How to Decorate Flower Cakes

You can create beautiful flower cakes using sugar gum paste.

If you want to decorate your cakes to look like there are flowers on it, you don't have to purchase special tips to try and create traditional icing flowers. Using a sugar gum paste, also known as fondant, can make the task of creating a flower cake much easier because the material is generally easy to mold and can even be stamped out using cookie-cutter like tools.

Things You'll Need

• Frosting
• Icing spatula
• Corn starch
• Rolling pin
• Sugar fondant
• Gum paste cutters
• Small paint brush
• Food coloring

Instructions

1. Put your unfrosted cake in the freezer for 30 minutes. This will reduce the risk of pulling up crumbs while you frost it to create a more professional look.

2. Remove the cake from the freezer. Frost the cake on all sides, using even pressure on an icing spatula to distribute the frosting over the cake. Use the side of the spatula to smooth out any ridges in the frosting.

3. Sprinkle some corn starch over your work area to prevent sticking. Roll out a sheet of sugar gum paste, also known as fondant. Use gum paste cutters in flower shapes to create various types of petal rounds. Remove the cut flower designs from the fondant sheet. Re-roll the extra fondant to create more flower shapes, if necessary.

4. Lay two or more petal rounds on top of each other, making sure that the petals overlap each other without hiding the bottom petals. Ensure that the petals stick together by using a dot of frosting to bind them. Use your fingers to gently mold the flower petals so that they have thin edges that turn upward. Set the flower aside and repeat until you have created as many flowers as you like.

5. Dip a small paintbrush in food coloring. Yellow, blue, red and orange are all good choices. Paint the fondant flowers completely and allow them to dry.

6. Attach the flowers to the cake by dabbing some frosting on the back of the flower so that it sticks. Create clusters of flowers in opposite corners on the cake, make a pile of flowers in the middle of the cake or line the outside edge of the cake with the flowers.

References

• What's Cooking America: Decorating Cakes Using Fondant
• Make Fabulous Cakes: Gum Paste Flowers