Just finished one more of the “old” tutorial updates. This time it was for the cupcake flower, that many have asked about the past years. It is my all time favourite and I really like it together with the swirly blue cupcakes.
I have two more tutorial updates on my list that I am working on and you are proberly wondering by now, what’s up with all this tutorial updating? Well I cant tell you yet, but hopefully very very soon. All I can say, is that it will be super sweet and I am sure that you all are going to love it
I just wanted to show you a little sneak peek of my next cake project. I will be using these small gum paste roses for a very special Valentine’s cake this year. But you will have to wait to see the final result.
For those who have asked about a tutorial please see this rose tutorial.
I have received many requests on the race car cake toppers that was on my sons birthday cake last year. So here is my tutorial on how to make a race car cake topper.
It is made out of gum paste, but I have used store bought black rolled fondant for the wheels and the helmet.
TIP:
The “body” of the race car, starts with a smooth round ball!
This is what I use:
White gum paste
Black rolled fondant
Small amount of white rolled fondant
Gel paste color
Rolling pin
Cake smoothers
Tylo glue
Cornstarch (to prevent the fondant from sticking to your work board)
Small knife
Piping tips or small circle cutters in various sizes
Small paint brush
Ball tool (JEM)
Strip cutter (JEM) If you dont have a strip cutter, then you can use a ruler.
1 small plastic bag (not showing on the photo)
Step 1:
Start coloring the gum paste in your chosen color. Roll the “ball” into a cone, making sure that you keep one of the ends a little thicker (and the other end a little thinner). I try to keep the lenght of the race car to about 3″ (8cm).
Step 2:
Flatten the sides of the race car, using a pair of cake smoothers. Place the car inside a plastic bag and set aside. This will preventing it from drying out.
Step 3:
Roll out some gum paste about 2mm in the same color as the race car. Cut out the spoiler with the small knife. I cut out mine by hand, but you can of course use a ruler if you like. Make sure that the spoiler is a little wider than the race car. Set aside to dry completely. TIP! Make extra spoilers. If the first one should break.
Step 4:
Roll out some of the black rolled fondant about 5mm thick. Find 2 different sizes of piping tips or circle cutters and cut out 2 large and 2 small pair of wheels. I have used round piping tips to emboss the center of the wheels. Set aside to dry.
Step 5:
Take some white rolled fondant and roll it out thinly. Use the strip cutter or a ruler to cut out 1 fondant strip. Note: Do not cut out the fondant circle before step 9
Step 6:
Take out the race car from the plastic bag. Brush a very thin coat of tylo glue on the back of the white strip and attach it down the middle of the race car. Trimming of any excess of the fondant strip with the knife. Use the ball tool and make an indentation in the middle of the car, where the “driver” will be sitting.
Step 7:
Take a little black rolled fondant and roll it into a little ball/helmet. Make sure that it fits into the indentation of the race car. Brush a little glue and place the ball/helmet in the indentation. Cut a small strip of white fondant for the face shield and glue it on the ball/helmet. Set a side to dry.
Step 8:
When the wheels are almost dry, glue them on the race car with tylo glue. Small wheels at the front and large wheels at the back.
Step 9:
Roll two small oblong balls and glue them on each side on the white fondant stripe on the back of the race car. Brush again a very thin coat of glue and carefully attach the spoiler. Finish off by cutting out a small circle out of white rolled fondant and glue it on the front of the car. TIP! It is easier to write the number of the race car, when the white fondant is all dry!
In this tutorial I want to show you how to make a five petal fantasy flower. The flower is inspired by a pink flower broche that I have. You are welcome to change the color for the flower, so that it match your color scheme.
Remember that the flower stamens are inedible, so you need to remove the flower before cutting the cake.
This is what I use:
Drinking glass
Foil
Foam pad
Ball tool
Rolling pin
Cornstarch
Five petal cutters in following sizes: 35mm, 80mm, 110mm
(Easy rose cutters 80mm + 110mm from JEM) (35mm/1 1/4″ any five petal cutter can be used)
Gum paste
Pink food gel color (optional)
Pearl & pink luster dust (optional)
15-20 white flower stamens (small round headed)
White non-parelis
Tylo glue
Small firm brush for the tylo glue
Small soft brush for the luster dust
Pair of tweezers
pair of scissors
Small pieces of foam
Paper towel Flower former:
Start by covering the glass with double layers of foil, like shown on the photo. Dust it with a little cornstarch, so that the flower wont stick to the foil.
