“He loves me… He loves me not… He loves me…”
I can’t tell you how many times those flowers have lied to me. Despite their dishonest ways I do still love daisies. The first bouquet my husband, then boyfriend, ever brought me was one of daisies. They have a special place in most girls’ hearts and they are the perfect flower to couple with a spring or summer ladybug cake.
When I gave instructions in my last blog entry on making the Late Summer Ladybug Cake and Cupcakes, I promised a tutorial on how I did the fondant daisies that crowned the tops of the cupcakes. Here are some pictures and instructions for making your own edible flowers.
Late Summer Ladybug Cake and Cupcakes
This was my first time making daisies so it took quite a bit of experimenting before I figured out the look I wanted. I planned to make them out of fondant, instead of gumpaste, since kids would be eating them off the tops of the cupcakes.
In order to give the petals of the flowers a curved look I knew I would need some sort of former to dry them on. After looking through all of my drawers and finding nothing that would work, I decided to create my own out of fondant. I took some circle cutters
My daisy cutter set is made by FMM. Since I had never used it before it took some research on the internet to figure out just how to use it. Hopefully my tutorial here will help others who might be looking at their sets and thinking “What in the world?” like I did.
I started with some thin fondant that I had rolled through my pasta roller
When you lift the cutter, the fondant occasionally sticks. If this happens you can use the little poker thingy that came with the set (or any other dull tool) to gently release the fondant. Make sure you release all the petals before releasing the center or else you have a greater risk of breaking off petals.
Once you have removed the cutter, I found that it helps to take a sharp tool and run it over the cut lines to make sure your cuts go all the way through. You can then remove the excess fondant.
Take your petal and lay it on a petal pad
Now take a veining tool and imprint a line right down the center of each petal.
Lay your finished petal piece on one of your ring formers. If you are worried about it sticking to the former, sprinkle some cornstarch on the former. Gently push the center down a bit into the former and shape the petals so that they lay down over the edges of the ring. Using a paint brush, dab a small amount of water in the center of the petals to make it tacky.
Cut out another petal piece that is the same size as the first, as well as one that is a size smaller.
Attach the same size petal piece on the original, moving the petals as needed to fill in the spaces between the original petals. Add another dab of water to the center of that piece and then lay the smaller petal piece on top of it.
For the center, roll a small ball of yellow fondant or gumpaste and then flatten it a bit. Add another dab of water to the center of the petals and then gently press the ball into the center. Use a dull pointed tool to add depressions all over the ball.
Allow the daisies to dry in their formers until they firm up. Be careful when removing them from the formers as they are still very delicate.
When they are dry they are ready to decorate with. Keep in mind that these daisies are designed to lay directly on the cake or cupcake so they are not attached to a wire, like most gumpaste flowers.
Good luck with your fondant daisies and may they always answer you with an honest, “He loves me.”
Until next time, God bless and Sweet Dreams.
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