Flowered up…. can you believe they’re made from SUGAR?

You might be forgiven for thinking you’ve arrived at RHS Chelsea by mistake.

But this is a cake and sugar craft exhibition.

Everything in this post is made from sugar.

Neither botany nor flower arranging are my forte.

A friend once said to me, “You’re rubbish with flowers Sarah, you just plonk them in a vase and hope for the best.”

Which is admittedly true.

In my brief days as an illustrator I was asked to do some botanical drawings of plants. They bored me to tears.

I’m not a gardener. I just plonk things in the garden (or rather my husband does) and hope for the best… There is a pattern emerging!

I may not be any good at arranging them, I may not be any good at drawing them or growing them but I could not help but be wowed by these floral specimens that were on display at the Squires Kitchen sugar craft show I visited back in 2012.

Don’t ask me how, I haven’t got a clue and if I’m honest I have no intention of attempting this.

My limits are the odd (and I emphasis the word “odd” here) sugar paste rose or punched out daisy.

The most nerve wracking about submitting your sugary floral creation to the Squires Kitchen show is probably getting the thing there in the first place.

As you can see in the shot above, they might be “damaged in transit”.

Which with work this fragile, is entirely likely.

Just look at the filigree detail on this one. I really am useless with plants, I can’t even tell you what this is called even though I recognise it. Probably having latin names for everything as well as the familiar name doesn’t help.

This one is my favourite. Never mind the cake, I could happily have this on display at home. And I guess sugar craft plants and flowers would work for me on at least one level: I’d not be able to kill them.

Are you any good with flowers?