Hi. I decided to make mum a box full of roses birthday cake.
I have never made flowers before, so I have been practicing with playdoh. today i started with the red fondant .. let's just say it is not as easy to handle as playdoh :-) the flowers look awful (why does youtube make everything so easy?). A big problem is that the red fondant is cracking on the edges. it has taken me so long to make 3 disastrous blooms .. but i must persevere. Any tips on how to avoid cracking the fondant? i added tylose and used cornflour to control sticking. May thanks.
I would say you have upset the recipe/science of the fondant by adding cornflour which dries out fondant. You need to add more fat &/or a bit of water to the fondant.
BTW: I know I'm among a small number of people who love when rose edges crack. To me they look more real. (Of course that does depend on how bad the cracking is.)
thanks kakeladi - i will use copha tonight to control the sticking. i know what you mean about the cracking but my roses look like something from superman' bizarro world!
Use shortening instead of cornstarch, definitely. I never use cornstarch, ti makes everything dry out and crack.
If they crack try getting a tiny bit of solite (crisco/butter etc) on the tips of your finger and thumb and rubbing that gently back and forward over the edges where they cracked., if the cracking is only minor the edges can often be smoothed out I find.
That said I have not made many so maybe I have just been lucky :-)
cakedivanot
A couple of tips. Your gumpaste should feel pliable and stretchy. If it's not, it's too dry. Add a bit of shortening and knead in until you get that consistency. Good gumpaste can be rolled out very thin. As costumeczar stated, don't use cornstarch/cornflour, it dries out the gumpaste. I use it in certain circumstances, but sparingly.
I roll my gumpaste out on a silicone mat lightly coated with shortening. Makes for easy rolling, and can be rolled thin. When you cut any pieces, they should be placed under plastic wrap on in a plastic zip bag so they don't dry out. I roll my rose petals between to pieces if cling film/plastic wrap. Works a charm, and gets them nice and thin. I dry the petals on plastic spoons. Always make more petals than you need because inevitably, some get broken. And as far as YouTube...don't forget...they can edit to make it seem effortless!! Making any gumpaste flowers takes patience and practice, practice and more practice!!
If you are using fondant there in lies your problem........you need to use gumpaste.....if you have no recipe....get some TYLOSE or CMC and kneed it into the fondant to make it more adept to making your flower petals
One CAN use fondant w/o Tylose.; I just made 3 dz:) Sure you cannot get the petals as thin and they don't dry as hard but fondant makes a very nice passable rose (and other flowers). It is almost impossible to get tylose/CMC locally here. I didn't have time to order it so fondant had to work.
thanks all. as per your suggestions I used shortening - and the roses look pretty good :-) i ended up ditching the tylose and just stayed with straight fondant. they have not hardened as much as I hoped they would, but i have a couple of more days! thanks again.
Next time cakedivanot
Google Nicholas Lodges gumpaste recipe. Easy to make and great to work with. Store in a container with a tight fitting lid. Can be frozen too.
Yes, Nic's recipe is very good and rather easy to make. To store, wrap well in layers of plastic wrap or plastic bag before putting into a container w/tight fitting lid.
to OP: I doubt they will harden any more than they already have.....that' the nature of using fondant over gumpaste :)
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