Floral Ice Ring

I love homemade punch, especially if it's spiked with Champagne!  My mom and I typically only make punch for special occasions, because we HAVE to add that extra feminine touch with a floating Floral Ice Ring... which takes time and patience.  So the night before our V-Day theme party, we created this fruity presentation made with lemon and lime rind, camellia leaves, raspberries and deluded pineapple juice.

Like an apple, peel the rind from lemons and limes with a knife.  Try to stay as close to the surface as possible.  The thicker the strip the harder it is to manage.  If it breaks midway, that's ok!  You can just make buds instead of fuller flowers.  Spiral the rind as tight as you can.  Use a toothpick to keep it together.  Poke it toward the top of the flower so you can easily take them out later.  If you poke too low, it will mold in the ice and you'll have floating toothpicks in your punch by the end of the night!  

Once your flowers are done, fill your ice ring mold halfway with deluded pineapple juice.  Put on a flat surface in the freezer and let freeze until ALMOST frozen.  Take out and arrange your flowers, fruit and leaves on top of the frosty layer.  If you let it completely freeze, your arrangement won't have room to slightly nestle into frosty grooves.  You want them to be able to sink in a little.  Pour in more deluded juice until it's almost to the top.  Put back in the freezer and let the top layer of fluids freeze until almost frozen.  Take out the toothpicks now that the flowers are almost completely embedded.  Then let completely freeze (best overnight).  Before you're ready to place it in the punch bowl (before you pour in the punch), let it sit for a couple of minutes so that the edges slightly melt.  Then it should just plop out!

A fabulous punch to make for V-Day:

1/2 jug of Cran-Raspberry Juice

1 liter Squirt Soda

1 bottle Champagne

As the ice ring melts into the punch, the pineapple flavoring is slowly incorporated into the punch.  So refreshing and bubbly!