Elegant Fondant Petal Cake~A Cake Decorating Video Tutorial
Today I'm going to show you how to make an elegant fondant petal cake which would be perfect for all sorts of celebrations.
In this video tutorial, you will learn to make a beautiful cake adorned with fondant petals, a matching gum paste flower, and scrollwork.
This elegant fondant petal cake design is perfect for weddings or any occasion that calls for a beautiful centerpiece. Petal cakes are very much in style right now, and the look is surprisingly simple to achieve!
**For a similar look in buttercream, you may enjoy our Shabby Chic Buttercream Rose Cake or our Buttercream Petal Cake video tutorials.
Materials
*Tiers in any size would work well for this cake. My bottom tier is an 8" double barrel cake which is a total of 4 layers (6 inches) high, with a cardboard cake circle and dowels beneath. We have a video tutorial on a double barrel cake if you are curious! -- My top tier is a 6" round and stands approximately 4 inches tall. Both tiers are covered in fondant.
Satin Ice (white) was used to cover both 8" and 6" tiers before decorating
Satin Ice fondant tinted with a very small amount of Americolor Deep Pink
Gum Paste fondant tinted with a very small amount of Americolor Deep Pink (for our flower)
Cel Pad/Foam - I used this to cushion my petals as I softened the edges. If you don't have one, experiment with a Viva paper towel or smooth napkin on top of a folded dish cloth or stack of napkins.
Ball Tool - I find the metal ball tools easiest to work with.
"Sugar Glue" or Piping Gel for attaching petals. You may even find that water works well for you.
Petal Cutters- I used a 5 petal blossom cutter (110 mm "JEM Easy Rose Cutter"), but as you saw in the video, you can achieve great results with simple circle cutters or piping tips.
Bead Maker- Optional--Used for pearl border. Mine is an 8mm, and is similar to this one.
Sugar Pearls- I used India Tree pearl dragees, but Wilton and other brands make them too.
Optional: I brushed a little dry Super Pearl Dust onto my finished pearl border.
Plastic/Vinyl- I kept my fondant and gum paste petals under plastic before I softened/frilled them so that they wouldn't become too dry.
Tylose: Optional - Tylose can be kneaded into fondant to make it dry more quickly and to make it firmer. If you don't have gum paste and would like to speed up the dry time of your flower, you can knead in some tylose to create a gum paste-like product.
Cocktail Straw- I used as a barrier for the floral wire and as an anchor for the center of the flower
Stamen- I used misc. white stamens that we had on hand for my center. You can find these at Michael's and at many places where cake decorating supplies are sold.
26 gauge floral wire - Any gauge is fine as long as you can easily bend & manipulate it. Used for binding the stamen and also for anchoring the flower.
Small Round Piping Tip-- I used a Wilton 2 but any small round is fine (for scrollwork)
Crusting Vanilla Buttercream or Royal Icing - For scrollwork
Miscellaneous: Substantial (½" thick or more) Cake base or pedestal, supports for doweling the tiered cake as well as within the bottom tier if yours is a double barrel cake like mine. Cardboard or foam core cake circles to support each tier.
Notes
This cake is much less difficult than it looks, and much less difficult than my long list of supplies suggests!!
Remember that you can improvise and tweak certain aspects of the design and still come out with a cake very similar to mine. Maybe your petals will be only from round cutters, or from the same size cutter...or maybe your petals will overlap more than mine.
You may want to experiment with the gum paste flower also--although I did find this "build-as-you-go" flower design a very easy but elegant choice! ;0) --
As I mentioned in the tutorial, I have not attached petals to a cake that was frosted with a non-crusting buttercream. It is possible that the moisture from the buttercream could cause the petals to soften and flatten. So, I would suggest a practice run (even if just frosting a plate and placing petals onto it).
I haven't had any issues with attaching petals to cakes that are frosted with a crusting buttercream (like our classic vanilla buttercream or fluffy vanilla buttercream).
