Making Gumpaste Dahlias Without Cutters.
Decorating By mw73 Updated 8 May 2013 , 3:26am by FromScratchSF
AI was volunteered to do a wedding cake and agreed to do it with the brides understanding that I have never made a wedding cake or any kind of "fancy" cake. I'm not getting paid nor have I invested any money so I'm not feeling any pressure about it. I do want it to be beautiful and tasty. I decided on a "simple" design. Fondant covered with a large dahlia on the side, 2 smaller ones and a bud on top. I know that's probably a bit ambitious but I'm up for the challenge. My question is, is there a simple way to make the petals without cutters? Any suggestions or tips will be greatly appreciated. I have been lurking on this forum for the past 3 wks and have found a great deal ofy very helpful info.
http://www.sweetcreationsbystephanie.com/2010/07/fondant-dahlia-tutorial.html
That is a tutorial for making dahlias with very easy to obtain cutters (could probably find them at your craft store, if you don't have them already).
AThanks Spooky! I was looking for tips on how to do it by hand. I looked at Walmart and my local hobby shop. Neither place had the cutters. The closest Michael's is 30 min. one way. That's going too out of my way for something I will probably never use again. I'm cutting them out by hand in the general shape. May end up looking more like a rose, as long as its pretty I'm okay with that.
I would think of all the flower shapes, dahlia would be an easier one to cut out with an exacto knife. They are tear-dropped shaped petals which are stacked with one end pinched. you could also buy or borrow a few heart cutters and cut the hearts in half to make teardrops.
http://www.sweetcreationsbystephanie.com/2010/07/fondant-dahlia-tutorial.html
jen
You could also make cutters by yourself, I did this to make a leotard out of sugar cookie dough. I didn't want to pay for shipping for just 1 cookie cutter. You take a cheap, foil lasagne pan, cut the bottom part into strips, and shape the strips into the shapes you need. I taped the top too keep it in shape. They are flimsy, you may have to make a few, but they do the job for cheap!! I got that idea on here, so thank you to the original poster of this idea, whoever you may be!
I made one like the yellow one on this site: http://lulussweetsecrets.blogspot.ca/2012/09/how-to-make-sugar-dahlias.html by using the small oval shaped cutter from Wilton from this set http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=B470DE1A-802D-F658-03D7DB86249F2946&killnav=1. After I cut them, I stretched them out to look like the teardrop shape needed. In order to get a larger petal, I would leave the gumpaste a little thicker. I think it looked really good in the end. Too bad it fell & broke. Here is what I ended up with.
AGoreti, that's beautiful! You did an awesome job! Ella, it does look like a Peony. I've started making the petals. If I were doing this as a business and making several cakes a wk, I'd definitely consider buying them already made. This being only one cake, I'm enjoying the experience. Heck, by the time its finished it may be a different design. LOL! I have free reign over the entire cake other than I have to include purple.
Be careful with purple if you are using it to make your flower. It fades fast. I left some out to dry in my kitchen and it was blue in just a few hours. I don't even have direct sunlight in my kitchen.
Making a good sugar dahlia is really hard. I know, I'm still working on it! Dahlia petals are not rounded, they are pointed, they are almost exactly like a daisy except the petals are cone shaped, have 3 creases in them and pointy at the ends. The pink flower (above) has a correct center, like I said, very similar to a daisy, but have these weird cone petals. If you want to see a really good sugar dahlia, check this out:
That dahlia is STUPID good, and I have no idea how she makes it - and I can generally figure flowers out. I've tried to replicate it and I've failed miserably. I have no idea what cutter she even uses - so the dahlia remains a mystery to me.
I realize I'm no help here, I just wanted to contradict the idea that these are easy to bang out - they are actually really complicated!
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