Step 1:
Color some of the gum paste pink with the food gel color and roll out the gum paste thinly. Cut out the first layer of the flower, using the large five petal cutter (110mm). Place the flower on the foam pad and thin the edges of the flower with the ball tool. Dust the tin foil with a littel cornstarch before placing the large flower on the tin foil “cup”. Shape the petals with your fingers and place small pieces of foam to keep them in place.
Step 2:
Take some white gum paste, again roll it out thinly and this time use the medium five petal cutter (80mm). Cut out the second layer for the flower, and place it on the foam pad. Thin the edges of the flower with the ball tool. Place the cut out flower on a piece of paper towel and brush the white flower, with white luster dust.
Step 3:
Brush a thin layer of tylo glue in the middle of the pink flower.
Step 4:
Place the white flower on top of the pink flower. Again shape the petals with your fingers and place small pieces of foam, to keep the petals in place while drying.
Step 5:
Roll out some pink gum paste thinly, and cut out the last petal for the fantasy flower with the small petal cutter (35mm). Thin the edges with the ball tool and glue it in the middle of the white flower with tylo glue. You can use the end of a paint brush to lift up the small petals. I dont use any foam pieces to keep the small petals in place here.
Step 6:
Take some white gum paste, make a small ball, that match the center of the flower and flatten it slightly. Brush the top of the ball with tylo glue and dip it into the white non-parelis. Secure the ball with tylo glue in the middle of the pink flower. Let the flower dry for 1 hour before you continue.
Step 7:
Take some small round headed white flower stamens and cut them a little shorter. Push in the flower stamens all the way around the edge of center with a pair of tweezers. Finish the flower by adding a little pink luster dust in the the center. Let the flower dry until firm, about 1-3 days. Remember to remove the small pieces of foam, when the flower is dry.
Tip!
You can also make smaller or larger flowers by using various sizes of five petal cutters, than the ones used for this tutorial.
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.
I have received many requests on how I made the large pink gum paste roses on the Cath Kidston cake. The secret behind them is not me, but a fantastic cake designer named Fran McGregor. She have made the most wonderful rose tutorial. The way she guides you through the process is very clear and easy to understand. Well Fran were so kind to give me permisson to upload the rose tutorial on CakeJournal.
Unfortunately the video file was too large to upload on CJ and I even tried youtube with no luck. But do not worrie you will find the rose tutorial, via this flickr link here.
Note: You will have to scroll down and look for Frans (franjmc) comments to find it.
In the video is also listed all the equipments to make the rose, including the recipe for her fantastic modelling paste.
Good to know tips! 1. To make sure that the styrofoam egg will fit the JEM easy rose cutter. Bring along your cutter, so that you are buying the right size of styrofoam egg. Well at least with the two largest easy rose cutters 100mm and 110mm. For smaller roses use smaller easy rose cutters, rose petal cutters and make the cone out of gumpaste instead.
2. A block of styrofoam is great to place the wired rose cones in the start of the process. Later the roses need to hang upside down to dry through the process so make sure that you have either a broomstick or anything similar ready before you start on the roses (I just use my small drying rack for my roses).
3. The thin piece of foam that is used in the video is a great “helping hand” when attaching the rose petals.
4. I use the rose petal cutter set from TinkerTech Two wich is really nice and dont forget to use the tylo glue.
If you want to see more fantastic roses and cakes please visit Fran’s own website it is such a beautiful sight.
You are of course also welcome to have a look at my “old” rose tutorial here on CJ.
Who can resist these cute turtle cake toppers? They are very easy to make and you can even scale the size down if you want to use them as a cupcake topper. You can mix the color combination as you like. Cant wait to get started? Here is my tutorial on how to make a turtle cake topper.
