Contributor post by Lyndsay of Coco Cake Land


Summer is here! Time for sunshine, flowers, vegetable gardens, romping around barefoot on the grass, jumping into lakes and hosting pretty evening parties with a fire pit and bottles of wine!

I always wished I had a summer birthday. So many options for summery cook-outs, intimate lantern-lit outdoor dinner parties or bonfires and marshmallow roasting at the beach. My favourite part of summer is all of the fresh local berries and bright cheery flowers popping up everywhere. So I decided to make a cake that is light and fun - no heavy buttercream, simply fresh whipped cream, tangy sweet berries and crystallized flower petals. Candying flowers is really quite easy! Read on to to learn how to make crystallized sugar flowers and tips for decorating a bright and beautiful summer cake!

This week we're also celebrating the start of both SUMMER (woot!) and the release of the Poppytalk for Target collection! The theme of the collection is glamping and I'm so in love with it all. I used the cake stands, paper plates, spoons and straws for this post! Add some colour, fun and glamour to your outdoor summer parties! The collection launched this week and is available in all Target stores! Click here to see more and check out the crystalized sugar flower recipe below.



Crystallized Sugar Flowers Tutorial

You will need:
—Meringue powder (you can find this at cake supplies shops or that giant craft superstore, or online)
—1/4 cup of superfine sugar (you can make this by blending regular sugar in a food processor until fine!)
—Organic unsprayed pansies or rose petals


Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Gently wash your flowers. In a small bowl, mix together 2 teaspoons of meringue powder with 2 tablespoons of water. Fill another small bowl with superfine sugar.


Handling the flowers gently, dunk your petals into the meringue powder mixture to coat completely.


Remove the petal from the wet mixture and place it into the sugar, turning it over to coat both sides.


Continue the process for all of your flowers and petals; let them dry completely overnight. That's it! The next day your flowers will be crisp little sugared flowers, like crunchy sugar flower chips! (did I eat a few like chips? I might've, yes.) They add both a simple prettiness and crispy lovely texture to a cake or cupcake!


My technique for decorating this cake was to give it a natural feel, inspired by a sweet summer day. I filled the cake with a simple vanilla buttercream and left the sides bare (apart from frosting it and then removing it to give it a rustic feel!). I made fresh whipped cream by whipping 2 cups of whipping cream with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Using a spatula, I spread the whipped cream on top of the cake and added raspberries, the crystallized pansies and begonias and geranium petals from my backyard.














Meet The Contributor
Lyn­d­say Sung is a baker and blog­ger at Coco Cake Land. She loves super cute cakes, sweet design and snacks. She lives in Van­cou­ver, Canada with her hus­band and tod­dler son.