sugar flowers

How to Make Sugar Flower Petal Formers

May 13, 2021 By Ashley Leave a Comment

Petal formers are a necessary tool in order to give your gum paste or wafer flowers the proper petal shape for a specific flower. There are a variety of commercial petal formers out there but sometimes specific ones can be hard to find and they can be expensive. Especially when you need need a lot of petal formers for multiple flowers.

In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to make 3 different types of sugar flower petal formers, how you can adapt them and what you can use each former for. These boards are easy to make, fairly inexpensive and the materials are easy to find at your local craft store or Amazon.

Spoon Petal Formers

This is a pretty common former already used in the sugar/wafer paper world. I have boards with both regular plastic spoons and also one with soup spoons. Typical spoons are more oblong and narrow, which work best with petals that are more narrow with a slight cupped shape. I like to use this type of spoon former for drying and shaping anemone petals, rose petals, lisianthus petals, alstroemeria petals and more.

Soup spoons are more rounded and deeper. Great for shaping rounder petals with a more prominent cupped shape. I like using these formers for drying and shaping ranunculus petals, inner gardenia petals, smaller peony petals, English rose petals and more. I find that I use this former more often than the spoon former.

Flower Formers — Spoon Board Petal Fomers

For the spoon boards, you will need: 9×12 piece 1/4″ foam board, cardboard, or fiberboard, a low heat hot glue gun, wire cutters and spoons and/or soup spoons. Cut the handles off of the spoons with the wire cutters. Discard the spoon handles. Place hot glue on the bottom center of the spoon and adhere to the foam core. Be sure to evenly space the spoons. Flip the foam board over and repeat with the soup spoons. You can adjust the formers on the board if you misplace one by gently sliding it in place while the glue is not set.

Foam Ball Petal Formers

I use foam ball formers quite often, mostly for larger cupped petals like magnolia petals, large peonies and English rose petals. You can easily use any size foam balls you would like, but I find that any petals that need to be dried and shaped under 2″, can usually be done on spoons or bumpy foam. It’s not as easy to find formers for much larger size cupped shapes – 2 1/2″, 2 3/4″ and 3″ so I find that smooth foam balls work perfectly.

This board can also be adapted to use egg shaped foam, which are good for making longer and more cupped petals such as tulip petals.

For the foam ball former board, you will need a piece of 1/4″ foam board (or cardboard or fiberboard) – I used 9×12, but you can definitely use a bigger board to add more foam balls or multiple sizes if you would like. You will also need smooth foam balls and low heat hot glue gun. Place a liberal amount of hot glue on the bottom of the foam ball and adhere to the board. Space the balls evenly on the board, leaving space in between for overhanging petals.

Optionally, you can cut the bottoms off of the ball to make it more sturdy against the board. The best way to do this is by using a foam cutter tool that essentially just melts through the foam. Just cut off 1/4″ off the bottom, then glue. Fast and no mess.

Acetate Formers

Think of this former as similar that of an apple tray former. These formers are larger with more shallow wells, perfect for drying and shaping poppy petals, peony petals, Japanese magnolias, orchids, and more. You can form the acetate to make shallow or deep cupped petal formers.

You can use either food safe acetate, usually found in rolls, or you can make these with thin, flexible cutting mats. You can get both of these on Amazon and you can also get the cutting mats at the dollar store.

For this board you will need a 1/4″ piece of foam board, cardboard, or fiberboard, a low heat hot glue gun, and scissors. Cut the acetate into 4″x4″ squares. You can round off the edges if you like ( like I did in the photos) or you can leave them as is.

Cut two cuts in the acetate about 1/2″ opposite each other for a shallow former, or 3/4″ for a deeper former. Place a small dab of glue on one side of the cut, crossing the other side to overlap onto the glue, pressing gently to adhere. Watch your fingers because the glue will be hot. Repeat with the other side of the acetate. Repeat the process with remaining 4″x4″ pieces of acetate.

Place glue on the bottom of the acetate cups and adhere them to the board. Alternatively, you can omit the board and just use them as they are. They’ll be a bit easier to store without the board as well.

If you make these sugar flower petal formers, let me know! Drop a comment or tag me on Instagram. Any questions, feel free to DM me or leave a comment below.

Ash xx

For more tutorials, check out these posts:

Gum Paste Blackberries, Leaves and Blossoms Tutorial

Floral Piped Royal Icing Cake Tutorial

Gum Paste Dogwood Branch Tutorial

Gum Paste Holly and Berries

December 8, 2020 By Ashley Leave a Comment

You asked and I listened – a simple, fast sugar flower tutorial using minimal specialty tools. NO veiner and NO cutter required, but by all means, if you have them, you can totally use them. These fast and easy gum paste holly leaves and berries look gorgeous on a holiday or winter cake, cupcakes and other centerpiece holiday desserts. Make these unwired and with modeling chocolate and put them on a BÃ»che De NoÃ«l. Impressive and so, so beautiful.

Supplies:

Gum paste – mid green and light red

Small rolling pin, like a Celpin

Groove Board, optional

Paper covered floral wire, gauge 28

Moss green 1/4″ floral tape

Petal dusts: bright red, dark green, moss green, golden yellow, brown, black

Egg white

Ball tool

Dresden tool

Firm foam mat, for shaping

Small square of aluminum foil, or holly veiner

Bumpy foam for drying

Paintbrushes for dusting

Small needle nose jewelry pliers

Umbrella modeling tool

Scribe tool, or toothpick

*More sugar flower supplies can be found in the Little Vintage Baking shop*

How to make the berries

1. Prep the berry supplies. Condition the red gum paste by kneading in a small amount of shortening until smooth and pliable.

2. Cut the floral wire into thirds, cutting as many as you need for your arrangement. Use small needle nose pliers to make a small hook on the end of the berry wires.

3. Roll a small ball of red gum paste, like the size of pea. Dip the hooked wire into egg white, removing any excess, and insert halfway into the berry.

