently to emboss your flower

2. Take your paintbrush and Lemon Yellow dusting colour and dust your flower from the centre outward, applying quite liberally into the centre but leaving the edges pale. Leave the flower to dry on the bumpy side of a foam drying pad, so that it curls in on itself slightly

3. And now to create the trumpet! Take a small piece of the yellow sugarpaste (roughly the size of your little finger nail) and roll into a cone between your thumb and forefinger, gently flattening the bottom with your other forefinger

4. Now take the end of your paintbrush and push your cone onto the top of it so that it sits snugly, with the paintbrush nearly reaching the point

5. Keeping the cone on the end of the paintbrush, gently press the cocktail stick into the side, lengthways. Continue this right the way around the cone so that it gives a “grooved” effect. This will also thin out the trumpet and make it slightly larger

6. Brush the centre of the flower with a little edible glue and place the trumpet in the centre. Leave to dry before dusting the inside of the cone with more lemon yellow

7. Place on a cupcake with a pre-piped swirl and join us in making more people aware of the Great Daffodil Appeal!

We hope you enjoyed the blog this week and that you’ll be wearing a daffodil on your lapel as well as your cupcake.

For more information on the Marie Curie Great Daffodil Appeal, ideas for fundraising, how you can join in, and to donate to a great cause please click HERE

Thank you!

Jenny x