Ingredients

For the fondant decorations:

• 350g of pink sugar paste/fondant/ready-to-roll icing. (Any excess can be wrapped in clingfilm or placed in an airtight tub and used in future.)

• 200g very soft unsalted butter or margarine/spread
• 200g golden caster sugar
• Four medium free-range eggs
• 200g self-rising flour (with 1/4 tsp or sea salt and 1/2 tsp baking powder sifted in)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract or paste

• 300g unsalted butter, softened
• 600g sifted icing sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
• A tiny bit of strong green and black gel food colouring

Tools

• A stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowls and wooden spoon)
• 12-hole cupcake tin lined with standard white muffin cases
• A document wallet or thick plastic food bag for shaping the rose petals
• A sharp knife
• Extra board dusted with icing sugar for setting the roses and hearts
• Small heart cutter (approx. 3-4cm)
• Large piping bag with large round nozzle (mine is 1cm tip size)
• Small piping bag with leave nozzle or a V cut in the end for the leaves
• Small piping bag with a tiny hole snipped for the outline detail

Method

To make the fondant decorations:

1. Make the roses (as shown in the video) by rolling a sausage length of sugar paste about 2cm thick. Cut into discs of equal size (about 1cm thick is good) and place the discs spaced out onto the plastic.
2. Use the base of your palm or thumb to flatten each disc on one side, then thin out the flat edge to create a basic petal shape.
3. To assemble the rose, make a tight cone by rolling a petal between your fingers, with the fat part facing down and the thin part pointing up. Gently flex back the top edge a little to create an open centre petal.
4. Then continue by attaching petals to the central cone, securing the fat base against the previous piece using gentle pressure, it is sticky, so it'll stick easily together, making sure that each petal you attach is just slightly higher than the petal within (to avoid the middle petal standing proud which can create a trumpet effect rather than a flower cup shape). You’ll need about 5-7 petals to create each one. Gently manipulate the delicate thin edge to open outwards to create a realistic rose effect.
5. Set these aside to firm up, and when they've been set you can carefully trim off the excess fondant at the base to give you a flat bottom on the flower. These can be made the day before or even up to a couple of weeks before if you like, just leave them in a cake box to keep away from any dust, but not an airtight container, or they'll soften.
6. Make the hearts by rolling out a little icing to about 5mm thickness and stamping out heart shapes, and leave on a dusted board to dry for at least a few hours, or overnight.
7. Once dried, pipe ‘M’ ‘U’ ‘M’ onto the hearts with the black icing, using the icing that you'll use for the outline detail. Set these aside until you have piped the cupcakes with buttercream. Alternatively, you could do all hearts or all flowers.

To make the cupcakes:

1. Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla paste until pale, fluffy, and creamy.
2. Add the eggs in one at a time, beating until fully incorporated.
3. Add the salt and baking powder into the flour, then gently through the mixture gently on slow speed until everything is incorporated.
4. Divide the batter into 12 cupcake cases (I’ve used standard white muffin cases)
5. Bake for approx. 12-15 minutes until risen and cooked through, a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool.

To make the buttercream:

1. Make the buttercream by beating 1/3 of the sugar with the butter and vanilla until pale and creamy, then add the icing sugar in 2 x further additions, on slow to start then turning up the speed until soft and fluffy. Load into the piping bag and pipe round high swirls on top of each cake, saving a couple of tablespoons for the green leaves and for the black outline icing.

To decorate:

1. Colour the icing for the details and load it into the piping bags. Use a leaf nozzle and pipe a leaf at the base of each flower, and for the outline, cut a small hole in the piping bag. Have each cake facing you, so you outline it in one perspective so that the edges of the cupcake case are defined, and the edges of the swirl, inside the piping lines of the swirl, and the outline of the petals and leaf detail is accented in black. Take your time to get it as neat as possible. Add an outline to the hearts.
2. These are lovely placed on a cake stand as a surprise for Mother’s Day or can be boxed as gifts.