4. Make a small indentation into the top center of the berry with the umbrella tool.

5. Make a light “x” shape over the indentation with the scribe tool. Set the berry aside to dry in the foam, and continue to make the remaining berries.

5. Once dry, liberally dust the berries with the bright red petal dust. Dust the centers of the berry (with the indentation and “x”) with the black dust. Just a small amount.

6. To set the color and remove the chalky appearance of the dusted berries, quickly wave the berries through the steam of a tea kettle, an iron, or a steamer. Take care to not burn yourself. The steam is very hot and can burn you. Set aside to dry.

How to make the holly

1. Prep the holly supplies. Condition the green gum paste by kneading in a small amount of shortening until smooth and pliable. Cut the floral wire into thirds, cutting as many as you need for your arrangement.

2. Roll a small piece of green gum paste over the groove of a groove board. Don’t roll the paste too thin as you need to be able to stretch and thin it it out to shape it.

If you are not using a groove board, roll the paste out on a non stick surface. You want it thick enough to be able to insert a wire without it poking through the leaf.

3. Remove the paste from the groove board and set the paste down, groove side up.

4. Center a holly cutter over the groove, and cut out the leaf.

If you are not using a holly leaf cutter, use a very sharp, brand new blade exacto knife to cut out the shape of a holly leaf. Refer to photos online, or my holly above to cut out the correct shape. These do not have to be perfect or all the same shape and size. Remember, nature is imperfect.

5. Dip the end of a wire in egg white, wiping off the excess. Insert the wire into the groove of the leaf, about halfway up.

If you didn’t use a groove board, place the holly leaf between you thumb and pointer finger. With your other hand, insert the wire into the leaf, between your fingers so that you’re sort of guiding the wire into the leaf without it poking through the paste.

6. Place the leaf groove side down on a firm foam mat. Use the ball tool to thin the surface of the leaf and the edges, stretching the pointy tips of the leaf.

7. Take a small piece of aluminum foil and crumple it up into a ball. Smooth out and flatten the foil, being careful not to rip it too much.

8. Place the leaf onto the foil. Fold the foil in half over the leaf and press lightly to make some subtle veining on both sides of the leaf.

9. Use the thin side of a dresden tool to draw a straight line from tip to bottom of the leaf. Make a few light veins on either side.

10. Point the tips of the holly leaf by pinching gently with your fingertips. Shape them a bit by slightly bending the tips down or up to give them some realism.

11. Place the leaves onto some bumpy foam to dry completely.

12. Once dry, dust the leaves. Dust the center vein with the golden yellow dust.

13. Liberally dust the remaining front side of the leaf with the dark green dust.

14. Make a 50/50 blend of the dark green and moss green. Liberally dust the backside of the leaf.

15. Mix a small amount (50/50) of dark green and brown. Lightly dust the tips of the leaf to define the tips and slightly darken them.

16. To set the color and remove the chalky appearance of the leaves, quickly wave the leaves through the steam of a tea kettle, an iron, or a steamer. Take care to not burn yourself. The steam is very hot and can burn you. Set aside to dry before arranging.

17. Stretch a length of floral tape to activate the glue. Individually tape the berries and leaves, taping about halfway down the wire.

18. Assemble your arrangement as desired.

If you make an arrangement using my gum paste holly and berries tutorial, be sure to leave me a comment or tag me on Instagram!

Ash xx

For more gum paste tutorials, check out these posts:

Gum Paste Blackberries, Leaves and Blossoms

Gum Paste Peony

Gum Paste Magnolia Branch

Floral Piped Royal Icing Cake Tutorial

September 3, 2020 By Ashley 6 Comments

I’ll admit, piping techniques on cakes are not my strongest skill set. I can pipe all sorts of borders, sure, but any sort of piped design, lambeth techniques or flowers, count me out. I’m most definitely a work in progress with those techniques, but with this cake, I discovered a piping technique that I love. Not only is it easy, but it doesn’t have to be absolutely perfect. A little whimsy is preferred here. This easy floral piped royal icing cake is easier than you think and the options with this technique are endless.

Supplies

Fondant covered cakes (My cakes are 6×5, 8×5, 10×5 and 12×5)

Royal icing – stiff and piping consistencies, either white or light yellow

Edible gold dust

Clear high proof alcohol, or clear extract

Fine detail paint brush

#2 piping tips

Piping bags

Edible marker

Ascending bead mould

Variety of petal cutters – your preference (I used peony cutters)

Circle cutters (I used 1/2″ and 1″ cutters)

Plotting out the space for the piping and the beading designs

Before creating the flower design and piping, measure the out the space where the piping, and the bead design will go.

For the 6″, measure 3 1/2″ across the middle of the tier with a ruler, and used an edible black marker to make a small mark the middle, at 1 3/4″. Use the marker to then draw a little line at 0 and 3 1/2″. Now the top tier will be the guide on centering all of the other tiers. You can see an example of my lines in the upper right corner of the photo below.

For the 8″, place the ruler up to the center mark on the 6″, vertically, so that the ruler is straight up and down against the 8″ tier as well. Mark a small dot on the fondant to note the center of the 8″. Place the ruler horizontally onto the 8″ tier now, placing the ruler on the center dot at 2 1/4″. Place another small dot at 0 and 4 1/2″.

Repeat the same process for the 10″ tier, marking small spots with the marker at the center at 2 3/4, and on either side at 0 and 5 1/2.

Repeat the same process for the 12″ tier, marking small spots with the marker at the center of 3 1/4″, and on either side a 0 and 6 1/2″

The center mark keeps the design centered down each tier, and the marks to either side indicate the size space of the design, and also indicates where the bead design will go.

Impressing the cake with petal cutters

I decided to use (2) peony petal cutters to make the general floral pattern. I wanted to use the peony petals to match the large peony that I created for the floral topper arrangement. I also like the frilliness of the petals. You can use any cutters that you prefer. Note that the fondant on your cake to still be soft enough to be able to make an impression. In addition to using the peony cutters, I used (2) small circle cutters as well to indicate the flower centers.

