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. Please see below the video window for additional notes & materials. Enjoy the tutorial!
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. 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!
Absolutely gorgeous! I will be trying this very soon :) Thanks ever so much for sharing your knowledge and talents with us, I always love watching and learning from you!!!
Thank you Barb! So glad that you like it (and are planning to try it!) ;0)
Beautiful cake! Thanks for another great tutorial!
Melissa this is a beautiful cake, so very elegant and chic, thank-you for this video.
hi melissa, am in ore of your work, i find it truly inspirational . I have tired doing some of your tutorials and they always work out. Many thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. I love watching them.
keep up the good work,
Following you from Spain
I am awe-struck! Would this work with a 6″ double barrel and a 4″top tier? Beautiful….beautiful..beautiful!!!
Hi TerriLynn, yes, it would be lovely.
I REALLY love this cake. To me, it has an old-fashioned shabby chic look. LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! I’m going to have to give this a try. Thanx for making it so easy! (I hope lol) Thanx again to you and your mom for all you do.
Thank you all so much for your comments!!
Wow! You did an awesome job with this tutorial!
thank you…..I think Im going to give this a try!
Ansa
If someone does not have a cel pad, a foam garden kneeling pad is an adequate substitute for thinning petals, veining, etc.
This is gorgeous, and as you say would make such a beautiful wedding cake. I hope to try this out very soon!! Thanks for your awesome videos :)
The video is not playing for me. It paused after 2 min. Anyone else having a problem viewing the video?
Thank you!!
@Elizabeth, I LOVE that idea!
@Sadia–I’m sorry that you are having trouble viewing videos! I’ve just sent you an e-mail. Usually viewing issues are related to an update that is needed on your computer. If anyone ever has trouble, e-mail us at info@mycakeschool.com and we’ll walk you through the possible fixes!
I am going to make this for a little girl’s 1st holy communion. So pretty and delicate.
Now I have a totally off the wall question but one that I wonder every time I watch one of your videos…Is that a real working kitchen or just a “set kitchen”? Lol, I just have to know!
Hi Dora, it is my kitchen. It is the same kitchen that Melissa baked cakes in as a little girl. If I turned the camera to view the rest of the kitchen, you would laugh at the big mess we have on the other countertops. As you know, it is hard to be neat when you are baking and decorating.
Wow, What a stunner!!! Would love to try this with buttercream and modeling chocolate.
All I can say is wow!! Thanks for sharing.
HELLO, a question, can you tell me where to buy or brand silicone roller you use?.
I love your video tutorials, thanks
simply gorgeous. I am going to try this for my MIL’s birthday. It’s sooo sweet!
I have to make this cake for a wedding and was just about to purchase a how to video it never fails My Cake School always comes in just on time I am so grateful for you and all you have taught me THANK YOU♥!
I have an outdoor reception in July in hot muggy Michigan. Would this cake be an unrealistic goal?
Hi Melissa , I love this tutorial . I look forward to everyone you post ! I was wondering if I could do the same scroll work on a chocolate collar ? Would you use frosting or choc ? Thanks from your Irish fan , Anne Marie x
Hi Melissa, I think this cake would hold up as long as it is not in direct sun.
Ok Bebe. Thanks!
Can you tell me how much fondant.was used to cover cakes and how much was used for petals? Any ideal how many petals it was? It is beautiful! !!
I love this, it would make a gorgeous summer wedding cake. your ideas are fantastic!
I’m glad Dora asked the question about the kitchen. I have been wondering about that myself!! ha!
Finally saw the video. It took me two days to let it download and then i was able to see it.
Amazing as always and very pretty and delicate. Do you think it would be nice for a farewell party at school for a teacher?
Thanks can’t wit to try.
Hi there:
This is very nice… chic and very girly… Do you use fondant for the petals, because they will be more flexible?… Thank you…
Hi Claudia, I think most will not eat the petals but if they do the fondant petals will taste much better than gum paste.
love the cake. My sister will be 70 this year I think this is the cake for her!!!
Awesome cake! Your work is stunning!
Beautiful cake! Another winning video! Thanks.
