I want to make a flower pot cake and was wondering how do I make the terracotta color for the pot? What is the best way to make stems for the flowers, can i use wires like for fake flowers? Where i live, i cant find edible paints/markers, is there something else i can use, like the wilton gel frosting colors? Last, how early can i make the flowers? this is my first time making gum paste flowers and i want to start early. Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for any advice in advance.

Hi
To get the terracotta I would make 3 balls of paste saturated with orange red and brown (gel or powder colours). I would then take the orange and start mixing bits of red and brown into it. For the pot I would use pastillage or lots of gum powder mixed with the fondant. Like 2 teasp for 100 gm. Its difficult to give exact measurements. You have to feel how soft your fondant is. Give the pot enough time to stiffen, about 2-3 days depending on your climate.
You can make flowers weeks ahead. Just keep them covered and in a cupboard. Preferably not one facing the outside which gets a lot of sun. I store mine in an inside cupboard.
The stems are made with wire covered with florist tape. Insert these into a drinking straw and then into the cake.
If you want to know how to make a flower type the name of the flower and google or look at you tube or CC.
Have fun!

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-325610.html

I just use copper colored gel or power in a high concentration to get a terracotta color. HTH!

I've used lots of skin tone powdered colour before and it made quite a nice colour. You can make your gumpaste flowers well in advance but the colours may fade in time, so I make them and dust them with colour when i need them.

I've only tried one flower pot cake before...would make a much bigger pot next time.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1334773

Lyndsey xx

i also use the copper gel color and then mixed just a tad of orange, red and brown to give more depth.

Thanks everyone for all the help. hopefully I can pull it off and look some what good. Lyndsey, what size cake did you use? I read the tutorial on how to make the baby in the pot cake. I think she used two 10 and one 8. I'm going to try two 8 and a 6, and see how that turns out. hopefully it will not fall over from my house to my mother-in-laws house! One last question, I cant quite get the flowers to have that natural look to them, mine are to flat, is there a video or something to explain how to make them look 'wrinkled' on the edges? (hope this makes sense) Thanks again for all the help!

Hi barb

I think I used 8 inch cakes and trimmed the sides a bit.

If you're making gumpaste flowers the best thing I found was a ball tool. You roll the gumpaste out very thinly, use your cutter then lay your petal on a sponge mat and roll the tool around the edges and they naturally curl up. Fondant will probably rip using it but gumpaste is more stretchy.

Good luck

Lyndsey xx

just wanted to mention that americolor sells a gel color that is called "tera cotta"