Impress the flower centers first. Use a light hand, and only just make a faint outline. Place a full flower here and there if you wish, but make it look more organic by only impressing parts of flowers. Be sure to cover the center mark with the flowers, but do not impress beyond the two outer lines on the tier. Remember, this is where the beaded design will go.

Floral piped royal icing

Once you have made the faint petal impressions, prepare your piping bags for the floral piped royal icing technique. Make one icing bag with piping consistency royal icing, and another with stiff royal icing. Set the stiff bag aside, and fit the piping consistency bag with a #2 tip. Outline the flower petals with the piping royal icing. Add extra frills to the edges if you like, just remember it doesn’t have to be perfect. If you make a mistake, use a toothpick to scrape off the icing. Make some veining lines in the centers of each flower petal, coming from the center of the petal or from the outer edge. Be sure to not overlap the side lines. Stay within the designated area or you will be scraping off dry royal icing later.

After piping the flower petals, pipe the centers. Fit the stiff royal icing piping bag with a #2 piping tip. Pipe little dots in the centers. Go beyond the circle to create more imperfect circles. Overlap some of the dots to give the center a bit more of a pop and some depth. Let all the piping dry completely before painting.

How to make the beading effect

An ascending drop string of beads mould is needed to make the beading. You can find them at Michael’s Craft Store and Iron Orchid Designs (find a retailer near you, or a retailer online on their website – the Acanthus mould). I used the IOD mould for this cake. The string of beads on this mould are exactly 5″ so I used one full string on each tier, on either side of the piping, to create a straight line on both sides. Make (2) for each tier, and let dry for 10 minutes so they’re not too soft. Adhere the beads to the cake with water, in ascending order, with the largest bead at the bottom of the cake tier.

Design the rest of the beaded design on a silicone mat so that you have a guide, and can make them all identical. Since the moulds are going to be a bit different depending on what mould you have, it’s best to use the photos in this post as a guide to make them as similar as possible.

Painting the royal icing

Create a gold paint by adding alcohol to the gold dust until a thick paint forms. You don’t want this too thin, as it could drip and won’t have much coverage, but not too thick, that clumps of gold are left behind. You can also use Edible Arts gold paints as a substitute. Use a fine paintbrush to carefully paint the royal icing.

So, this is a do as I say, not do as I do sort of moment. I painted the gold BEFORE adding the beads. Oof. Spare yourself the mess of gold dust flake off, by painting the icing gold AFTER adding the beads.

Finishing touches

Leave the cake as it is, in its elegant simplicity, or with a sugar flower arrangement on top, as I did. To get remove any excess flour from the fondant or any random gold dust, lightly steam the cake with a steamer. You don’t want the fondant to appear wet or get warm, so just a little bit of steam will do the trick. The tutorial for my peony featured on this cake is listed below.

I hope you love this tutorial as much as I have loved creating it. Any questions, be sure to leave them below or DM me on Instagram. If you use any of these techniques in this floral piped royal icing cake, I’d LOVE to see your creations. Tag me on Instagram!

Ash xx

For more cake decorating tutorials, check out these posts:

Under the Sea Cake Tutorial

Vintage Gilded Buttercream Cake Tutorial

Woodland Tree Stump Cake Tutorial

Gum Paste Peony Tutorial

Vintage Gilded Buttercream Cake Tutorial

August 5, 2020 By Ashley 1 Comment

After working with mostly fondant over the years, I’ve been playing around with buttercream a lot lately, and I’m loving it. I love the messy nature of buttercream, where flaws and rustic application can make a design look stunning. Buttercream doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s delicious and adaptable, and wild like nature, imperfect, and more often than not, celebrated for its messiness. Perfectly iced buttercream cakes won’t be found in this post – in a different post another time, I’m sure. And so, I’ve created this buttercream beauty for a giveaway with Iron Orchid Designs over on my Instagram feed. I know you guys have heard me talk about these fab products before, but this time, I’m using them on buttercream. My vintage gilded buttercream cake incorporates easy and fast buttercream techniques that can be adapted to almost any buttercream cake design.

How to create rough edge buttercream

The color of this bottom tier is one of my favorites. I’m obsessed with this wine color buttercream. I have made this color plenty of times using gum paste, and I wanted to recreate the color to use as the bottom tier of my cake. To color this tier, I used both oil based candy color and gel color. I mixed equal parts of red and purple candy color, and added a touch of black gel color. Mix the purple and red first and let the buttercream develop for a few hours. Check out my post on How to Color Buttercream to see my techniques on how to achieve dark and vibrant colors. Then add a bit of black to just darken the buttercream a few shades. Keep in mind, the buttercream will darken a bit as it sits.

The top two tiers have a base color of dusty cream. To achieve this color, I mixed small, equal amounts of Americolor soft brown and ivory. My ivory gel color has a bit of an orange hue, so I mix the ivory with the soft brown to lessen the warm undertones.

The rough edge buttercream look has been super popular since Megan and Harry’s royal wedding cake. It’s also super easy to achieve. Rough edged buttercream is a total time saver – no need to use acrylics or the upside down method for a perfectly smooth top.

After filling and crumb coating the cake, chill the cake until it’s firm, for a couple hours or so. Smooth buttercream over the top of the cake, smoothing it out past the edges. Coat the sides of the cake with buttercream, layering it on, especially towards the top. How much buttercream you bulk up at the top edges of the cake will determine how tall and thick the rough edges are. Use a bench scraper to scrape off the excess and smooth the sides. Don’t worry about perfectly smooth buttercream, as I said before, imperfect is what we’re going for in this design. Chill the cakes, only chilling the top two tiers for about 5 minutes. You want the buttercream to set just slightly to keep it in place when adding additional colors on top. You do not want the buttercream to fully set up, as it can change color when scraping the cake. This is particularly true with buttercream based buttercream.

