Spring has Sprung!

This week, I made a cake for Jordan, who is graduating from high school. She told me she liked the bright colors and the whimsical flowers on this cake. She wanted a cake that was "fresh, pretty, and sophisticated" with "retro orange, celery green, vibrant pink, sea-foam blue, and brown."

When creating a cake like this, the key is to plan ahead. All of the gum paste flowers need to be made days ahead of time so they have plenty of time to dry before they are placed on the cake.

To make the flowers, roll your colored gum paste to the desired thickness. I used a pasta roller on the largest setting so I was sure to get a consistent thickness for every flower.


Cut the gum paste into strips of even thickness. I used the Wilton roller with a 1/4-inch spacer in between the blades, but there are many other ribbon cutters available. Alternatively, you could just use a ruler and a pizza cutter.


Cut six lengths of each of the following sizes: 2-inch, 3-inch, 5-inch. Place them under plastic wrap so they don't dry out.


Fold the first 2-inch length in half, without creasing. Pinch the ends around half of a toothpick.


Fold the 3-inch length in half around the curved 2-inch length, again without creasing. Do the same for the 5-inch length. Let the six petals dry until they are hard to the touch (usually overnight is long enough).


Once the petals are dry, roll a ball of gum paste and insert the petals into it. You may have to use a small amount of royal icing (it's best if the royal icing is the same color as the flower petals or center) to adhere the petals securely. Let the entire flower dry for several days before putting them on the cake.

The flower created in this tutorial is rather basic, but these same techniques can be used to make many different flowers. The only thing that changes is the lengths you cut and the way you pinch and shape each strip. Here are a few examples: