Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C Fan, Gas Mark 4). Line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until soft and creamy. Add the flour and Madagascan Vanilla Extract and stir into the creamed butter and sugar until the mixture forms a firm dough.

Turn on to a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth. Roll out to a thickness of ½ cm (1/4 inch) - the mixture will be quite short. Using a 3.5cm (1 1/3 inch) petal cutter, stamp out 50 shapes, re-rolling as necessary.

Arrange on the baking trays, spaced slightly apart. Prick the tops with a fork and chill for 30 minutes.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly golden. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To decorate, reserve 75g (3oz) Regal-Ice and wrap in cling film until required. Dust the work surface lightly with icing sugar. Divide the remaining Regal-Ice into as many equal sized pieces as different colours you want to make.

Working on one piece at a time, flatten slightly and add a few drops of one Gel Food Colour on top of the icing. Fold the icing over the Gel Food Colour to enclose it and carefully knead it into the icing until evenly mixed. Wrap in cling film to prevent it from drying out. Repeat the process to colour the additional portions of icing using different Gel Food Colours using the list below as a guide.

Gel Food Colour for 25g of Icing

Red - 20 drops
Blue- 10 drops

Yellow- 15 drops

Green- 20 drops

Orange- 30 drops

Pink- 20 drops

Violet- 20 drops

Black- 80 drops

When ready to decorate, roll out each of the coloured pieces of icing thinly and stamp out 50 x 3.5cm (1 1/3 inch) petals and 50 x 1.5cm (2/3 inch) petals in total, re-rolling as necessary.

Roll out the reserved uncoloured Regal-Ice as above and stamp out 50 x 2.5cm (1 inch) petals. Reserve the trimmings for finishing touches.

Brush the top of each shortbread flower lightly with honey and stick one of the largest coloured Regal-Ice discs on top. Lightly brush the middle of the petal with water and secure a white petal shape on top. Secure the smallest coloured petal on top in the same way. To finish, roll a tiny dot of the reserved plain Regal-Ice trimmings into a ball and push into the centre of the top flower.