How to make gum paste strawberries
I received a lot of requests on how I made the gum paste strawberries for my Cath Kidston cake. So here is a tutorial on how to make them. I have used a store bought red rolled fondant, mixed with a little Tylo powder for the red strawberry. You can use the gum paste strawberries for decorations on your cakes and cupcakes.
This is what I use:
White gum paste
Red rolled fondant, mixed with a little Tylo powder (CMC)
Food gel colors: pink and leaf green
Pink non-pareils
Non-stick board
Rolling pin
Tylo glue
Corn starch, to prevent the gum paste from sticking to your work board or hands.
Small paint brush
Dresden and veining tool (JEM) or another pointy tool
Ball tool
Frill stick
Flower foam pad
Small 5 petal blossom cutter, 20mm (3/4″)
6 petal flower cutters
Strawberry Leaves & Calyxes/Set of 4 (JEM)(I did not use the calyxes for these strawberries)
Classic D/S multi purpose veiner (Sunflower Sugar Art)
Small plastic palette, to dry your flowers in
The strawberry flowers
Step 1:
Start with the white small flowers. Roll out the white gum paste thinly and cut out the flowers with the 5 petal blossom cutter. Place the flowers on the flower foam pad and thin the petals slightly by carefully pressing down the ball tool on every petal. Transfer the flowers to the plastic palette and set to dry.
Step 2:
When the white flowers are dry, brush a little tylo glue in the middel of the flowers and sprinkle with a little pink non-pareils in the center. Set aside.
The strawberry leaf
Step 1:
Roll out the leaf green gum paste thinly and cut out the leaves with the strawberry leaf cutter. If you are having trouble getting the leaf out of the cutter, then use a toothpick to release it.
Place the leaves in the multi purpose silicone veiner. Give it a light press with your hand to get them veined. Arrange the leaves in desired shape and let them dry.
The strawberries
Step 2:
To make the strawberries take some red or pink gum paste in the desired size and roll the gum paste into a ball. Make sure, that there are no cracks in the ball at this stage!. Model it into a strawberry shape.
Step 3:
Take the dresden/veining tool and make indentations like on a real strawberry with the dresden/veining tool.
Step 4:
Roll out some more of the leaf green gum paste and cut out “flowers” using the 6 petal cutter. Flatten the petals slightly with the frill stick and glue it on the the top of the strawberry. Make an indentation with the frill stick and brush a little glue in the hole. Take a small piece of leaf green gum paste and roll it into a little stem and put it into the hole. Let the strawberry dry thoroughly.
Happy Caking!
Louise
1. alice
June 26th, 2009 6:33 pm
These are so cute! I think my kids would love these on cupcakes. Thank you!
2. Rhiannon
June 26th, 2009 6:46 pm
Nice work Louise! Very informative. I will have to try this out soon! Does fondant work too?
3. no1pugmom
June 26th, 2009 7:10 pm
now all you need to do is dip them in chocolate!!
4. Jane
June 26th, 2009 7:15 pm
That is so cute. Thanks for tutorial.
5. Becky
June 26th, 2009 7:16 pm
Whoa! SO pretty…going to the store to buy gum paste now…do you make yours?
6. Kati
June 26th, 2009 7:32 pm
These are awesome directions–I want to try them —thanks for the instruction!!
7. Sarah Fairlamb
June 26th, 2009 7:33 pm
Thank you for your tutorials. I always look forward to receiving your blog mail, its gorgeous and interesting!
8. Rachel
June 26th, 2009 7:50 pm
Wow! Those are so cute! Thank you for the great tutorial! =:D
9. Melanie
June 26th, 2009 7:57 pm
Thanks so much for sharing, these are fab. I was thinking what to do for my daughters birthday cake and now think I might do a strawberry shortcake style cake with these on!
10. Jen
June 26th, 2009 8:08 pm
They are perfectly perfect for summer! You’re so creative. Love them
11. Joanne
June 26th, 2009 8:43 pm
Great “how to” post. They look so delicate and sweet.
