Pansies made with punches

I mentioned earlier this week that I'd been making pansies with a paper punch; these are the later versions which are rather better than my first efforts. It must be one of the easiest flowers to make - since the real flowers are very flat the card versions don't need much moulding to look quite realistic. I went to Google Images for help with the markings and found every colour version imaginable, but I kept to shades of yellow and purple because I know the recipient loves purple. The stamp is a very old favourite by PSX and the punch is Pansy Border by Martha Stewart.

The completed cake

Here is the promised picture of the celebration cake with its cardcraft topper. I was very disappointed when I first applied it because it didn't sit flat and I couldn't understand why - I'd turned the cake upside down to give a good level surface for the marzipan to be rolled on, and then the fondant icing was also rolled over the top. So how did I manage to have a point in the middle, on which the topper wobbled like a pea on a drum? More importantly, what could I do about it? Double sided sticky tape didn't seem to be the right answer, and pins round the edge wouldn't be much better.....fortunately when I tried it again a little later all was well and I decided it was the card circle which was out of true because of the uneven thicknesses (three layers in the middle to one on the edge) so I put it inside a large heavy book overnight and I think all will be well.

And now for something completely different.......

My husband and I are members of a folk dance group which meets monthly between September and May. It was founded in May 1930 and our friend Mary was persuaded by her cousin to become a member just a few months later, aged 17. She has continued with the club ever since and insists it is still the Aldershot Folk Dance Club even though it is many years since its meetings were held in Aldershot. This coming Saturday we are having a party to celebrate 80 years of dancing (no, I can't make the figures add up either: I think we just forgot to have it last year!) and I volunteered to make a special cake. Now, I'm not a fantastic cook but I do quite enjoy baking; I make good cakes but there's no way I can ice them to a reasonable standard, so after a brief panic about what I could do for decoration I came up with the idea of using my trusty Cuttlebug and papercraft techniques rather than sugarcraft. And here's the result!

It's a rich fruit cake (made to a wedding cake recipe) which has been quietly maturing for 3 months, fortified with brandy. It has a covering of marzipan (almond paste) and tomorrow I'll ice it so it has a few days to dry and harden, but I've spent much of the past two days playing with ideas for the top. I used the Cuttlebug Fancy Pants alphabet to spell out the club name and the 80 came from the Hippie Chick alphabet. The blue scalloped circle is cut with a Marianne die and overlaying that is the Spellbinder Eyelets pendant in matt silver. The whole is mounted on a 7" diameter silver circle - an inch smaller than the cake - and I'll place the circle loose on top then remove it for cutting. A serendipitous touch was the blue circle having 12 scallops when there are 12 letters in the name.

Originally I had cut the letters in silver but they won't be wasted - I'm going to make cupcakes for those who don't like fruit cake and will use the letters individually on top. I think my daughter has a special cupcake stand so I'll ask to borrow that (provided I don't have to make 100s of cakes to fill it!)

I'll take a photo of the cake when it's finished and add it to this entry but I wanted to show that I haven't been completely idle.....I've also been playing with more punched flowers (pansies this time) but haven't made a card for them yet.