The secret to the lush look of this petunia garden cake is the rounded cake top made with the 3-D Sports Ball Pan Set. On a flat surface, you would have more gaps between the flowers. But with a curved top, it's easy to position the petunias like a floral umbrella!
Before starting, please read a helpful hint from the Wilton decorator who made this cake.
One day in advance, make petunias in royal icing.
Pipe 50 petunias with tip 103 and tip 16 star centers in white royal icing. Insert five pearl stamens in each center. Make extras to allow for breakage and let dry overnight.
Bake and cool two-layer round cake and half sports ball cake. Use knife to trim sports ball half to 1 1/2 in. high. Position on foil-wrapped cake board.
Ice round cake smooth with spatula in green buttercream icing.
Use cake divider and toothpick to mark round cake in 12ths at top and bottom of cake. Mark each section in half. Mark diagonal lines in both directions between adjacent top and bottom marks.
Starting at the top edge of cake, pipe tip 7 beads in white buttercream icing over diagonal lines, leaving 1/8 in. between each bead. Attach a sugar pearl at each space with a dot of icing.
Pipe tip 7 bead bottom border in white buttercream icing.
Position half sports ball cake on round cake top. Ice smooth with spatula in green buttercream icing.
Position petunias on cake top. Pipe tip 70 leaves in green buttercream icing between flowers.