Tutorial Tuesday: Simple Roses

Although I have been decorating cakes for over a decade, I have only recently started working with fondant. Each cake or cupcake that I make is another valuable chance for me to practice techniques and learn new things. When I made the little bumblebee cupcakes for Valentine’s Day I put little roses on a few of them. This was only the second time that I had ever attempted fondant roses and I was impressed by how easy they actually are. That’s why I’ve decided to post a tutorial on them.

To get started, you will need rose cutters, foam, a foam mat, shaping tools, and a rolling pin. These are from the Wilton Floral Collection Flower Making Set.

The first thing you need to do is shape a small ball out of your fondant or gum paste. The ball should be small enough to just barely fit through the largest petal cutter.

Shape the ball of fondant into a teardrop shape by making one end pointed. Slide floral wire into one end (I didn’t have any, so I used a toothpick) and stand it in your foam.

Dust your work surface with confectioners’ sugar. Roll a small amount of fondant out relatively thin (about as thin as a real petal). Using your smallest cutter, cut out four petals. Next you will cut out five medium sized petals, and finally, cut seven large petals.

Place one of your smallest petals on the foam mat and cover the rest with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out. Using one of your shaping tools, roll one side of the petal flat. When you roll it, you want to roll towards the edge so that your flat side includes the point of the petal.

Lightly brush water onto the unrolled thick side of the petal to act as glue. Wrap the petal around the point of the tear drop shape and use your thumb to lightly furl back the thin piece of the petal that is unattached.

Select another small petal and roll the rounded end flat so that it looks like the petal below on the right:

The pointed end of the petal should still be thick.

Paint a small amount os water onto the point of the petal and wrap the petal to the right. The point of the petal will be pointing to the left and the thinned part will wrap up and around to the right. Use your thumb to lightly furl the petal back. Repeat this step with the remaining small petals until they are all attached (see the bottom right picture).

Repeat the previous steps with all of the medium petals.

Your rose should look like this at this point. If you want a smaller rose, you could skip the next step of adding the large petals and move onto adding the leaves. To continue making your rose larger, you will repeat the above steps until all of the large petals are attached.

After all of the petals have been attached, place the narrow end of one of your shaping tools under a petal and very gently press the petal down with your fingers on each side of the shaping tool. Repeat this with all of the petals. This gives the petals a more realistic contour.

Next, roll out a small amount of green fondant for the leaves at the bottom of the rose (calyx). I didn’t have any green, so I continued using pink. Use the calyx cutter to cut out the shape you need. Roll it out flat to stretch each of the leaves out and elongate them. Put your floral wire through the shape and brush on a small amount of water before sliding the leaves all the way up to the base of the flower. Allow the ends of the leaves to curl down slightly.

Congratulations! You’ve just made your first fondant rose!! I hope this has been helpful. If you have any questions at all or need any clarifications, feel free to post them in the comments section. Try these out, they’re a lot of fun! Enjoy!