Creating the watercolor buttercream effect

On the top two tiers, under the gold stamped design, is a minimal buttercream watercolor effect. Both shades were created using very little amounts of claret gel color by ProGel. With a small offset spatula or a palette knife, place patches of buttercream around the cake, starting with the darker color. Use a bench scraper to even out the color around the cake. Add the lighter color, then repeat with the darker color until you’re satisfied with the color. I chose lighter colors for this cake so that the colors sort of blend together for a minimal, blended watercolor effect.

When choosing colors for the watercolor technique, you want to be sure that the colors look good together and will also blend well. You don’t want the colors to mix together and turn strange and unappetizing colors. I like to use buttercream colors that are made with the same combination of gel colors, or colors that are made by combining different buttercream colors together. Chill the watercolor cakes until the buttercream is firm. The buttercream needs to be thoroughly cold in order to stamp the pattern onto the cake, otherwise the buttercream will stick to the stamp, or squish out the sides.

Creating the vintage stamped effect

The stamp set that I used is the rose toile stamp from Iron Orchid Designs. I also used a craft brayer roller, mine is from Iron Orchid, but this one works well too. You will need parchment paper, or wax paper, and gold edible paint. I recommend this one, or you can create a gold paint with edible gold dust and a clear alcohol. If you choose to make your own, you will need more than half of a small pot of gold dust. Mix the alcohol with the dust until you it’s a thicker liquid. It needs to be thick enough to coat the stamp, but thin enough to be able to easy transfer to the cake.

Roll the craft roller through the edible paint. Roll off any excess, then roll over the stamp to coat. Do not saturate the stamp so that’s dripping, but ensure that the stamp is damp with color. Carefully lift the stamp and place against the cake. Carefully, and lightly press to the cake, taking care not to press IN to the cake, though it’s likely you will get some pressed in impressions. This is totally ok – it goes with the vintage design. Gently and lightly run your fingers over the stamp to stamp the pattern onto the cake.

You can also use the roller to roll over the stamp. I use this method when using the stamp on a flat surface, like a cookie, or paneled fondant or if I am trying to achieve full design coverage with the stamp. For this cake, I went with a more aged, almost peeling vintage-y look. I achieved this look by pressing over the stamp in select areas, leaving some spots light or bare. Then take a fine paintbrush and go over any areas you would like darkened, or more filled in.

Let the stamped impressions dry before stacking the cakes. After stacking the cakes, add any florals. For this cake, I used gum paste/sugar heirloom roses, anemones, roses, heritage roses, petunias, blossoms, and rose leaves. Use any flowers that compliment your color scheme, or even skip flowers – the cake is beautiful enough on its own!

For more cake tutorials, check out these posts:

Woodland Tree Stump Tutorial

Mini Tutorial: Romantic Roses Cake

Mini Tutorial: White on White Baroque Cake

Gum Paste Dogwood Branch Tutorial: Part Two

June 17, 2020 By Ashley 1 Comment

Here we are at part two of the dogwood branch tutorial. In part one, I covered how to make the dogwood bracts, centers, leaves and small buds. This second, and final part of the tutorial will cover making the blooming buds, dusting the flowers, buds and leaves, then compiling the arrangement along with some final touches. You can find part one of the dogwood branch tutorial here.

Make the blooming dogwood buds:

1. Make a cone shape with a small piece of white gum paste. Place the tapered end into the second smallest hole of a foam pad with holes (Mexican Hat method).

2. Roll the paste thinly over the hole. Carefully remove the paste from the hole and place flat side down, stem side up. Center a 4 petal cutter over the stem of the paste. Cut out the flower. Remove any stray pieces of paste by running your finger along the edge of the cutter.

3. Place the flower stem back into the second smallest hole of the foam pad. Use a ball tool to elongate and cup of each petals.

4. Remove the flower from the pad. Brush a small amount of sugar glue in the center and bottom edges of each petal. Insert the wire of a dogwood center through the center of the flower, taking care to guide the wire down through the stem.

5. Cup the tightly petals around the center.

6. Hang the buds upside down to dry completely.

Dust the dogwood centers:

1. Dust the centers liberally with moss green petal dust.

2. With a small bit of burgundy, lightly dust a few areas of the center to give it a bit more of a realistic look and a bit more depth.

Dust the dogwood bracts:

*Be sure to apply dust sparingly as you dust the bracts. The goal is to build and layer color. This is how you make sugar flowers look more real. You can add more color, but you cannot remove it once it is on.

1. Lightly dust the center edge (the indentation we made) of the bracts with moss green.

2. Lightly dust very edge of the indentation with the brown dust, right over the edge of the moss green. The color should look gradient with a fine brown edge that continues to moss green.

3. Along the edges of the bract, with the exception of the center indented edge, and about a third of the way down the sides of the bract, very lightly dust with the dusty pink. Brush from the edges towards the center so that the color tapers off. The edges should be where the majority of color is. You’re going to be inclined to be a bit heavy handed here, but don’t. Less is more.

Dust the blooming dogwood buds:

1.Liberally dust the gum paste “stem” of the bud, tapering the color upwards, about halfway up the flower. You want the color to be darkest at the base of the flower nearest the wire.

2. Dust the base of the flower nearest the wire with brown, about 1/4″ up from the bottom of the bud.

3. Lightly dust the edges of the flower bud with dusty pink, dusting downwards to create a gradient of color, about 1/4″ down.

4. Just the very edges with moss green to mute the pink and give it more of blooming appearance.

Dust the small buds:

1. Liberally dust the small buds with moss green dust.

2. At the base of the buds, near the stem, liberally dust with brown dust about 3/4 of the way up from the bottom.

Dust the leaves and tape the wires:

1. Liberally dust front and back of the leaves with rose leaf green.

2. Activate the glue of the moss green tape by stretching the tape. Tightly tape the wires of the blooming buds, and larger leaves with the tape, finishing about halfway down the wire.

3. Tape a small leaf beside each small bud, taping about halfway down the wires.

Compile the dogwood flower:

1. Place the bracts two at a time, opposite each other, underneath a dogwood center, and tape with moss green floral tape. Place the remaining two bracts underneath and on opposite sides of the first two, and tape all the way down the wire. If you are using two different size bracts, place the larger ones first, opposite each other. Then place the smaller two opposite each other, underneath the larger two.