This is so beautiful. Your talent is beyond my reach. Thanks for sharing and would love to try this. May start with the flower and scroll work first. Keep those videos coming. I have learned so much from you and BeBe. My last cake was a first communion cake and I don’t how to post pictures to your web site; but it did come out beautiful.
Another fabulous cake! Glad it’s bridal shower “season”, perhaps I will get to try one soon. Love your videos. I have learned so much!
Many thanks, Melissa
I can view the video through the link. It’s awesome. Thank you for sharing how to make this beautiful cake.
Hi Melissa, I tried the cake yesterday for my MIL’s birthday. Her name is Rose, so I thought this would be perfect. I did not add the top layer, just the petal, 3 tier 6″ stacked and did a buttercream rose swirls on top. I had a few issues with the darn petals. I used a small circle cutter for the shape and used my foam, plastic ball roller, but they did not curl as nicely as yours. I rolled the fondant very thin and pressed with pressure on the edge and foam. Could my foam have been too soft or is a metal ball tool better? They look okay but not nearly as Rose petaly as yours. I’ll post pics once I take them. I know she will love it, but I want to do the cake again, and want a better petal look…seems like that part would be easy..It took a lot of time for the petals, but they are sure pretty! You are so talented!
Hi Stacy– I’m sorry that you had a little trouble with the petals! Out of curiosity, what type of fondant did you use? Or was it homemade? I have only made this petal cake with Satin Ice fondant. I mentioned in the video that I had to let the fondant sit for several minutes to slightly set up before I could get that frill/movement to my petals that I like. (You just have to be careful not to let it sit for too terribly long or else the fondant will lose it’s flexibility and crack or tear.) Did you try letting it set up a little?
The other option is to slightly knead a little tylose into your fondant or a 50/50 mix of fondant and gum paste. The petals of course will be firmer though.
As far as the ball tool, I think that you would really like the metal ones better. If you plan to do lots of gum paste flowers or these types of petal cakes, it may be worth it to you to buy one. I have one that I ordered online, and another that I actually bought on the clay modeling aisle of Michael’s. They just seem to glide more easily over the petals in my opinion. Hope this helps!
Hello Melissa Oh Gosh I love love this cake! My god-daughter would like me to make this for her 21st Birthday dinner on Friday night. However she would like buttercream. Would this be a problem for the petals? Also we making a ombre cake with shades of pink inside the cake, so would this cake be okay with using dowels and not the cardboard circles inbetween, as it would spoil the look?
Thanks so much for your awesome sight. I am riveted to it!
Absolutely beautiful. I wish I had someone to make this cake for! I will definitely keep it in the ‘file’ of things to do.
Thanks for another great video.
Hi Melissa and Bebe,
I absolutely LOVE this cake and can’t wait to make it for a friends wedding shower! One question though, where did you get the cake stand?!
Thanks a bunch,
Breinna
Hi Breinna, I bought it at a local Pier One store about a year ago. Hope you can find one.
Hi Bebe,
Thanks so much. I checked there yesterday but they only had a small one, about 7 in. in diameter. I’ll look online. Have a great day!
Hello Bebe
Thank you so much for all your help regarding the petals on buttercream. I really appreciate your attention. Have a great day.
Regards
Marie
There is no login link at the lower right side of this Page on my smart phone. Help
Hi Anita–When I pull up the site on my iPhone, and scroll to the very bottom, I see “Mobile Theme” and “Switch to Regular Theme”. When I am in “Regular Theme”, I see the login as usual in the top right. If you can e-mail me at info@mycakeschool.com, we can talk about it more. Thanks!!
Melissa… First I want to say how much I love watching your videos.. You’ve taught me so much, and have taken me to another level of decorating.. So thank you.. My question for you is how are you keeping the fondant/gumpaste from sticking to the counter.. I always have to use cornstarch and it dries out my fondant/gumpaste very quickly.. I never see anything on your counter top lol.. By the time I finish, I look like I’ve jumped into a bag of cornstarch :P
Hi Leah–Thank you so much for your words about the site! I am so glad that you feel you’ve improved from our videos. I rub a very thin layer of vegetable shortening (Crisco) onto the countertop before working with the fondant. This should also help your issue of the fondant drying out! ;0)
Hi Melissa and Bebe,
I too have questions concerning applying the petals to buttercream. Is it harder to get them to stick and stay to buttercream than to fondant? Does it take longer to dry? Is the cake considered more delicate, especially during transportation? Which to you is easier?
