Tag: flowers

Flowerpot Cake Pops

7 Comments

I have a conundrum. I can’t decide how I feel about cake pops. They are cute, but they are painstaking work for very little gustatory satisfaction.

red flowers on cake pops in flower potsWith leftover cake scraps, as well as leftover pink gum paste, I decided to try some cake pops that might look like flowers. Using a flower cutter, I punched out a few sizes of flowers, and once hardened, I painted them with food coloring mixed with vanilla extract. (For a more in-depth explanation of how to actually make the cake pop, click here for Chicago Cubs cake pops, here for roses, or here for Easter eggs.)

painting red gum paste flowers

Once the flowers were painted and the pops were ready, I used a little bit of melted candy melts to stick them together.

adding gum paste flowers to cake popsflowers on cake pops from side

Put a little styrofoam circle in the bottom of a planter, surround with some decorative grass, and stick in your cake pop. Ta-da!

cake pops with flowers

They might look like flowers from the front, but the cake pops are definitely hiding back there! 🙂

red flowers on cake pops from side

Cute, right? I can just imagine them as decorations at a garden party, or favors at a bridal shower, with the colors, of course, customized to the event.

But again, it’s just… they’re, like, two bites. Honestly. All that work for two bites.

BUT THEY’RE SO CUTE!

Let me know what you think in the comments. Yay or nay to the pop?

red flowers on cake pops

 

The Wonderful World of Wafer Paper

3 Comments

wafer paper roseWafer paper: a weird but wonderful paradox. It loves water and hates water. It is both smooth and textured. It is quick and inexpensive but finicky and unforgiving.

I’ve only used this once before, and that was to simply cut strips to look like grass. So with a little trepidation, I set to work trying to find what I could from the photos I found online. This is the main link I’ve modeled my flowers after: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjUFSA01cMQ

I’ve made a few changes to my flowers, but the link above is a wonderful resource if you’d like to watch the process in real time.

My initial observations after making my own flowers:
– They seem sturdy once finished
– I don’t know how to attach them to the cake. Anyone else know?
– They are very quick and cheap, compared to gum paste or fondant
– They are so light!

If you are attempting these flowers, there is a smooth and a textured side. My flowers were done with the textured side facing up. I don’t know what they’d look like the opposite way, so I can’t say which way is better! And to make the edges look more realistic, I painted a bit of water on the underside of each petal. It eventually causes the paper to shrink up a bit. (It takes a few minutes.)

Here are my step-by-step photos:

how to make wafer paper rose tutorial When you put the petals together, adhere them to a small scrap of wafer paper with a little water. This is what the back looks like:

back of wafer paper roseI used a puffy brush to add some pink dust to these flowers and then painted the edges of the petals gold. This cake was for my niece who is celebrating her golden birthday!

gold teal pink rose wafer paper cakeLeaving the paper stark white is quite striking, as well:    white wafer paper rose What other uses for wafer paper can you think of? I have almost an entire pack left! Give me an idea and it may just be the next thing on the blog! 🙂