This is what I use:
Gum paste
Gel paste color for the turtle + black paste color for the eyes
Tylo glue
Small paint brush
Cocktail stick
Small knife + plastic bag (not showing on the photo)
Step 1:
Color your gum paste in desired colors for the “body”, the shell and the dots. Place the rest of the gum paste in a plastic bag. Take the color that you have chosen for the “body” and roll it into a sausage. Cut 4 pieces in the same size (feets) and save the rest for the head. Take the “feet” parts and roll them into a ball and shape them like a teardrop. Note: It is possible that you need to adjust the amount of gum paste for the feets and the head.
Step 2:
Glue all 4 feets together with Tylo glue.
Step 3:
Take the gum paste for the shell and roll it into a ball. Form it into a toadstole shape and make it a little hollow at the bottom.
Step 4:
Brush a little tylo glue at the bottom of the shell and place it over the feets.
Step 5:
Take the “head” part and roll it into a little ball. Shape it so that it looks like a “golf club”.
Step 6:
Use the paint brush to make and indentation where the head will be.
Step 7:
Brush a little tylo glue in the indentation.
Step 8:
Attach the head. I have used my cornstarch duster as support for the head while it dries.
Step 9:
Roll very small balls of gum paste. Flatten them slightly and glue them on randomly over the shell.
Step 10:
All you need now is to make the eyes. Do that with a little black gel paste on a cocktail stick. Your cute little turtle cake topper is now ready to be used.
Many have asked me about the sugar flowers that I used on the lemon meringue cupcakes. I can tell that the flowers are called frangipani. A very “simple” flower to make as you use 5 petals in the same size. Frangipanis is often in the color combinations white/yellow or pink/yellow.
So while I was browsing for suppliers for the cutters I found this cool Frangipani tutorial online. It is with photos and is well explained. I hope that you will enjoy it and that it will help you make beautiful frangipani flowers for you cakes and cupcakes.
Video tutorial, how to make a ribbon rose. As you can see CakeJournal is now on youtube. I am just testing this so please abstract for the poor picture and sound quality I would though really love your feedback. Is this something you would like to see more of?
I love sugar bows on cakes. I think it gives the cake a very feminine look and it is a necessity on beautiful gift cakes. So in this tutorial I will try to show you how to make a sugar bow. If you have not tried it before start by making a “medium large” sugar bow instead of a very small one. You can ad shimmer dust to your bow just by brushing shimmer on to the stripes before pleating and assembling the sugar bow.
Note: I find it best to use a mix consisting of 50% sugar paste and 50% flower paste. That way you will get a smoothe and flexible paste to work with.
This is what I use:
50/50 Sugar paste/flower paste
Rolling pin
Small spatular
Tylo glue
Artist brush
Polyesterfibre
2 sheets of kitchen roll
Cornstarch for dusting
1 Plastic bag
A pair of scissors
Step 1:
Take the plastic bag and cut up one of the sides.
Step 2:
Take some of the polyesterfibre and warp it in the kitchen roll:
Step 3:
Dust with cornstarch and roll out the paste thinly. Take the spatular and cut two long stripes and one short stripe. Place the three pieces in the plastic bag. To keep them from drying out.
Step 4:
Take one of the long stripes and make pleats in both ends. Brush the ends with tylo glue. Take the polyester roll and fold the ends together.
Step 5:
Gently press the ends. Set a side and repeat with the other long stripe.
Step 6:
Trim the ends so they have clean cuts. Brush with tylo glue and put them together.
Step 7:
Take the small stripe and make pleats. Brush the middle of the sugar bow with tylo glue.
Step 8:
Take the short stripe (maybe you need to cut it shorter) and wrap the ends around the middle of the sugar bow.
Step 9:
Now leave the sugar bow to dry. Note: If you want the sugar bow to stand up. You will do that now before it dries to much.
Step 10:
For the tails, roll out the excess paste and cut two long stripes.
Step 11:
Make pleates and cut the end. Place them on top of each other and brush with tylo glue and attache the sugar bow on top. Remove the polyester rolls when the bow is almost dry. Note: I find it best to cut out the tails just before they are applied to the cake. That way they are smoother and more flexible.
and I really like it together with the swirly blue cupcakes. 
