This 2 tier cake uses 12 and 9 inch heart pans, 2 layers each. The flowers and spirals are made several days in advance.
The spirals are made from Wilton Ready to Use Fondant, tinted light burgundy. It is rolled out and cut into strips, which are wrapped around plastic straws lightly sprayed with non-stick coating. (HINT: Slit the plastic straws lengthwise before using . They can then be squeezed smaller to assist in releasing the spirals.) After drying, remove from straws and paint with plum powder color mixed with vodka to thin. (HINT: Use vodka or light rum to thin colors rather than water. It dries quickly and doesn't soften your work.)
The flowers are petunias, made with either burgundy tinted or white royal icing on a 2 1/4 inch lily nail with tip 104. Line the lily nail with foil, and make 5 petals using a jiggling motion to ruffle the petals. Tip 18 stars make the green centers and stamens are added before drying. Allow to dry for seveal days. The burgundy flowers are painted with plum color thinned with vodka, and the white flowers are dusted with damson plum petal dust.
The tiers are frosted with white buttercream individually. The 9 inch rests on a cake board cut to fit and completely covered in cellophane wrap. Plastic straws inserted in the 12 inch layer are trimmed even with the cake to provide support for the upper tier.
After assembly, the borders are piped on using tip 18 for the top layers and tip 21 for the bottom. The icing bag is striped with light burgundy (almost pink) and white icing. the top borders of both layers are reverse shell with the burgundy icing on the top of the shell. The bottom shell border of the 9 inch layer ends where the backsides of the cakes meet. Pipe message with tip 3 burgundy icing.
Position flowers on cake. The side flowers can be supported with small lenths of plastic straws placed beneath them, hidden by one of the petals. Add spirals.
