Chocolate Kahlua chiffon cake with lingonberry buttercream covered in fondant. Decorated with royal icing and fondant peals and fondant flowers and finished with silver luster dust.
FIRST OF ALL: Fondant is gross
SECOND OF ALL: Fondant is a decorating godsend
THIRD OF ALL: DO NOT OVER HEAT OR FORGET TO WHIP UP YOUR ROYAL ICING!!! Otherwise it will melt into itself and ruin your design. (see below little pearls. Oops).
Despite the unpleasant taste and mouthfeel of fondant, it is by far one of the easiest and most versatile items in the bakeshop to work with. When making flowers for a cake, gum paste may look more realistic, set up solidly, and can be used to create more complex flowers, it dries out rapidly. Fondant flowers are much easier to create due to its high moisture content.
Fondant Flowers: Easy peasey lemon squeezy!
1. The flowers begin with a cone-shaped piece of fondant with the flat side formed into a shallow bowl-like crater.
2. Once you have your base, take scissors and cut 5+ slits into, but not all the way through to the center. These will become the petals. (For best results, make flowers with odd numbered petals as those are most commonly found in nature). At this point, the base and petals can become sticky- use a small amount of cornstarch to combat this.
3. The next step is to take a cut petal and GENTLY pinch and pull it out from the edges until it resembles a petal.
4. Once each of the petals has been pulled, use the smallest, plain piping tip to create the center of the flower.
5. Take your paring knife and GENTLY make indentations on each of the petals originating from the center of the flower.
6. Let the flowers rest in an egg carton to allow them to dry. During this time, it will be easier to give the petals some movement. and create a little center for them.
Now this is how we learned to create simple and basic flowers in class. Fondant flowers may also be formed using cutters for a quick and easy flower. However, forming them by hand will give them more life and movement.
Below are some video tutorial references for different methods of creating fondant flowers
Just a 'lil Bite 