In the puritanical seventeenth century, botanists found parallels between this carnivorous plant, which lures and digests its prey, and women, who were often portrayed as temptresses. Hence the plant was named after Venus, the goddess of love and power. Why not tempt your lover into your lair with sweet skills?
• baking parchment
• 6 in. (15 cm) diameter clean new flowerpot
• spoon
• serrated and craft knives
• 6 pieces cloth-covered floral wire and wire cutters
• rolling pin
• plant head and stem templates
• half-ball or block of Styrofoam
• 10 in. (25 cm) square covered cake board
• large piping bag and quick-ice tip
• spatula
• airbrush
• modeling tool
• paintbrushes
• scissors
• 12-gauge green wire
• length of doweling or pencil
• cocoa powder, for dusting
• 1/3 recipe cake batter of choice
• 8 oz. (225 g) modeling chocolate, tinted light green
• 2 cups (470 ml) decorator’s buttercream icing
• 1 lb. (450 g) fondant, tinted terra-cotta
• 1 cup (110 g) crushed Oreo cookies
• 2 oz. (55 g) black fondant
• emerald luster dust
• 1 lb. (450 g) gelatin wings
• green, pink, and red airbrush colors
• opaque white gel color
Cut a circle of baking parchment to fit in the base of the flowerpot. Place in pot and dust sides of pot with cocoa. Spoon cake batter into pot and bake for 30–35 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Let cake cool, then release from pot. Trim top to level with serrated knife. Chill in freezer.
Twist two cloth-covered floral wires together to create one strong wire. Repeat for each plant. Roll out light green modeling chocolate to about 1/4 in. (5 mm) thickness on a dusted surface. Using the templates, cut out two large plant heads, one small plant head, and three stems.
Press green chocolate stems and plant heads onto the prepared wires to create three plants, blending chocolate around wire to cover it. Trim away excess chocolate created by this process. Be sure to keep at least 3–4 in. (7.5–10 cm) wire exposed at the stem ends to insert into the cake.
Place the wired chocolate plants into a half ball or block of Styrofoam. Gently curve edges of stems and plant heads inward to create the mouth effect. If necessary, use wire crutches to support pieces. Allow to dry for about 2 hours, until set firm.
Put nearly frozen cake in position on the cake board, using a dab of buttercream icing to fix in place. Fill large piping bag, fitted with quick-ice tip, with more buttercream and use to cover entire cake with icing. Smooth surface of icing with a spatula.
Roll out terra-cotta fondant on a dusted surface. Cut out a rectangle, as long as the circumference and as wide as the height of cake. Wrap around sides of iced cake and trim as necessary. Cut a 1 in. (2.5 cm) wide strip of fondant, the length of cake circumference. Fix with water to top edge of pot. Trim to fit.
Sprinkle a few spoonfuls of crushed Oreo cookies over top of the cake. A bit of the cookie filling is desirable in this crumb mixture, as it will resemble soil nutrients. Reserve remainder of crumbs.
Lightly spray light green shadows along the stems and plant-head mouths of the three prepared plants. Add a light coat of pink inside the mouths.
Make a small piping bag from baking parchment and fill with stiff buttercream icing (add a tsp. of cornstarch to buttercream to stiffen, if needed). Pipe teeth around the edge of plant mouths, using a squeeze and pull-away technique.
Form black fondant into small, elongated balls, about 1 in. (2.5 cm) long. With modeling tool edge, imprint head segment. Roll out tiny balls of black fondant for eyes and attach with water. Dust fly bodies with emerald luster dust.
Place flies on lengths of wire to paint eyes with mix of red color and opaque white gel color. Let dry. Curl lengths of 12-gauge wire around a dowel or pencil. Make small loops at one end.
With scissors, cut out wings from prepared gelatin. Press onto flies. Insert looped ends of wire into underside of flies, using water to fix. Insert prepared plants and flies into cake. Fill any spaces on the top surface of cake with Oreo crumbs and scatter over cake board.
