Knead yellow and white sugar paste, roll to 5mm thick, and press into flower moulds to dry.
Preheat the oven to 150°C and grease and line 15cm, 23cm, and 30cm round tins.
Wrap the outside of the tins with brown paper and tie with string.
Cream butter and sugars together, then gradually add eggs and fold in dry ingredients, zest, fruit, and brandy.
Bake the 30cm tier for 250 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
Bake the 23cm tier for 200 minutes until cooked through.
Bake the 15cm tier for 105 minutes until firm.
Cool cakes in tins for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Warm the apricot jam and pass it through a sieve.
Level the cakes, brush with jam, and invert onto boards.
Roll out marzipan to size and cover the jam-coated cakes, smoothing with hands.
Brush marzipan with cooled water and cover with white icing rolled to 5mm thick.
Let iced cakes dry overnight at room temperature.
Apply decorative ribbon around the base of each cake using edible glue.
Cut dowelling rods to cake height and insert into lower tiers for support.
Stick the largest cake to the prepared 38cm board with edible glue.
Stack tiers using pillars over the dowelling rods and decorate with sugar flowers.