Just apply the lightweight petals with a dot of fresh buttercream. However, as I often say, conditions in my area may be different than yours, so it is always a good idea to do a trial run (place petals on frosted plate or glass) before taking on a large order.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hi Tammy-- When in doubt, just leave the cake out in a cool room (assuming that your filling isn't perishable.) -
Some fondants perform better than others when chilled. I haven't had any issues with refrigerating Satin Ice fondant or Liz Marek's fondant (which is a combination of Wilton fondant and Satin Ice). If you've had some bleeding issues, it sounds like your brand of fondant may not hold up well when chilled. This can be especially common in humid climates. Good luck!
You guys are so great. Very talented and it is so nice to be able to ask questions. My question is....how much in advance could you make those petals? I use homemade fondant. Would you suggest tylose or gumpaste added to this fondant, or just straight fondant? thanks so much, this cake is awesome!
Hi Donna, I would probably make within a week of when you plan to decorate the cake. You can store the finished petals in single layers in a large ziplock bag if you want them to retain some flexibility. Some fondants have more elasticity than others but I always just add a bit of tylose to my fondant. If you don't have tylose on hand, kneading in a bit of gum paste will have the same outcome. Sometimes with straight fondant, it is difficult to roll the petals as thin as you'll need for this project. Hope this helps! I'm glad that you are making it!
Hi Melisa
I'm thinking of making this cake for my daughters Christening in a couple of weeks. Is there any part of prep work that I can do in advance.
Approximately how long did this cake take to complete?
I did this cake iced with SMBC and fondant petals, refrigerated it over night, the put it on table to came to room temperature. I can say that attaching fondant petals on room temperature SMBC works.
@Autumn- I'm glad that you are thinking of making this! You can cut out and form the petals days in advance. Keep in a large ziploc bag if you would like for them to remain pliable. You'll also want to keep out of direct sunlight or florescent light to prevent fading of color. Of course the center of the flower could be easily done in advance as well. It's hard to say but it probably took me a couple of hours to create the petals. Placing them onto the cake goes fairly quickly... so if you can work in advance and have the petals ready to go, that will be really helpful.
@Natalya--Thanks so much for your feedback! Very helpful!
Thanks for your response Melissa. I'm thinking of placing the big flower horizontaly on the top tier and placing a tiny fondant baby in the centre of the flower instead of stamens :) Would you recommend making the flower of gumpaste or fondant?
Hi Autumn, if the flower will lie flat on top with the baby inside (cute!), then I would go with gum paste petals. They'll dry more quickly & firm, you can roll them extremely thin, and you can cup the petals a bit more by drying them over a form if you'd like the baby to be partially hidden inside of the flower.
Thanks so much for your beautiful tutorial & all your help Melissa. The cake was not hard to make at all as your tutorial was clear. I ran out of time and could not do the scroll work. However Placed lil' fondant hearts instead on the top tier. Also used a pearl finish on the cake. The cake received quite a few compliments. I will update a picture in the gallery section. Thank you.
Hi Autumn, I'm so happy to hear that everything went well! I'm sure that the fondant hearts looked great on the top tier, and I love a pearl finish. Thanks for the update!
Hi, I too am a newbie to your school, but have learned soo much, Many Thanks too You!!!!!, I too plan on making this for Easter Sunday for a client who is requesting this be made for her baby girl christening. I would like to know if it would be safe for me to start making the petals this weeken and store them in a ziplock bag or should i wait until the next week. Should I store in ziplock bag and air tight plastic container. Please help.
Hello Carol! Thanks for your kind words and I am happy that you are making this! Yes, you can make the petals in advance. A ziplock (or even double ziplock) should allow the petals to set up just a bit as air can still reach the fondant, but they will still remain a bit pliable and should keep the frills or movement you've given them.
I usually just use airtight containers when something has either dried throughly through and through and I want to store for another time... or when something is very soft and I want to keep it very soft.
I would opt for the ziplock, but you can check on them from day to day and if they begin to firm up more than you'd like, you can move to an airtight container. I hope this helps!