hector’s take on ROSE’S heavenly CAKES:  Holiday Pinecone Cake (page 234) is done as the recipe on the book, except the chocolate fondant was shaped as individual chocolate petals:

this decoration was inspired from Cake Bible’s Chocolate Pinecone Cake:

the near black chocolate petals was achieved by using a darker cocoa in the fondant.  i had some fondant left over from when i made Cake Bible’s La Porcelaine: