Make Roses out of Fondant
Fondant roses are a perfect edition to a cake or cupcake, adding a romantic or sweet, feminine feel to a beautiful dessert. You can buy them at the store of course, but they're very easy to make at home and they'll taste much better if made from scratch! Follow these easy instructions to make your own. Just get started with Step 1 below.
Notice: If you have not already made your fondant, follow wikiHow's recipe to make fondant at home. You can also buy pre-mixed fondant.
Contents
Steps
Rosettes
- Roll the fondant. Roll out the fondant with a rolling pin until it is {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} thick, {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} in width and {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} in length. Arrange so that the {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} length is the side closest to you.
- Create the layer support. Lift the top of the fondant, the side furthest from you. Pull it towards you and fold it to create a smaller layered piece of icing that is {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} thick and {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} wide. Try to leave space and volume in the fold to create a larger bloom.
- Trim the ends. Trim {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of length from each end of the folded icing.
- Roll the fondant. Begin to roll up the icing from one of your newly trimmed ends, like a Swiss roll. As you roll, hold the end where the two folds meet as the actual fold of the icing will form the rose petals.
- Pinch the base. When you have the rose to its desired width and fullness, pinch the base that you have been holding to give the rose a more conical shape.
- Shape the flower. After cutting off any excess icing, carefully push back and separate the layers with a cocktail stick to give the flower more shape.
- Add finishing touches. Finish by cutting little leave shapes out of green icing and stick to the underside of the rose.
Full Roses
- Roll a center base. Place a seed-shaped ball of fondant at the end of a skewer or toothpick to help you form the flower around it. The height of the seed determines the rough height of the rose.
- Form the basic petal shape. With a small ball of fondant, form a thin petal, in an egg shape with a sharp, pinched point at the narrow end.
- Make many more such petals. The more petals you have, the fuller your rose will be, but how many you should make will probably depend on the size. Actual roses have between 5-40 petals.
- Form the petals. Place a petal on a clean, food-safe sponge or piece of foam. Use a ball tool, a pea-sized ball bearing, or the cup of a 1/2 teaspoon measure (assuming it is a basic round) to round out the petal. Rub it in a circle at the center to form the cup of the petal shape and then rub it at the edges to make the very edge thinner than the rest of the petal.
- Do not worry about keeping the edge of the petal perfectly straight or even, as real petals are curled and uneven normally.
- If the fondant sticks to your tool or surface, use wax paper or saran wrap.
- You can also do these same formations with only your finger, if you do not have any tools.
- Put the petals on the rose. Place the first petal so that the pinched base is at the base of the center you formed earlier. Carefully wrap the petal around the center. Add on the next petal, with the pinched base slightly to the side of where the first one was placed. Wrap that petal and continue on to the next. Continue in this fashion until the rose is to desired fullness. As you go, the petal should become less tightly wrapped and should begin to pull away from the center of the flower at the top.
- Form the underside of the rose. Once all of the petals are on, smooth out and shape the base until it looks how you want it to look. Slide it off of the skewer or toothpick.
- Add finishing touches. You can use food paint, edible glitter, or even other fondant to add various finishing touches to your rose. Consider adding fondant leaves or try dried grape leaves. Enjoy your fondant rose!
Tips
- If you want to decorate the side of your iced cake make several of these flowers and link them by the green leaves creating a rose chain around your cake.
- To completely change the finished look of the rose cut the folded over icing and pinch to create a two layers of thin petals; once rolled splay the thin layers out to create a carnation style flower.
Things You'll Need
- Fondant
- Rolling pin
- Ruler
- Catering scissors, or clean kitchen scissors will do
- Cocktail stick
