I just did this for the first time! I made colored fondant and then cut out my leaves. I don't have a veiner so I just used a sharp point to make some shallow lines. Then after they had dried, I used white luster dust mixed with lemon juice to paint the leaves. They look shiny and pretty good. For a beginner.

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. Notifications have not been working for me.

I was going to make my own marzipan but was feeling lazy so I bought it pre-made.

Adevag, I see you're from Northern VA. I stopped at the Wegman's off Rt. 7 and bought three rolls, but only ended up using 2.5. I had a couple of leaves left over which I will use for another cake.

This is the recipe I was going to use before I decided to buy pre-made:

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/recipe/favorite-marzipan

Now you can either make your own almond paste or buy it pre-made, which is only about $1.50 cheaper than buying the roll of marzipan. It's better to buy commercial almond paste because traditional marzipan also contains some bitter almonds which are nearly impossible to find. I used the Odense brand, which was actually really tasty and very easy to work with.

I used a fondant rolling pin to roll out the marzipan on waxed paper, then used leaf cutters to cut the shapes. I bought some rubber leaf veiners which I used to imprint the veins before coloring them.

Coloring them was the fun part. I just bought basic colors of powdered food coloring at my local cake store, or you can buy them from global sugar art. I had to order brown and white off the internet because my local store didn't have them. I just made little piles of color on the waxed paper, then used a new mineral makeup brush to mix the colors. It's nearly impossible to mess up. Just start off with a light touch, and then you can build color as you go along. I bought red, orange, yellow, brown, green, and white colors. I also bought burgundy but never used it.

For the pumpkins, I just rolled a ball and then used a toothpick dipped in vegetable oil to make the indentations, then rolled little pieces for the stems. Then I colored those the same way as the leaves. For the acorns, I rolled the cap on the smallest holes of a grater for some texture, then pushed it onto the larger part of the acorn.

When you're done coloring your leaves, just store in an airtight container between sheets of waxed paper. They will stay soft and pliable until you're ready to put them on your cake.

If you have any other questions let me know.