Edible Fantasy Flower How-To

Not every edible flower creation need be realistic, especially when making a birthday cake for a young girl. A fun way to dress up a cake is by incorporating flowers made with funky prints. Here I’ve created 2 flowers by alternating print and solid petal cut-outs from icing sheets.  Little talent is required and many of the tools can be found in your local craft store.

You Will Need:

• 1 pink luster icing sheet
• 1 printed icing sheet with pink in it
• Work surface such as a cutting board or silicone mat
• Sweet Accents Cake Designer
• 3 Blossoms Die Cutter Set
• Piping gel
• Gum paste
• Yellow food color paste
• Toothpick
• Ball tool
• Tissue paper or paper napkin
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• 2 teaspoons

Instructions:

1. Secure the Sweet Accents Cake Designer to your counter by turning the lever on the bottom.
2. Take the base plate and the cutting plate and layer the materials as follows: On the bottom, place the base plate. Next place the pink luster icing sheet so the plastic is facing down. Next, place the blossom die cutters on the icing sheet with the cutting edges down. Lay the cutting plate on top of everything.
3. Hold this sandwich of materials together firmly and insert into the machine. Crank the machine until everything comes out the opposite side.
4. Remove the cutting plate and die cutters.
5. Peel off the cut flowers and set aside.
6. Repeat the entire process above using the printed icing sheet.
7. For each flower, you will alternate the solid petals and print petals with each step. One flower begins with the largest solid petals, the other with the largest print petals. In the center of each one, paint a small amount of piping gel in the center around the center hole.
8. On the printed petals, lay the 2nd largest solid petals, aligning the solid petals with the spaces in between the printed petals. Do the same thing with the other flower, only using the 2nd largest print petals. This process will continue until the completion of the flower.
9. Take a small piece of tissue or paper napkin and bunch it into a ball. Place it beneath a petal on the 2nd layer.
10. Repeat for all petals on the 2nd layer.
11. Add piping gel to the center of the flower again and repeat the process of adding either a solid or printed petal in the next smallest size. Prop up all the petals with tissue or napkin.
12. The smallest petals will be formed inside the teaspoons to avoid doing too much crunching up of the petals.
13. Allow everything to dry at least overnight. The climate and humidity will determine how long they take to dry. When they don’t move when touched gently, the tissue or paper can be removed.
14. Place the center petal cut outs in their respective flowers, adhering with piping gel, and press down with a ball tool to avoid ripping them.
15. Color a small amount of gum paste with yellow food color paste. Apply a very small amount using a toothpick. This type of food coloring is very strong, so always begin with less and add more if necessary. If you add too much, the color will be very intense and you will have to add more white gum paste to lighten it. This could be wasteful or you may find you don’t have any more; always err on the side of caution.
16. Pinch off two balls of gum paste about the size of a large pea. Roll them in the palm of your hand to remove all the wrinkles.
17. Place a small amount of piping gel in the center of each flower and press the yellow gum paste balls down with the ball tool.
18. Using the scissors, snip all over the yellow ball to create the look of stamens.

You can create any type of center you want. This is just one approach. You can pipe icing in the middle, apply dragees with piping gel, use gum paste attached to a wire and push the wire through the center hole to create a bouquet from several flowers, etc.

The assembly is very quick; the drying time is the longest part of the process. Each flower probably takes less than 5 minutes total to do and creates a great impact with its large size and interesting pattern. To coordinate the flowers with the cake, I would suggest using the printed icing sheet elsewhere on the cake, i.e., as a border around the base. There are literally hundreds of different color combinations you can do by mixing a variety of prints and solids together. All the work is done by the machine, so it is practically foolproof. Enjoy!

About the Author

Theresa Happe is the author of www.Cake-Decorating-Corner.com and mother of two from Long Island. She enjoys sharing new cake decorating techniques, making new cake friends and baking cakes for friends and family.

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