There is a display cake I want to do for upcoming events. It has about 140 sugar flowers. I cannot afford to order them so I would have to make them or get small silks.

On the one hand, it will take a lot of time to make and with transporting to a couple of shows there is likely be damage. On the other hand, being able to say I made the flowers may be impressive to some of the people at this event.

I can make them but part of me doesn't want to and is not sure it is worth the extra effort and time. Can anyone weigh in and help me make a decision?

The first event is 2 weeks away so if I'm gonna make them I need to get crackin'!

Thanks!

What kind of flowers are they? That would make a difference to me, 140 callas are a heck of a lot faster than 140 wired orchids.

Sorry, they are roses... and I have limited experience so I am not quick by any means.

I'd go ahead and make them, but it's going to take you a while if you haven't done them before. Use a quick rose method and start NOW, so that you'll have time to let them dry in between steps. You should be able to do the cones and the first layers all in one shot over a couple of days(good tv-watching activity for the evenings), then do the outer layers in batches over 2 or 3 days. You'll also need to have somewhere for them to dry, so you'll probably need to do 20-30 at a time as you get to the outer layers and let them set up, unless you have a lot of room to spread them out. If you let them dry in between stages they're easier to handle if you're a beginner.

Thank you CostumeCzar!

Question for you, what is the quick rose method? Is that with the pink 5 petal cutters?

It's much quicker with the see-through pink cutter than the Wilton ones...not sure which ones you meant. But the Jem cutters make the separations between petals, and with the wilton ones you have to cut the separations.


Also, you could make bigger roses and maybe not need as many, depending on the cake.

I do have the pink see thru ones. I used them the one other time I made fondant roses.

This particular cake has to have smaller roses so I don't think I can take any shortcuts on this one. I like the idea though!

Okay, I guess I best dive in tomorrow!

I just thought of it, if you use gumpaste it goes a lot faster than it does with fondant. Nicholas Lodge's gumpaste recipe is great and it dries faster than fondant.

Gum paste scares me...Is that completely stupid or what?

After looking at so many amazing, life-like flowers I know mine won't look as nice. I will try it though, I even have Tylose here so I have everything.

Worse case scenario I have to buy silks, right?

Wish me luck? And who can I PM when I panic???