Coolest Tulips in a Flower Pot Cake

I made this flower pot cake for fun and just to see if I could. I thought how cute it would be to make for a spring birthday party – just add candles to some of the tulips. The cake is not as hard to make as it looks – the trick is to stack, carve and cover the flower pot in fondant while it is upside down.

Supplies Needed

Four 8” round cakes leveled to at least 2”
Fondant
Chocolate frosting
1 bag mini chocolate chips

A dense cake is best, so if using a boxed mix add an extra egg and a box of cook and serve pudding to the mix. You can use more layers for a taller pot. It all depends on how tall you want the flower pot to be – short pots are more stable when finished.

Steps for Making the Flower Pot Cake

Stack the cake with frosting in between the layers to hold them together.
On an 8” round cake circle (this will be the top), center a smaller 6” cake circle on the top of the stack to use as a guide (this will be the bottom of the pot when it’s finished) and then use any sharp knife to carve the cakes into the shape of a flower pot that’s upside down.
Just cut from the top small circle to the large circle at an angle and then shave off cake to get the curve of the pot sides.
When you finish carving, remove the small circle and frost.
Cut a strip of fondant about 2″ wide and put it around the large end to give it the lip on the pot and then cover the frosted pot and 2″ fondant strip with terra cotta colored fondant.
Put the small cake circle back on the small end and carefully flip the cake over – and there’s the flower pot!
Remove the 8” circle and frost the bare part of the cake with chocolate frosting be careful not to go over the edge of the “pot”.
Stick in some flower cake pops (I used tulips decorated with candy clay petals). Then add mini chocolate chips for the dirt (potting soil).

Cake Pop Supplies Needed

Long cake pop sticks – use the thicker ones like Wilton makes.
2 – 10 oz bags any color candy melts
¼ cup clear corn syrup
3” oval cookie cutter
Cake pop stand
Petal veining tool (if you have one – they cost about $23.00)
Cake balls – Use the cake you cut off when leveling the cake layers for the flower pot. Crumble it into a mixer bowl and while mixing add frosting a little at a time until the crumbs start to hold together like dough. Don’t add too much! I use a level cookie scoop of dough for each cake pop. Take the dough into your hand and roll it into an egg shape.

How to Make the Cake Pop Tulips

Cake Pops – Melt one bag of candy melts – I use a 2c glass measuring cup because it is deep enough to dip the whole cake pop and is microwave safe for melting. You may have to melt part of the bag and then add/melt the rest in order to get them all to fit.
Dip the tip of a stick into the melts and shove it into the wide end of the cake ball.
Set it into a cake pop stand and continue until you have all your balls on sticks.
When the candy melt has cooled and hardened start dipping the cake pops. You may have to reheat and stir the candy melts. Make sure you let all excess candy drip off each cake pop before placing it back into the stand to cool.
Petals – Melt one bag of candy melts in a microwave safe bowl. Make sure it is all melted and smooth when stirred.
Add the karo syrup and stir together. It will begin to get very stiff.
Pour/scoop the mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap and wrap it so that it is about an inch thick and set it aside to cool and harden. This is candy clay to create petals. I usually leave it overnight.
After it has cooled unwrap and cut off a chunk.
Knead the clay until it becomes pliable.
Roll it using a fondant rolling pin and cut out ovals.
If you have a veining tool you can use it to give the petals texture.
Use a flower shaper to let the petals harden in to give them a slight curve but you can also stand them in an egg carton to give the bottom of the petal a little bit of a curve to make it easier to attach to the cake pop.
If you want to make leaves make a batch of green clay. I used the same process to make leaves except after I cut the ovals I used the rolling pin to stretch them longer. If I make another I think I’ll just add some paper leaves as they tend to break off easily.
Tulips – After the cake pops are completely hardened, reheat the candy melts left from dipping and using a little blob of melted candy and glue the petals near the bottom of the cake pop. (Remember these are like chocolate and will soften as you hold them in your hand – this can help if the petal is hard to fit against the cake pop ball.
If you made leaves just stick them to the flower and the stick using candy melts.
I put a little square of plastic wrap over the ends of the cake pops before sticking them into the cake to keep the sticks clean. Stick them in about a third of the length of the stick and once it’s in don’t move it around or it weakens the cake and the flowers will fall.
If you are making this to go, add the flowers when you get to the event as the jiggling of a car ride will loosen your tulips and they may fall.
If you cut the cake from top to bottom it is a bit too top heavy and will split and fall over after a little while, so I would advise either cutting the top two-layers and then the bottom two layers (after the tulips are removed).

After texting a picture of the flower pot to a few friends they all couldn’t believe it was a cake. I now have to make three more, one for a 14 year old’s birthday, and two for Easter.

TIP: Make enough flowers for everyone -even if they all won’t fit on the cake!