I just can't seem to get these flowers right.

I am making the cake for my BIL and future SIL's wedding. Thankfully, it's not until November, so I have plenty of practice time!

I am having a problem making the little fondant flower blossoms for the top tier. I've posted the three different types I've made so far, along with the picture of the cake she wants and the tools/cutters I've tried using. I don't know if I'm just doing it completely wrong or maybe I don't have the right cutters.

Also, we'd prefer not to use wires to adhear them to the cake, if possible. She wants people to be able to eat them or easily eat around them, not messing with having to pull out hundreds of flowers. It looks like the ones in the pictures do not use wires, but I could be wrong.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice!

The tools/cutters picture wouldn't attach before

do you know what kind of flowers they are? that would help you to get the right cutter. (and even then, you might not be able to find the exact right one)
personally, id be taking it as any 5 petaled flower. so any of yours would do!
i woudnt put backs on teh flower, just cut them out flat, it will make them easier to stick on, with something like edible glue.
xx

you are almost there! your paste just needs to be thinner.

Also those looks like its made with a 5 petal cutter where the petals are more round, your metal one will make pointy blossoms, KWIM

I would do them by rolling out the paste thinly. then cut with a blossom cutter. Thin the edges with your ball tool and then place them on a piece of sponge and press the flower in the centre with your ball tool, this will make the petals lift slightly. You can attach it to the cake with some RI or BC, no need for wires
HTH!!1

get practicing with gumpaste - it rolls much thinner!
xx

These are the cutters I would use.

http://www.globalsugarart.com/product.php?id=17381

http://www.globalsugarart.com/product.php?id=21888

I agree with brincess_b, try some gumpaste, I dont think you will get the look at all using straight fondant. I prefer the Nicolas Lodge GP recipe for my flowers.

I mix half and half gum paste and fondant. The fondant won't roll thin enough alone, and I find the gumpaste alone is not smooth enough.

I would be rolling out your GP or fondant in a pasta roller. Then when you are cutting out your flowers, jiggle your cutter back and forth a couple of times, and the edges will look smoother (do you understand me at all? I think I need more sleep!!!!)

Thanks everyone!

brincess_b & AverageMom - Thanks for the gumpaste suggestion. I'll mix the SI with gumpaste. I was afraid to mix it because I though it would make them taste gross. I know not everone will try to eat them, but I was hoping those that do won't be spitting them out!

mommyle: You made sense. And gave me an excuse to use my new pasta roller! I just got one this weekend from Hobby Lobby. Haven't tried it, yet, so that should be fun. I was stuck on trying the mexican hat thing that was first suggested.

riana: Thanks for the links to those cutters. The peach ones look great, but they're out of stock. I clicked the button to be notified when they come in, though.

do you really need a 100% match to the picture? no baker can guarentee that.
if you mix in gumpaste they will dry harder, so wont be as pleasant to eat, tho they will still taste fine. yes, they will look more like the picture, but is the couple happy with that trade off?
and do you realy need another 5 petal cutter? the ones you have arent an exact match, but still make a pretty flower.
just worth thinking about.
xx

That's true. I think it's just the Type A in me trying to get it just right!

I'm not sure what trade off she'll be okay with since this was her favorite part of the cake. She's really laid back, so I'm thinking it won't be too big of an issue.

We're changing the middle tier a bit and she wasn't something completely different for the bottom. We don't have the bottom one really hammered out yet. She was thinking some double vertical ribbons, but that may look too plain for the base tier.

I'm making a small scale practice (for me) and sample (for her) cake so I can put these elements together for practice and so she can see what works for her. It was to be today, but we recheduled it for next week, which will work great since I have Fondarific and chocopan samples coming in. They'll get to try those and the SI.

These blossoms might be pinch type flowers as well, no actual cutter needed. All the shaping is done with just your fingers and a few tools, I'll see if I can track down some directions for you.

I think you could probably make them with some of the cutters in the Wilton gumpaste set...the green one with the book that looks like it was published in the 70's. Anyhow, it has some small 5 petal cutters with round petals. I would use a couple of different sizes, thin the petals with the ball tool on foam, but not on top of the sponge (lets you get petals much thinner) then put the foam on top of the sponge and push in the center of the flower.

If you could find a scrapbooking punch that was a 5 petal flower in about the right size, you could roll the fondant with your pasta machine and then cut the flowers with the scrapbooking punch. They make perfect smooth edges even on very thin fondant. You can still thin them with the ball tool, even when it's been rolled thin enough to use with a paper punch. I do that with marshmallow fondant sometimes.

Dry the flowers on something curved.

They look like Stephanotis to me... here's what my Stephanotis cutter looks like (only I have a metal one.):


If the bride doesn't want 100s of wires to remove from the cake top, how about using wires together in one or two nice bouquets to simply lift off in an easy step? Perhaps it would look more elegant than a huge pile on top.

cs_confections, i am soo happy to see your thread... i have a wedding cake due on july 2nd and the flower i need is similar to what you are practicing with...

i think your flowers are almost similar to whats on the pic. and i also think your practice flower is a little pointed coz you were not able to run your fingers to them to make it 'more round'... if it makes sense... i have the pme large flower blossom plunger cutter that riana posted. after using the ball tool with the foam then run my fingers on each petals, it somehow made a difference... wish i was able to take a pic on how i did it... maybe this week end.

I somehow missed these last two responses.

Unlimited - WOW! You really nailed. I went to google images to look at the Stephanotis and it looks exactly like what is on this cake. I haven't been making any flowers this week since I've been busy with work and getting my Father's Day gift project together. On Monday, I'll go back to flower making, trying out the pasta machine, too!


When I googled Stephanotis cutters, I noticed some of the cutters looked like stars. I'll try my star cutter and see if I can get it to resemble the flowers in the pic. If not, I'll pick up the Wilton kit - it has it listed in the contents. Maybe Hobby Lobby will have a coupon next week.

Thanks again everyone for all of your help! I really appreciate it.