Create the individual stems of the branch:

1.For the first stem, tape together two of the small buds, staggering them so they’re not too close together, with the twig brown tape.

2. Tape two leaves onto the stem, also staggering them.

3. Finish the stem by taping on one of the dogwood flowers. Continue to tape all the way down the stem. Set aside.

4. For the second stem, tape a blooming bud to a small bud, staggering them so they’re not too close together.

5. Tape two leaves to the stem, opposite each other and slightly staggered, followed by an additional leaf. Tape all the way down the stem. Set aside.

6. Create the main branch by taping together a blooming bud with a leaf, staggering them.

7. Add another leaf to the stem. About 2″ down from the leaf, add the second stem ( the stem with the small and blooming bud).

8. Tape the stem with the flower to the main branch, about 3″ down.

9. Tape a 20 gauge wire to the branch, just below the flower. This will reinforce the branch and keep the branch from toppling over.

10.Tape an additional flower to the branch, followed by a leaf.

11. Add the third and final flower to the branch, taping all the way down the wires. Cut off any excess wire. You want to leave about 5″-6″ inches of stem to be able to insert the arrangement into a cake.

Final touches and finishing the arrangement:

12. Dust the branch with a combination of the leaf green, and brown dusts to blend the areas where the two different color tapes meet. This will make the colors look gradient and the branch more realistic.

13. Use a travel steamer or a tea kettle to *carefully* steam the arrangement to set the color. Be careful not to burn your fingers in the steam. Just carefully wave the arrangement through the steam to remove the chalky appearance. You don’t want the arrangement to look wet – you just need minimal steam. Let the arrangement dry completely.

Many of the techniques shared in this tutorial can apply to many other flowers and flower arrangements. For more tutorials and resources, check out these posts:

Essential Tools for Making Sugar Flowers

Gum Paste Peony Tutorial

Gum Paste Blackberries, Leaves and Blossoms Tutorial

Gum Paste Dogwood Branch Tutorial: Part One

June 17, 2020 By Ashley 3 Comments

When the flowering dogwood trees start blooming, it’s a sign that Spring has sprung. These beauties are mostly seen as white, or white with tinges of pink, but they also can be found in light pink, bright pink and rarely, yellow shades. For this dogwood branch tutorial, I’ve made my favorite color dogwood flower – white with a touch of pink. In this tutorial, I’ll take you through how to make the dogwood flower centers, and bracts (petals), two different stages of buds and some leaves to create a beautiful, multi-stemmed dogwood branch.

The cutters, veiners and center molds are from Sweet Art Master, and they are absolutely fabulous to work with. The bract cutters make super clean cuts, and the veiners are botanically correct and super detailed. I’ve purchased many veiners over the years that are subpar – whether the paste sticks to them, the veining impression is too light or the veining is not very detailed. The veiners from Sugar Art Master work perfectly. The center moulds are not only time savers, but they are detailed, botanically correct and easy to use.

Supplies:

Gum Paste – white, light avocado green, leaf green

Floral Wire – gauges 22, 26, 20 (cut into thirds) – white is recommended for the flowers, but for the other components, green or white will work

1/4″ Floral Tape – moss green, twig brown

Cutters: Sweet Art dogwood petal cutters , Sweet Art Master dogwood leaf cutters, small olive or ruscus leaf cutter (3/4-1″), 4-petal flower cutter (I used a hydrangea cutter)

Veiners: Sweet Art Master dogwood petal veiner, Sweet Art Master dogwood leaf veiners

Molds: Sweet Art Master dogwood center mold

Petal Dusts: moss green, burgundy, dusty pink, brown, rose leaf green

Sugar Glue

Cornstarch

Groove Board

Firm Foam Pad (with holes)

Rolling Pin

Ball Tool

Dresden Tool

Bumpy foam

Firm foam, for drying

Brushes, for dusting

Make the dogwood flower centers:

1. Fill the two cavities of mold with the avocado green paste, using a dresden tool to push in the paste, making sure to completely fill all of the mold.

2. Make a hook at the end of two pieces of 22-gauge floral wire. Dip each of the hooked wires in sugar glue, wiping off any excess glue. Insert the hooked wires into each of the centers.

3. Use a dresden tool to push the paste around the wire, covering up the wire insertion point and cleaning up any paste overflowing the mold cavities.

4. Place the mold in the freezer for 25-30 minutes to firm up the paste. This is necessary to be able to successfully remove the center from the mold.

5. Remove the paste from the mold by peeling the mold away from the wired center and removing carefully. Set the centers in foam to dry overnight. You will need 6 centers total for this arrangement.

Make the dogwood flower bracts:

1. Roll white paste over a groove on a groove board. You should be able to just start to see the line through the paste. You don’t want the bracts to be too thin.

2. Remove the paste from the groove board and flip the paste over so that it is groove side up. Center the bract cutter over the groove and press firmly to cut out the bract. Remove any stray pieces of paste from the cutter by running your finger along the edge of the cutter.

3. Dip a piece of 26 gauge floral wire into sugar glue, wiping off any excess. Insert the wire into the groove of the bract.

4. Groove side down on the foam pad, use a ball tool to thin the edges of the bract.

5. Place the bract into the bottom (green) part of the veiner. Place the yellow part of the veiner on top and press firmly to vein.

6. Lay the bract on the foam pad. Using the thick side of a dresden tool, push the tool into to the top/center of the bract to create an indentation. Place the dresden tool on the edge of the indentation and lightly scrape some of the paste away. This gives the bracts more of an aged and realistic look.

7. Place the bract over some bumpy foam to dry. Place some bracts curved in, some peeled back, some more flat, depending on the stages of bloom you want your flowers to be in. I made one flower with bracts more peeled away to represent more of an over bloomed flower, one flower with bracts more flat, with only a slight curve at the edges of the bract, and one flower with curved in petals to make a newly blooming flower. You will need 4 bracts for each flower (12 total for this arrangement). Let the bracts dry completely on the foam.

*You can make all of your bracts the same size using just one cutter, or you can use 2 different sized cutters (one larger, one smaller) to make a slightly offset flower. I used the smaller cutter to make 2 bracts, and the larger cutter to make 2 bracts for each flower.*

Make the leaves:

1. Roll out a piece of leaf green paste over the groove on a groove board. Remove the paste and lay the paste groove side up on the board.

2. Center the dogwood leaf cutter over the center of the groove and cut out the leaf. Remove any stray pieces of paste by running your finger along the edge of the cutter.

3. Dip a piece of 26 gauge floral wire into sugar glue, wiping off any excess. Insert the wire into the groove of the leaf.

4. Place the leaf into the bottom (green) part of the veiner. Place the yellow part of the veiner on top and press firmly to vein.

5. Lay the leaves on bumpy foam to dry, shaping them with a little bit of curve to make them look a bit more realistic.

*You can make a variety of both small and larger leaves, or all one size. You will need 8-9 leaves. I made 3 larger leaves, and 5 smaller.

Make the small buds:

1.Make a hook at the end of a piece of 26 gauge floral wire. Using the avocado green paste, roll a small piece into a cone shape. Dip the hooked wire into sugar glue, wiping off excess.

2.Insert the wire into the larger end of the cone shape. Work the paste onto the wire so that it is firmly adhered. Leave a little bit of the paste tapered off the bottom of the bud.

3. Shape the bud by tapering off the end to a dull point. Slightly bend the tip of the buds over so it looks like they’re leaning just a little. Set aside in foam to dry completely.

*Make a variety of sizes from super small to a bit larger, but keep them smaller than 5/8″. You will need 3 small buds total.

4. Repeat steps 1-5 of making the leaves, using the small leaf cutter (1″) to create the small leaves of the buds. You will need 3 small leaves total.

*PART TWO: LARGER BUDS, DUSTING, AND COMPILING THE ARRANGEMENT*

For other sugar flower tutorials, check out these posts:

Gum Paste Peony

Gum Paste Blackberries, Leaves and Blossoms

Gum Paste Olive Branch

Mini Tutorial: White on White Baroque Cake

May 7, 2020 By Ashley 2 Comments

[This post is written in partnership with Iron Orchid Designs. All text and opinions are 100% mine. Please note that I would never endorse a product or company that I don’t actually enjoy using. Thank you for supporting brands that help me and my business grow!]

Hi guys! I’m super excited to share my white on white Baroque cake mini tutorial with you. Since monochrome cakes are one solid color, it can be hard to emphasize detail and textures, since those elements can get lost in the overall look of the cake. So, I’m going to share some ways to make a single color cake really pop. One of the best ways is to add textural elements using moulds, stamps, or other 2D elements.

The moulds I used for this cake are by Iron Orchid Designs. They’re large, durable, made with high quality food-safe silicone and are super easy to use. The fondant doesn’t stick to the moulds, and is easy to remove. The moulds also have a micro rim to help get a super clean edge. The two that I chose to use are baroque style moulds (the Classic Elements and Acanthus moulds) with lots of scrolls and embellishments with some pearl detail.

For the cake, I used a natural white fondant (slightly ivory tinted) and used an Iron Orchid decor stamp, called Craquelure. I love this stamp. It’s perfect for creating a fishnet texture, a lacy texture and great for animal skins, like snakes and reptiles. I imprinted all of my cake tiers with this stamp to add additional texture under the moulded pieces.

The best way to plan out the mould design for your cake is, as you are making pieces, lay them out on a non-stick mat to form the big components of your design before putting them on your cake. To use these moulds, press the fondant firmly into the mould. You can use a solid piece of fondant, or you can place the fondant into the mould in pieces. Note that the finished mould piece will be a bit segmented since the fondant was placed in pieces. I tend to like that look because it reminds me of old stone pieces, so a lot of my moulded pieces have some random segmented lines.

Once the fondant is in the mould, use a modeling tool to scrape off the excess paste. To remove the fondant, place the mould face down. Gently peel back the mould and ease the fondant out. It should come out easily and all in one piece.

I formed the larger pieces of my design to get a basic design and layout, then placed them onto the cake with sugar glue. Then I filled in the design with smaller accent pieces, followed by the pearl details. The pearl detail on the bottom tier is my absolute fave. It’s probably my favorite tier.

I also added a few white dragees to accent the design and fill in some blank spaces. I made some white heirloom roses with lots of petals and added those to the cake for more of a romantic touch. I left the petals all white and dusted the edges with just a little bit of cream colored petal dust.

Moulds and stamps are a great way to add textural elements and additional detail to help this white on white cake really stand out. If you recreate this cake, let me know. Tag me on Instagram so I can see it and share it!

For more mini tutorials, check these out:

Mediterranean Tile and Flowers Cake

Romantic Roses Cake

Mini Tutorial: Romantic Roses Cake

January 29, 2020 By Ashley Leave a Comment

[This post is written in partnership with Satin Ice. All text and opinions are 100% mine. Thank you for supporting brands that help me and my business grow!]

Valentine’s Day is the inspiration behind this “mini” tutorial for my Romantic Roses cake. This cake is sponsored by my sweet friends over at Satin Ice. Their new buttercream icing mix was perfect for palette knife buttercream painting. While this is actually a fondant covered cake, mixed media elements like buttercream and royal icing techniques – such as palette knife painting, detailed piping, buttercream flowers, etc. look amazing together and allows you to incorporate several different techniques.

I’m calling this a “mini” tutorial because I’m sharing how I made this cake, but it’s not a step by step detailed tutorial. The idea is to share how I created this cake, and to share a technique and some information for you to be able to replicate it on your cakes. A reader wrote to me recently asking for me to keep in mind beginner cake tutorials when creating tutorials. I will most definitely be creating tutorials for ALL skill levels and ALL sorts of cakes – birthday cakes, wedding cakes, themed cakes, holiday cakes, etc. Keep in mind that many of the techniques featured in my full or mini tutorials can be applied to any size or style of cake, and many are perfect for all skill levels. Trust me, I’m going to do my best to not let any of you leave a post empty handed.

