Floral crafts: baking with blooms
Flowers make anything beautiful. Whether it’s a pretty bouquet or a charming wreath, the colours, shapes and scents of flowers really add a touch of elegance to any occasion. But did you know that you can also bake with flowers?
Whether it’s adding them to the top of biscuits, infusing their unique flavours into a cake, or placing flowers as decorations on icing, flowers are a wonderful way of elevating your baking!
However, it’s important to make sure that any flowers you use are safe to eat. Below we’ve listed flowers that are safe to use in baking or cooking, and those which are definitely not.
Please note that neither list is comprehensive, and we strongly advise you to check any flowers and/or plants you are unsure of before using them in baking.
Safe flowers:
Chrysanthemum
Cornflower
Daisy
Dahlia
Dandelion
Elderflower
Freesia
Hibiscus
Hollyhock
Honeysuckle
Lavender
Lilac
Nasturtium
Peony
Pot marigold
Primrose
Rose
Scented geraniums
Sunflower
Sweet violet
Viola
Unsafe flowers:
Autumn crocus
Azalea
Daffodil
Deadly Nightshade
Foxglove
Holly
Ipomoea (Morning glory)
Iris
Lily (of any variety)
Mistletoe
Nightshade
The RHS state that if you are picking flowers to eat, remember:
Avoid old, faded or dusty flowers from roadsides and areas frequented by livestock or dog walkers.
Beware of insects in flowers. Give your blooms a shake to encourage bigger insects to leave, then dip them in a bowl of cold salt water and dry on paper towel.
People susceptible to allergies, especially pollen, should not eat flowers.
Do not eat any blooms that may have had pesticides on them. If in doubt, do not eat.
Avoid any flowers that have sap within the stem as this is unsafe to eat, and can seep into the baked goods.
As delectable as our flowers look, it’s also not advised to eat flowers from florists unless specifically labelled as food-safe, just in case any pesticides were used along the flowers’ journey.
However, you can enjoy our beautiful blooms as they are, or you can turn them into dried flowers, pressed flowers, or potpourri! You can even turn the paper in which they’re delivered into radiant roses – the sky’s (or cake’s) the limit!
