I've been busy.
For Mother's Day this year, I am going to be making petit fours to give to my Mom and all the other wonderful mommies in my life that I know and love. Given that Mother's day is still a few weeks away, I thought I would divide this post into two parts. This week, I will be showing you my attempt at making sugar paste flowers - I will be using them to decorate my petit fours and they need some time to dry out.
Sugar paste, also known as gum paste, allows one to make very delicate, realistic looking blooms that you can use to adorn cakes, pastries, etc... It is a true art form and one that I have VERY little experience with. But, I have always admired the gorgeous cakes made by designers like Sylvia Weinstock, Plus, I have always wanted to learn to make them, so I decided to give it a try.
You can purchase pre-made gum paste or a mix (both made by Wilton) at any baking-supply or craft shop. Or, you can make it yourself - it's really easy and much less expensive. For a great recipe, check out the
Sugarcraft site. You will also need some basic supplies - different shaped cutters, small rolling pins, foam pads, gel food coloring, etc... Wilton makes a very good kit that includes a terrific full-color instruction manual.
Since I am a true novice,I decided to start simply with just some Forget-me-nots and Violets (very in keeping with the Mother's Day theme, don't you think?). There are many more advanced flowers such as Roses and Lilly of the Valley, but I thought I should start with the basics. My older daughter made these with me (while the younger one practiced with Play Dough!). I chose to use colors in the purple, periwinkle, and lavender range - with a just tiny bit of yellow thrown in for contrast.
First, you need to tint your gum paste. This needs to be done very carefully to achieve the best results. So, using a toothpick, just add a little bit of color at a time. You can always add more, but you can't take it back once it's in there! Once your gum paste is tinted, you need to roll it out. Then, you just use your cutters like you would if you were using them to make cookies.
Next, the cut-out flower shape needs to be given more dimension - otherwise it would just look like a flat flower, boring. This is accomplished by placing the shape on a foam block and embossing it with a variety of tools.
After you have allowed your flowers to dry a bit, you can add the detailed floral centers. For this, you will need to make some Royal Icing and tint it as well.
The techniques obviously vary depending on the flower you are making, but my Forget-me-nots only required a simple dot using a #1 decorating tip.
I must warn you that making these flowers is a very addictive process and, once you start, you may be hooked for good! As you can see, I found it very hard to stop!
Now, when we get closer to Mother's Day, I will show you the rest of the petit four process. I want to bake them at the last minute - wouldn't want to be giving out any stale petit fours, now would I? :-)
Have a great weekend!
Jessica
