This weekend I had some time to try fashioning some gum-paste roses. I have never made them before but would like to put some on the practice cake I am planning for February. They are a lot harder than I was expecting. I have made roses before using fondant but the gum-paste just seemed to be so much harder to use! It dries out a lot faster and the "glue" to hold them together is terribly messy. Above is the end product to my first attempt. I used the single petal method to make this rose, the Wilton instructions and I weren't getting along. I liked the color that I made but wished it had leaned more to the pink rather than the purple as it dried. The end rose wasn't exactly what I was shooting for - I wanted the rose to be more open - so the next morning I did another attempt...
I tried a marbled delphinium blue for the second flower. I left it slightly unmixed to give it a marbled, highlighted look. Very natural affect in the end I think. I attempted the Wilton method again and this time it sort of worked. This flower unfortunately was dropped , crushing the center, and then I smashed it trying to get the petals higher than the middle part. Although I think I figured out the Wilton method this time around, I was not happy at all in how it turned out so I tried one more time...
Third time's the charm! This is how I expected the flowers to look using the Wilton method! Although now after all the work I think I prefer the first single petal style. This method gives the rose a more natural look but the single petal method gives it that crisp look - a clean perfected flower to place on a cake. This last rose gave me enough practice to really know how to soften the petal edges though and which sides to place on the flower to have them curl towards the center or away from the center. Hopefully my flowers for my February cake will be successful!
