In a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add butter and sugar. Using the flat paddle attachment on the mixer, cream at low speed until butter and sugar are incorporated and then increase to high speed until light and fluffy (this should only take about 1 minute). Make sure to stop and scrape the sides of your bowl a few times in between mixing to make sure all the sugar and butter gets mixed.

Once your butter mixture is ready, thoroughly scrape all the butter from the sides of the bowl and from the paddle attachment and get it into the middle of the mixing bowl. This is an important step because it will help ensure the butter is evenly distributed. If you leave butter on the sides of the bowl or the paddle attachment, you'll end up with extra butter in parts of the dough which will cause some of your cookies to spread too much. Add in cake flour. Using the lowest speed, mix the flour into the butter mixture just until a dough forms.

If you plan on adding color to your dough, do it now by mixing a few drops of food coloring into the mixer and mixing on low speed until the dough is uniform in color. If you plan on making your cookies more than one color, you will need to divide the dough and then tint the individual doughs. To make your cookies the same colors as mine (no color added for the center, pink and purple petals): set aside a scant 14 teaspoons of the dough. Divide the remaining dough in half (I recommend using a scale). Tint half of the dough light/pastel pink and half of the dough light/pastel purple. Do this by mixing the dough on low speed in your stand mixer with a few drops of food coloring added in.

Cover the doughs in plastic wrap and place into the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes or until firm.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Divide the dough into scant 1 teaspoon pieces. If you are making the colors I made, you will divide each tinted dough into 42 pieces (so you should end up with 42 pink petals, 42 purple petals, and 14 plain balls for the center of each flower). You can use a teaspoon measuring spoon to help scoop the dough, but I do recommend weighing the dough balls so you have uniform cookies and don’t end up with some flower petals bigger than others). Roll each dough piece into a smooth ball.

On the prepared baking sheet, arrange the dough balls to form flower shapes. I placed one untinted ball in the center and then surrounded it with six of the same colored balls to create the flower petals. Make sure each of the balls touch. They don’t need to pressed together but they do need to touch. You should have enough to make 14 flowers total. Leave about 1.5 to 2 inches of space between each flower to allow for even baking.

Bake for 12–15 minutes, or until the tops and edges of the cookies look set (the cookies won't really brown but they should look cooked and have some small cracks on the surface). Allow the cookies to fully cool before removing them from the baking sheet.

Store uneaten cookies in an airtight container for 1-3 days at room temperature or longer in the fridge or freezer.