After determining that palette knife buttercream painting was definitely on the table for this cake, and Valentine’s Day was an underlying theme, my mind went to color next. I wanted to incorporate dark reds, pinks, and blush tones. And what screams Valentine’s Day more than ROSES? To keep with rose theme, I created hybrid tea roses, heirloom roses, David Austin garden roses, and little climbing roses and rose buds. I also added in some rose leaves and some twisty vines.

I used Satin Ice fondant for this cake, which I colored with Crystal Colors petal dust in Champagne and Blush, mostly equal parts. I wanted a blush color for the cake but I wanted it more of a cool, muted, vintage-y tone and not so harshly pink. I’ve been experimenting with using dusts for coloring fondant simply to get more of a targeted color. I find that it’s a bit more difficult to achieve the desired color if I’m using gel colors. Food safe dusts come in such a large variety of colors which allows me to achieve the color I’m aiming for much easier. However, if you don’t have these colors, you can use Americolor electric pink and Wilton brown to achieve a similar color. Avoid Americolor brown – there’s a bit too much orange in it. Incorporate very little color gradually since gels are more concentrated.

I used the same petal dusts to color my buttercream to match the fondant, which was fairly simple to do since the buttercream mix is pure white. Satin Ice buttercream mix comes as a soft dough. To the dough, you add butter or shortening and water to create an American style buttercream. The buttercream mix is very customizable to most projects. It’s stiff enough for piping flowers and ruffles, but you can also make it soft enough to mimic the same consistency as a meringue based buttercream, which happens to be my favorite buttercream to use. To get that consistency, I added water 1/2 teaspoon at a time until it was soft and smooth, like peanut butter.

Because I wanted my palette knife painting to be focused around the sugar flowers, I placed the sugar flowers first. Once the flowers were placed, I created buttercream “petals” around the flowers, by pressing the buttercream coated palette knife up against the cake and gently pulling down and away, to create a slightly grooved petal. Take care not to place your petals too symmetrical. The petals can be different sizes and don’t have to be perfectly neat. Consider creating your petals based on the shape you want your petals to have and direction you want your painting to go. Once I finished the painting, I added some white sugar dragees that I painted gold with a mix of clear alcohol and gold dust.

And really, that’s it. A super simple technique just to get acquainted with palette knife buttercream painting. I’m totally in love with the technique and can’t wait to do some palette knife buttercream flowers. Let me know if you try this out!

Check out these posts for more sugar art tutorials:

Gum Paste Blackberries, Leaves and Blossoms tutorial

Essential Tools for Making Sugar Flowers

Gum Paste Blackberries, Leaves and Blossoms Tutorial

September 23, 2019 By Ashley 4 Comments

I’m absolutely thrilled to be sharing with you an amazing new flower paste/gum paste. Created by my friend and fellow sugar flower artist, Arati Mirji of Sweet Symphony, this sugar flower paste was gifted to me to try and I think it’s absolutely fabulous. It’s incredibly easy to work with, rolls out very thin and allows ample work time before drying. This paste doesn’t dry right away and will stay flexible, much like a bean paste, for a short amount of time. Compared to other name brand pastes, Flower Paste by Arati Mirji is considerably softer than what I was used to, but I found that it wasn’t at all sticky, it stretches beautifully and holds veining exceedingly well. It took me no time to get used to it. It also holds color, gel and petal dust, better than any commercial paste I have used in the past. Even dry, the thin petals seemed strong and light, and I even dropped one when assembling with no damage. This paste is perfect for both beginner flower makers and advanced, and has quickly become my favorite.

For a recent sugar flower collaboration, Still Life Sugar Flowers, hosted by yours truly, I created an autumn, moody inspired arrangement filled with poppies, ranunculus, David Austin roses, nasturtium, forget me nots, cosmos, dahlias, leaves, vines and blackberries. I love making gum paste blackberries as I think they look amazing in sugar arrangements. Today, I’m sharing with you a tutorial on how to make my gum paste blackberries, blossoms and leaves using Flower Paste by Arati Mirji.

Supplies:

Gum Paste/Flower Paste (I used gel food color to tint the paste.): dark purple, moss green, magenta, dark green, pale yellow and white, Floral Wire: 22, 26, 28 gauge (green or white), Moss green 1/4 width floral tape, Small rose petal cutter (1/2- 3/4″ size), Rose leaf cutter, All purpose leaf veiner, Firm foam pad, Groove board, Rolling pin, Jem veining tool, Small craft scissors, Small seed head stamen, Petal dusts: moss green, blush pink, plum, mocha, golden yellow, rose leaf green, aubergine, Paint brushes, Clear alcohol – such as Everclear, Confectioner’s glaze, Ball tool, Craft pliers, Sugar glue, Piping gel

To make the green, pink and dark purple gum paste blackberries:

1. Form a piece of paste the size of a small gumball into a cone shape.

2. Bend the end of a piece of 22-gauge wire into a hook with craft pliers.

3. Dip the hook into sugar glue, wiping of the excess. Insert the wire into the thick end of the cone shaped paste.

4. Twist the paste onto the wire, removing any excess paste. Set aside to dry for a hour or so.

5. Roll a bunch of small balls, (4-5mm) to create the detail of the blackberry.

6. Working with one blackberry at a time, brush a liberal about of piping gel onto the cone shape. Working from the base of the cone at the wire, place the gum paste balls working around the cone and up towards the top.

7. Once the cone is completely covered with the balls, carefully and lightly squeeze the blackberry so that the balls flatten slightly and fill in any small gaps on the cone. Take care to keep the blackberry shape while flattening. Set aside to dry completely.

To make the gum paste blackberry leaves:

1. Roll out a piece of dark green paste over the groove on a groove board. Remove the paste and lay the paste groove side up on the board.

