Sugared Flower Cake Decorations for Valentines Day

Sugared flowers, sweet and pretty, make perfect decorations for your Valentine desserts and cakes. Sugar frosting flowers seems to have fallen from fashion but now there is a new thirst for the old fashioned crafts and natural foods. What could be more charming than Valentine's Day flowers that you can eat?

There are so many edible flowers that you can pick yourself, (yes, even in February), and if you don't have a garden, then buy a bunch of winter pansies or a gorgeous bouquet of roses and steal a petal or two to sugar for your sweet Valentine.

How to make your sugared flowers? Easy, but you need a bit of time. Take an evening or an afternoon off and settle down to make these delicious Valentine Day treats. Sugared flowers are also called candied flowers, crystallized flowers or frosted flowers.

Image: Traditional French Clafoutis with sugared flowers. See recipe here.

Which flowers work best?

Can you sugar all edible flower petals? Well, yes and no.

This is a little bunch of edible flowers but not all work equally well when you try to crystallize them. Rose and paeony petals work very well, or you can use a single rose and leave the petals on. Violets and pansies are excellent too and you should be able to find these in February.

Complicated flowers like cornflowers and carnations would probably work but it just took too much time and the dipping method left them in a sort of sugary glob. This happened with the clovers as well.

There are at least two ways to make sugared flowers. In one the flowers are painted with egg white then frosted with sugar, and in the other they are dipped into a sugar solution. I found that the first worked well for me and the flowers last well for several weeks.

Some very simple tools and ingredients

• A paint brush or two, depending on the size of your flowers
• A paint brush
• A sieve
• The white from an egg
• Fine sugar to dust

It's easy but will take a bit of time

Beat your egg white lightly. Then, using the paint brush, carefully paint the petals with the egg white on both sides. Make sure that you don't put too much on or else you'll saturate the petals. Getting the right amount might take a bit of trial and error but you'll soon see what works. Then, dust with the sugar and gently lay on a plate to dry.

Put them somewhere nice and warm, near the stove or in an airing cupboard and leave them until they are stiff and crisp. Small flowers will dry overnight, but larger ones will take longer.

I turned my over every now and then using a pair of tweezers.

Once thoroughly dried, place them into a box on a bed of dry tissues and store them somewhere cool and dry. If they are properly stored, they should keep for a few weeks.

How to crystallize flowers. See just how easy crystalizing flowers can be. It's always easier to watch someone doing a task than reading instructions.

Not everyone has the time to candy their own flowers, so you can always cheat a little and just buy your sugared flower cake decorations on line.

Don't be a shrinking violet on Valentines Day!

Violets are lovely sugared flowers for cakes and naturally come in a range of colours for dark purple to white. If you can't gather your own flowers and sugar them, you can buy them on-line. Just a little sweet cheat!

This beautiful vintage glass cake stand and dome is perfect for display, for keeping your cake safe and for presentation at the table.

Flowers look good, but flowers are vegetables too. Calorie-free, they're nutritious and may also have health benefits, after all, herbs and flowers have been used as medicines for centuries.

Use in salads as well as decorations for desserts. Nasturtiums and their leaves are lovely in a salad and stuffed courgette flowers are an Italian favourite.

Remember as well that we regularly eat flowers - broccoli and cauliflower. Flowers are vegetables too.

Our Bed and Breakfast and holiday cottage is hidden away deep in the heart of rural France. If you are interested in visiting us to stay in our guest house, or to rent our beautiful, three bedroom vacation home or even to explore your creative side by taking our painting and drawing courses then take a look at our website www.lestroischenes.com or e-mail me on info@lestroischenes.com