12. Donatella
June 26th, 2009 8:49 pm
Thanks for sharing Louise! I’ll definitely have a go one day!
Donatella
13. Andreea
June 26th, 2009 9:17 pm
Thank you so much…who makes the leaf cutters you were using?
14. dawn davis
June 26th, 2009 9:18 pm
so cute and you make them so easy to make. thank you for taking time to write out and display instructions!
—it’s all about the details!
dawn
15. lyzzie
June 26th, 2009 9:20 pm
Thanks so much for sharing so pretty for tha cakes o cupcakes they look delicates and sweets
16. Annette
June 26th, 2009 9:27 pm
Lovely strawberries, thank you for sharing!!!
17. kathrin
June 26th, 2009 10:34 pm
They look gorgeous! Thanks!
18. Louise
June 26th, 2009 11:15 pm
Becky: I make the gum paste by mixing ready made fondant like Satin ice about 17 oz, knead it on a little bit of crisco, add 1 1/2 tsp gumtex or cmc and 1 tsp of egg white (pasturized)This makes a really good gum paste.
Andreea: Ohh that is JEM. I missed that out in the post but it is all fixed now. THX!
19. Mara
June 26th, 2009 11:34 pm
I loved these the first time I saw them. Now I have no excuse not to try and make them. Excellent work. Can’t wait to try my hands at this. Thanks for all you do.
20. sugar dimples
June 26th, 2009 11:44 pm
Thank you so much, they look so real!
21. Mayura
June 26th, 2009 11:56 pm
amazing stuff, really cute!! hey by the way where can we get these cutters from???
22. Annette
June 27th, 2009 12:50 am
Louise, thank you so much for another wonderful tutorial, I love it!
23. Jilliancupcake
June 27th, 2009 2:56 am
these are adorable and so simple. your work is so pretty and clean looking!
24. Alicakes
June 27th, 2009 3:15 am
You are so kind to teach us these valuable skills for our projects. Thanks.
25. Katie
June 27th, 2009 3:46 am
Your tutorials are great. Very well explained and simple to follow. Thanks for teaching us.
26. Meaghan
June 27th, 2009 6:24 am
These are perfectly crafted and adorable! Thank you for the great tutorial (I posted a link on my column, ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com)
27. Amy
June 27th, 2009 9:31 am
Thank you for sharing the method and gum paste recipe.
The pink strawberries are so lovely.
28. zaheera
June 27th, 2009 12:55 pm
hi there! these strawbs are positively delightful! i love them
29. laling
June 27th, 2009 2:17 pm
YOU MAKE IT LOOK VERY EASY, CAN’T WAIT TO TRY IT.
30. Gis
June 27th, 2009 5:20 pm
This is just SO SO PRETTY Lou, I love it!!!!
31. Carrie
June 27th, 2009 9:12 pm
Thankyou so much for sharing your talent. I have learned so much from your posts. These are incredible!
By the way, where can you get the multi-leaf veiner?
Thanks again!!!
32. majop
June 28th, 2009 3:25 pm
Those are beautiful!! Thank you for the info. I would like to know what tylo glue is, please.
33. beldandy
June 29th, 2009 5:58 am
thanks louise!
34. jackie
June 29th, 2009 6:56 am
can i use fondant as gum paste?
35. Shira
June 29th, 2009 8:57 am
Louise,
Where did u buy those blossoms, leave and daisy cutters. Friend of mine want me to make some cupcakes for her with nice deco. The blossom cutter that I had is not as good as yours.
shira
36. Natalie
June 29th, 2009 7:37 pm
Thank you for sharing your skill’s, it has been a great help!!!
37. CakeBunny
June 29th, 2009 10:21 pm
Hi Louise,
Just wanted to ask if these dry hard? I was wondering if they could be a choking hazard for wee ones…
Of course, my 7 year old wants a cake with a feild of strawberries on it now LOL!!!
CakeBunny
38. Louise
June 30th, 2009 1:29 am
Mayura: My cutters are from Jem and Orchard products. I think that you can get some of it from both confectioners ware and global sugar art.
