Hi everyone

I am looking into finding out what the techniques used on this cake are. Is the cake covered with buttercream or fondant, and how they reached this look?

Also how should we prepare the meringue? Do we prepare the meringue and burn it on the cake?

Many thanks

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This looks like a chocolate cake with a very thin layer of white buttercream~ an almost naked cake. The drips are probably thinned buttercream or white ganache.

I'm not seeing any meringue. Am I just missing something? 

The cake is covered in buttercream. If you zoom in you can see it. It's a technique where you put different coloured buttercream on the outside and then smooth it with a bench scraper while turning the cake on a turntable  (well, at least that's the fastest way to do it). It's almost like a watercolour effect. But I think with this one I wouldn't blend the colours actually but rather layer them and then scrap them down again so the other colour shows through. Almost like a white wash effect on wood. Then add the drip.

The meringue I guess is simply piped on and then blow torched. (You can see it next to the flowers, @jgifford.)

Ah! I see it now. Still looks like a crumb-coated chocolate cake to me though.

I second what Julia said, it's the watercolor technique in shades of gray buttercream. I didn't see the meringue right away either - seems kind of unnecessary. 

Wow, I did not see the meringue either until you pointed it out!! Making the drips on the cake will be easy. If using white ganache just pour over top of cake and let the drips drip down the sides of cake. When my son was little we used to make icing with just powdered sugar and milk or sometimes I would use lemon juice instead of milk depending on my cake flavor. When I made certain coffee cakes I would just pour over top of cakes and it would drip down exactly like shown in above cake. That is a pretty cake! Good luck, you can do it!!

Thanks everyone for the replies. Do you think I can do one of the tiers with a dummy? Have never covered a dummy with buttercream! 

Also is there any specific thing I have to know about the flower/fruit decorations? Have never worked with them either!:-)