Thursday 10 November 2011

Corporate Floristry - A 1st Birthday Celebration Cake ... an homage to Lorraine Pascale

A couple of weeks ago I popped into Pure Enough on Ecclesall Road to see the lovely Amy Freann Worthington who had some great ideas on how to celebrate her first year in business, these include a whole host of exciting offers and treats such as cupcakes from Snap Deli, skincare advice and demonstrations from Arka and free hand massage from holistic therapist, Helen.




Keen to help out, I suggested making her a floral 1st Birthday Cake to display in her window and enhance her other decorations.  Pure Enough specialise in natural skin care products and treatments which are hand-made from ethically sourced ingredients, therefore, I wanted my completed design to reflect these values. Researching ideas for this design proved difficult, I couldn't find anything to inspire me in my floristry books, mags or on even on Google images.  Finally, inspiration came on a rainy Sunday whilst looking through cook books ... Lorraine Pascale's Baking Made Easy was just what I needed!

So, here's my take on her 'I can't believe you made that' cake!



The cinnamon sticks around the outside were used to represent the chocolate cigars that patisserie makers use to decorate special celebration cakes.  Not only do the sticks smell heavenly, but the concept of using spices is very much in keeping with Pure Enough's philosophy of only using natural oils.


I decided on a very neutral colour pallette for the flower material and used dried, natural materials such as beech nuts, cones, birch balls and bun moss - all in keeping with my client's ethos.  Amy loved the fact that I collected the cones on a recent dog walk and literally picked up the bun moss off the pavement this morning.  I added a gold candle as Amy's business is a year old this weekend ... it was in straight, I promise!


Lastly, the 'cake' was finished with a wide band of lacy ribbon, enhanced by a strip of gold heart ribbon for a lovely vintage feel.

A full tutorial on how to make this design will be on my Campbell's Flower School page next week, for those of you who want to know how.  Until then, I hope you love my design as much as Amy did - I wish I had a photograph of her face when I delivered it, she was so happy.  I'm so glad I took the risk to 'go it alone'!

The Pure Enough party is this Saturday the 12th November from 11.00 am to 6.30pm and you can contact Amy on http://www.pure-enough.co.uk

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