sugar-flower commission · 2025
A two-tier cake worn almost entirely by sugar peonies — built over a week, set the morning of, gone by midnight.
A small wedding that wanted the flowers to be the whole dress. We built a low two-tier in soft ivory and then nearly buried it: thirty-odd sugar peonies in blush and cream, ruffled petal by petal until the cake underneath was more rumour than structure.
Plain ivory tiers, deliberately under-decorated, so the sugar work could carry everything. Each peony is wired and dusted by hand, layered from a tight bud outward, then set wet the morning of so no edge browns before the ceremony.
Made here in almond & brown-butter. It takes equally well to lemon & elderflower or a pistachio sponge if you want something lighter under all that sugar.
Most often ordered for weddings and the milestones that earn real flowers — anniversaries, a seventieth, a vow renewal.
up close
Three guests asked which florist did the cake. It was all sugar. I have never felt so smug on someone else’s behalf.
We kept the top tier a year. The peonies survived the move, the superstition, and one very curious cat.