Thanks!
Hi–As long as the petals are rolled nice and thin, this design will be fine on crusting buttercream. (I have not tested on non-crusting)– I think it is probably goes more quickly to do fondant petals on a fondant cake.
In the video you mentioned you like to put this cake together while on the cake stand so the edges of the petals do not crack. Do you have a suggestion for transporting this cake? Wanting to make for a friends bridal shower but not sure how it would hold up in transportation. Thank you for all you do.
Hi Colleen–I wouldn’t worry about transporting. If I were going to transport the cake, I would do as I did in the video, except rather than a cake stand, I would go ahead and put it on it’s cake base before applying the petals (which could later be placed on a stand if you’d like).
If the petal tier were a top tier that I would have to assemble on site, I would place the bottom row of petals so that the bottom edge falls just shy of touching the turntable/countertop when decorating, so that it can be moved more easily. With the “frill factor” of some of the edges, they may lift away from the bottom edge anyway.
Hope this helps! (You could always make a few extra petals in case you need to switch one or two out…but I doubt you will have any trouble!)
Do you think modeling chocolate would work for making the petals, or would that be too soft?
Hi Joan — I haven’t tried this technique with modeling chocolate but I think that it would work fine!
Do you think I can try this on chocolate ganache without covering cake in fondant? My double barrel is 8 inches tall and 8 inches wide, YIKES. I would love to save the fondant and time of covering it. I am also thinking I don’t have enough fondant and I am doing this cake today :-(.
Hi Jass28, Melissa and I have been discussing your question. We have not tried the petal effect with ganache but if it is piping consistency, it should work for you and look great. We have had members tell us that they have covered their cake in ganache and then added buttercream as the final frosting, so that is another option for you.
Hope it turns out great.
Wanted to let you know that I tried it and it turned out perfectly. I made sure I refrigerated the cake overnight so it was rock solid. I used white chocolate ganache made with 4:1 ratio due to the weather. I used piping gel to glue the petals and I couldn’t see any ganache and the cake was stunning. I then refrigerated the fully decorated cake overnight for transport to the shower and it was just perfect. I’ll try and post a photo on the gallery.
Hi Jass28, that is wonderful!! I look forward to seeing the picture. Thanks for posting, I’m sure there are other member who would want to do the same technique.
I was wondering about refrigeration of fondant. Also after I refrigerated my cakes I get sweating with the fondant and the butter cream. Some bleeding of the red butter cream onto the white…should I not refrigerate the cakes after I decorate?
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!
Thanks for the response, I forgot to ask about how many petals did it take to cover your cake? your cake is a 8″ cake, my order is for a 10″ cake. I will be also using your high ratio frosting and homemade fondant.
and your sour cream almond cake (Scratch)
Hi Carol- I’m glad that you are making this! Just looking at our photo, I can see approx 50 petals and so I’m guessing my cake had in the neighborhood of 100-125 maybe. I would just cut out several petals and see how many it takes to make one row that reaches all the way around a 10″ pan or dummy. Then multiply that number by the approximate number of rows you’ll have based on the height of your tier (I had 6 rows). I’m sure the cake will be beautiful, let us know how it goes!
Thank You SOO! Much Your AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
Will the flowers be hard and fragile when the cake is being cut? If traveling with the cake should the cake be place in an air tight cake carrier.
Hi Sylvia- The petals will be a bit dry but should still be soft enough to cut. I would keep the cake or petal tiers in bakery boxes or something that can breathe a little. I find that when I put fondant in airtight containers, they tend to go flat due to the moisture trapped inside of the carrier. I hope this helps
Do you think it would work also to attach the petals on the bottom tier to butter cream instead of covering the cake in fondant first.
Hi Mary Jane, I just haven’t tried this. If the petals are rolled extremely thin, I think that it could work with a crusting buttercream. However, I would prefer either to cover the cake with fondant, or white chocolate ganache (3:1 ratio of chocolate to cream) so that you can be sure that you are starting with a nice, firm base layer.