Carrie: the multi leaf veiner is from http://www.decoratethecake.com
majop: Tylo glue is an edible glue made by mixing some tylo powder or cmc with some boiled water. It is perfect when you are making decorations for cakes ect.
Jackie: Yes you can use store bought fondant. Pls go to my comment no.18 for more info. thx.
Shira: the blossom cutter is from Orchard products, the leaves is from JEM (it is a strawberry cutter set) and the daisy or 6 petal is also from orchard. You can get global sugar art.
CakeBunny: Well I would not serve small parts as a decoration for wee ones, I would have removed it first. But of course you have to be careful when serving. My kids never eats the decorations on my cakes ect. Because they know it is hard but if you like you can use only fondant. It may be a little soft to work with though. A field of strawberries sounds yum!
39. Alice
July 1st, 2009 5:52 am
That would look so cute on top of a cupcake flower pot! Thanks for the tutorial!
40. Stormie
July 1st, 2009 2:54 pm
Thanks so much Louise! These are so darling!
41. Sal
July 1st, 2009 3:11 pm
Wow, these are soooo pretty.
42. Rachel
July 2nd, 2009 1:55 am
GORGEOUS! I love your how-tos. I’ll be linking.
43. Pily
July 11th, 2009 8:45 pm
Thank you so much
44. Jessica
August 18th, 2009 10:16 am
Hey Louise,
I was wonder where you got that ball tool from?
45. Louise
August 19th, 2009 12:08 pm
Jessica: The black one? that is from JEM. Global sugar art have them.
46. Beth
September 1st, 2009 3:29 am
These are soooo adorable!
I’m trying to find a good celpad/celboard/rolling board… mind sharing where you got yours? Does it make a dif. between the foam vs. rubber boards/pads? If so … can people provide sites pls!
Thanx for sharing your technique!
47. Louise
September 6th, 2009 11:11 pm
Beth: I got mine from the UK. But any nonstick rolling board would do. You can do some thhings with a foampad that you cant do with a rolling board and vice versa. All cake decorating suppliers should stock pads & boards. I dont like rubber boards as you can not cut out with metal cutters and knives without cutting into the board.
48. Alicia
September 8th, 2009 2:03 am
I am having so much trouble making my gum paste red. Because the gum paste is white and I use as much red colour gel as I can, it still doesn’t turn out brilliant red…just kinda reddish pink. What did you do to make yours so red? Or did you buy red gum paste?
49. Louise
September 8th, 2009 11:09 pm
Alicia: I buy the red gum paste. I have given up on coloring it myself. If you cant get red gum paste, red fondant works as good only you have to knead in some tylo powder to make it hold its shape.
50. Felicia
December 17th, 2009 11:37 am
Hi Louise,
I love the strawberries! I was wondering how you got the colour for the strawberry leaves? I am using Wilton colours but I doubt they have this colour.
51. Louise
December 26th, 2009 1:04 am
Felicia: Mix the leaf green with Kelly green? and add a tiny dot of yellow.
52. michelle ringor
January 15th, 2010 9:55 am
I love everything in this site..thanks for those infos..
53. fancypants
January 28th, 2010 7:16 am
What is the difference between gumpaste and fondant? I’ve noticed that gumpaste is called for when making little detail work…is that because it dries better?
54. Louise
January 28th, 2010 2:08 pm
fancypants: It can get confusing with all the different names for the same things.
Gum paste/tylo paste/modelling paste are all the same and contains a “gum agent” that thickens the paste, so that it dry faster and hold up the shape if making figurines, flowers ect.
55. Olivia
April 28th, 2010 12:14 am
Have you ever made figures using foam balls covered in fondant, instead of using gum paste? I was thinking of making jungle figures such as a monkey- can I use the foam ball for his head and body? If you did use the foam do you have to cover it with buttercream or anything first?
56. Louise
May 13th, 2010 6:44 pm
Olivia: NO I have not tried it yet. But you can do it. It will also make the figurine much less heavy. I would brush the foam with clear piping gel before the fondant.