Fondant Flowers

I have been feeling pretty confident in myself when it comes to fondant lately. You know, as soon as Wilton hands you a piece of paper saying you've been certified, your confidence level just sky rockets! Actually, if you saw my first fondant creation, my experiment before I took the class, you would understand where I am coming from. OK, I'll show it to you, and you can even laugh at my expense, but I don't want to hear about it, OK?

Yeah, I know. It's pretty bad, actually there's really nothing pretty about it. But, what's that saying... something about knowing where you've been, or where your going... hmmm...Oh wait, yes "You can't know where your going, without knowing where you've been." That would be exactly what this cake is saying. In the future when I am banging out 5 tiered wedding cakes, covered in embossed fondant and bursting with gum paste flowers, I will still know that this was where I once was.

Now, wasn't I talking about fondant and confidence earlier? Yeah, let's get back to that! :)
So, as I was saying, after the disaster above, I whipped through 4 weeks of Wilton's Fondant and Gum Paste Course to turn out this lil' number...

... feeling much better with the fondant. So after the last class, I decided I had this fondant thing down. Why not try my own little project. I knew I had some cupcakes coming up due in my future, and planned out some really pretty purple flowers. Here is how I made them!

First I rolled out purple tinted fondant 1/4" thick. I then used my small 5 petal flower cutter to press out 12 little flowers. I worked on each flower individually from start to finish, to ensure that my flowers wouldn't dry out too quickly. I kept all of the flowers I wasn't working on under plastic wrap.

Then I dusted my flower former with cornstarch, and placed one flower in the middle of the former.

Next I rolled the ball end of my vainer inside each petal of the flower, to give it a cupped look.

This is how each petal should look after cupping the petals.

Next, I made an indention in the middle of the flower. This is where my flower center will go. I am using 4mm edible pearls as the center of my flowers.

Then I brushed a small drop of gum paste glue in the middle of the flower. This will glue the pearl to the flower, so it will not detach and roll away.

Immediately after brushing the gum paste glue, drop the pearl into place.

And here you have one completed little fondant flower! I placed my fondant flowers inside an empty egg carton to dry. I do have flower formers from one of my Wilton courses, and I do like them... However, I find the egg carton takes up less space and is more easily transported through out the house. And once the flowers have dried, you can close the egg carton and keep them safe from harms way until your ready to decorate.

Oh and not to worry, you will see these lil' guys again soon, adorning some cuppy cakes!