2. Center the rose leaf cutter over the center of the groove and cut out. Remove an stray pieces of paste by running your finger along the edge of the cutter.

3. Dip a piece of 26 gauge floral wire into sugar glue, wiping off any excess. Insert the wire into the groove of the leaf.

4. Place the leaf into the double sided veiner and press firmly to vein. Set aside to dry on bumpy foam.

To make the gum paste blackberry blossoms:

1. Fold 9 double sided seed head stamen in half and secure with floral tape.

2. Make a hook at the end of a piece of 26 gauge floral wire. Using the pale yellow paste, roll a small piece into a cone shape. Dip the hooked wire into sugar glue, wiping off excess. Insert the wire into the tapered end of the cone shape. Work the paste onto the wire so that it’s firmly adhered.

3. Make small cuts all over the cone using small craft scissors. Set aside to dry completely.

4. Once the center is dry, fan out the taped stamens into a circle shape. Insert the wired center through the stamens and tape with floral tape down the wire.

5. To make the petals, roll out a small piece of white paste over the groove of a groove board. Remove the paste and lay groove side up on the board.

6. Center the cutter of the top of the groove on the paste and cut out the petal with the small rose petal cutter. Remove an stray pieces of paste by running your finger along the edge of the cutter.

7. Dip a piece of 28 gauge floral wire into sugar glue, wiping off any excess. Insert the wire into the groove of the petal.

8. Thin and widen the petal using the ball tool. Vein the petal using the veining tool, giving the edge a slight ruffle for movement. Set aside to dry completely.

9. Repeat the steps to create (5) petals total for each blossom.

Dust the blackberries:

1. For the unripened green blackberries, dust the berries liberally with the moss green petal dust.

2. To add some variation and to resemble a ripening blackberry, dust some areas, like the tip of the berry, with the plum petal dust.

3. For the ripening pink blackberries, dust the berries liberally with the plum petal dust.

4. To add some variation and to resemble a ripening blackberry, dust some areas with the aubergine petal dust.

5. For the deep purple/black ripe blackberries, mix a bit of the aubergine dust with a few drops of clear alcohol to create a paint. Paint the blackberries for a dark, saturated blackberry.

6. Dip the blackberries in confectioners glaze to give them a glossy, realistic appearance. Dry completely.

Dust the leaves:

1. Liberally dust the leaves with the rose green petal dust, concentrating on the edges and center of the leaves.

2. Tape the wires of the leaves with floral tape.

3. Steam the leaves to set the color. Set aside to dry completely before assembling.

Dust and assemble the blossoms:

1. Dust the stamen and the center of the blossoms with golden yellow petal dust.

2. Dust the top of the center with a little bit of moss green dust.

3. Make an edible paint with the mocha petal dust and clear alcohol. Brush the tips of the stamen to add a little bit of color. Set aside to dry.

4. Dust the base of the petals with the blush petal dust.

5. Place the petals one at a time, spacing them evenly around the center, and taping with floral tape all the way down the wire.

6. Steam the assembled blossom to set the colors and let dry.

Assemble the arrangement by taping the components with floral tape.

I hope you guys try this paste and love it as much as I do. For any questions regarding the tutorial or additional products used, let me know in the comments. Also, check out my Essential Tools for Making Sugar Flowers post for more information on supplies.

If you make gum paste blackberries, leaves and blossoms using my tutorial, let me know! Leave a comment in the comment area below and be sure to snap a photo and tag it #littlevintagebaking on Instagram. I love seeing your Little Vintage Baking creations!

For more sugar flower tutorials:

Gum Paste Peony

Gum Paste Olive Branch

Mini Tutorial: Mediterranean Tile and Flowers Cake

April 5, 2019 By Ashley 2 Comments

I think this Mediterranean tile and flowers cake may be one of my favorite cakes I’ve made to date. I don’t get to hand paint on cakes very often and was super excited for the chance to do so for this Mediterranean themed wedding. The color palette consists of dark blue, mustard-yellow, and turquoise with bright pinks, reds, oranges and yellows for the flowers. I wanted to incorporate both lemons and olive leaves for more of a Mediterranean vibe, which were both part of the wedding decor.

Inspiration for the tile is designed based off of elements I pulled from the invitations and also the decorative plates that were planned for use at the wedding. Then, keeping the hexagon panels size in mind, I sketched out a design on sketch paper. Once I was happy with the design, I traced over the sketch with tracing paper. Parchment paper will work as well, but tracing paper is lighter and a bit easier to work with.

For the flowers and foliage, I made pink peonies (check out my tutorial here), orange and yellow ranunculi, red dahlias, lemon blossoms, olive branches with olives (check out my tutorial here), lemons and lemon tree leaves. I made the lemons with modeling chocolate, using a foam center to keep them more lightweight so they wouldn’t rip through the cake.

Once the cakes were baked, covered in fondant and thoroughly chilled, I painted the cake tiers. I placed the tracing paper up against the cake and used a dresden tool to lightly trace around some of the main components of the tile design. Just so I could see the outline and spacing of the shapes. The rest of the design I did freehand, just referencing my sketch. I used a mixture of petal dust and grain alcohol to paint the design. The top three tiers were quick and easy to paint. The hexagon tier took hours. Hand painting that much detail takes a lot of time.

Before stacking the tiers, all the cakes were chilled completely. I always work with cold cakes as I find room temperature cakes too unstable, especially when using sugar flowers and travelling with multiple tiers. After I stacked the cakes, I refrigerated them over night. I placed the sugar flowers into the cake before delivery. I inserted the flowers into milk shake straws that I placed into the cake. Very rarely do I place sugar flowers on cakes onsite. I don’t have much breakage, if any when I travel with a cake with flowers.

I’m super happy with how this cake turned out and I absolutely loved making it. It’s definitely one of my favorites and a good beginning to wedding season.

For the peony sugar flower tutorial, click here.

For the olive branch tutorial, click here.