Chocolate Flower Arrangements

A few precautionary words before we get into the nitty gritty – first of all, do not nurse these arrangements in the car.  With pointy bamboo skewers sticking up it’s not hard to imagine what could happen in an accident.  Secondly, because not all of your greenery will be able to reach the water I suggest using hardy greenery like a photinia and only making your bouquet an hour or two before you present it.  Alternatively, you can make the chocolate flowers with fake leaves and fill the wet oasis foam with real greenery.  More on that later.

SO.  For today’s little project you will need;

A box of wrapped chocolates (I’ve gone with Ferrero Rocher)

Bamboo skewers

A brightly coloured bowl or mug

Oasis foam

Florist’s tape (a sticky sort of tape in various shades of green that will stick to itself when used)

Scone cutter/steak knife

Greenery

I’ve chosen a tall red mug for today’s arrangement.  The first step is to fill it with oasis foam.  I used a scone cutter that fit just inside the mug to score the top of the foam and then used a steak knife to cut it down until it slid neatly into place.

Push the pointy side of the bamboo skewer into your chocolate.

Wrap the florist’s tape around the skewer under the chocolate a couple of times to secure it.  Choose a sprig of greenery that looks good under the chocolate and begin binding it to the bamboo skewer with the florist’s tape.

Continue to wind the tape down to the base.  This gives you a chocolate “flower”.

Place the chocolate flowers into the oasis, arranging them as you go.  When you’re done, fill the remaining space with greenery and remember to fill your container with water.

Like any flower arrangement you can play with cellophane, tinsel or other flowers (maybe even real ones).  In the example below I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to give the gift to the intended recipient so I chose to make the chocolate flowers with one or two plastic leaves.  All the other greenery is photinias and they were able to access the water so the arrangement would last.  A personalised, hand-made card in matching colours put the finishing touch to the whole shebang!