The Botanical Cake Studio

The best of the what’s in bloom in the garden at the moment along with my toffee rose sugar flower. Dahlias ‘Labyrinth’, ‘Sarah Raven’ + ‘Cornel Brons’, helichrysum, achillea, setaria italica ‘red jewel’, tagetes + hare’s tail grass. I’m loving these Autumn tones and the addition of the toffee rose sugar flower seemed fitting. I’ll be making lots of sugar flowers in this colour palette over the next few weeks and I can’t wait to get stuck in 🧡 🍂

The garden is slowing down as Autumn unfolds and the days seem to be rapidly shortening. At Greenwich Park this week, we are removing the summer bedding from the Flower Garden and giving them their winter —> spring transformation. I managed to pinch a few blooms to have a play on the kitchen table at home. It was certainly a challenge as the blooms were rather battered by the time they got home and the daylight kept fading on me so these were hastily photographed the following evening. Dahlia ‘Eveline’, Salvia leucantha ‘Waverly’, Heliotropium arborescens, ‘Marine’ and some Japanese anemone from my front garden make up the arrangement.

One that never made it onto the grid from last year when I was playing around with different dahlia varieties. This is my take on dahlia ‘Edge of Joy’ 💕

Dark and misty mornings putting me in the mood for moody dahlias and autumn berries 🍂 I have tutorials for all of the flowers pictured here so just give me a shout if you would like me to send them your way 🍂

Autumn is here…and I’m taking props from Graeme Graeme Corbett and using some peony foliage from the garden. The roses are still abundant even if my dahlias are still struggling this year. A little appearance from some Oenothera lindheimeri too, which seems completely unfazed by this summer’s drought and a couple of zinnias grown from seed from Karen Baas 🌸 Dahlia Dreamer! 💕

The new 2026 ALL CLASS BUNDLE is now available! Grab yourself all 31 of my online classes in a big discounted bundle and fast track your sugar flower learning. And what’s more, you can get an extra 20% off with the code SEPT20 💚

Only need 1 or 2 classes instead? No worries! You can use the same code on ALL classes, collections and bundles for a limited time. It’s time to get back to school and kick off your sugar flower learning 💚

This has been a challenging year in the garden. The heat and drought has obliterated so many plants and so I am having to take stock and work out how to move forward. Gardening isn’t just for me, it’s about providing food and habitat for our wildlife, the birds, bees, beetles, butterflies, moths, worms….the list goes on. We need to protect our fragile ecosystem. Mass extinction of species is real and we are teetering on the edge of it.

My heart hurts so much that the government, politicians and mainstream media are not in uproar at the climate disaster and fighting to save our planet. With everything that is happening in the world year on year, how are we continuing on regardless? Why are we not standing up to the bullies that are profiting from this global crisis?

I’m therefore feeling grateful for every flower, plant and tree this Autumn. Those that have toughed it out. I enjoyed picking a few flowers this weekend and having the luxury of creating with them. There won’t be many dahlias this year so I shall savour every one 💕

Hard to believe that it’s been a whole year since I travelled up to join Janne Ford Floral Photography in her North Yorkshire studio for a collaborative workshop on dahlias and cosmos. Looking back on a few behind the scenes images and my return to Instagram after a month off! 🫢

First up is one of my trial dahlias ahead of the workshop. This one was actually made from cold porcelain (and my first flower ever made from this medium) and is waiting here for its final oil paints to colour it



And the finished dahlia alongside a sugar cosmos

Proof that my dahlias last year were miles better than my crop this year after the drought! This bucket was picked to the up to Yorkshire with me

We couldn’t have asked for a lovelier group of students: Margaret Levy - Lancashire & North West Teesside, North Yorkshire & North East Wedding & Occasion Cakes and Dimple Chauhan : Luxury Wedding Cakes - here is some of their work waiting to be arranged!

The lovely Janne Ford Floral PhotograJanne Ford Floral Photography the most beautiful backdrop ✨

Janne Ford Floral PhotograJanne Ford Floral Photographythe studio

Learning how to style and photograph our arrangements

Janne Ford Floral PhotograJanne Ford Floral Photographyt out of your iPhone photography too!

My bouquet with sugar flowers slipped in. Can you spot them?

Dimple’s stunning cake which she was preparing for a wedding fair

My demo cake

Day 1 footage taken by Janne

Those final touches: Dimple sliding a sugar cosmos into her bouquet. Hard to believe it’s not real!

🌿 NEW ONLINE CLASS - Bearded Iris 🌿

There’s something truly magical about the Bearded Iris. With its ruffled petals, rich colours and sculptural form, it’s one of the most expressive flowers…and now you can learn how to recreated it in sugar!

Inspired by the painterly irises of Cedric Morris, this brand new online class will guide you through every step of creating a beautifully realistic bearded Iris in gumpaste. From shaping and veining the petals to colouring, assembling and adding those all important finishing details, you’ll learn the techniques needed to bring this spectacular bloom to life.

✨To celebrate the launch, enjoy 20% off for a limited time! Just comment “IRIS” and I’ll send you the link✨