Peony Flower Cake

I have to admit...I'm obsessed with making gumpaste flowers! I especially love Peonies. While I'm still mastering the art of making these beautiful flowers, here's what I've taught myself to do. I wanted the cake to be simple and let the Peonies be the show stopper.

Not all Peonies are the same. I created these Peonies with a Celbud which makes for a smaller bud. You can use a 1 1/2 inch styrofoam ball as well but I did not like the way the buds looked. Here's a close up of a Peony using a Celbud.

And here's a picture from another cake I made using a 1 1/2 inch styrofoam ball. See the difference? Although they are both beautiful I prefer a more frilly bud. 

I used 35-37 petals for one, yes, ONE large closed Peony. That is a lot! I used a combination of Sunflower Sugar Art peony cutters and rose petals cutters. Since they are wire free I had to wait until all the petals are dry and continued to add the petals until I was satisfied with the way it looked. It took me 2 days to create one sugar flower but the results as you can see are worth the wait.

This is one of the main things I love to do. I will share a tutorial in the future as soon as I master them. Up next....full bloom roses!

Brush Embroidery Cake

I've seen brush embroidery techniques done on cookies so I wanted to try it on a cake. After watching tutorials and such I decided to give it a go. As you can see, my first attempt at this went surprisingly well. What a beautiful cake!

The brush embroidery was made using a small flat square brush with short stiff bristles. I tried different sizes and chose a smaller brush for more control. The consistency of the royal icing is very important. Too thick gives you a hard line to brush and too soft leaves you with a runny mess. To make things easier I used CK products royal icing mix rather than making my own. I used tip no.3 on this cake but most people use no 2. Use whatever works for you. After piping a flower with the desired number of petals, dampen your brush and brush the royal icing into the petal. Brush it in a second time to give it more of an "embroidered" look or more until the desired effect is achieved. Here's a close up of a flower....It takes time to do this. Practice on wax paper first until you're comfortable to do it on a cake.

I was a little hesitant to leave out the sugar flower. I just love how gumpaste flowers complete the look of a cake. In fact, I had a gumpaste Peony ready as a topper but I wanted to create something that could be as beautiful without one. By continuing the technique on top of the cake there was no need for a topper.

Brush embroidery is a technique I'm certain I'd use repeatedly. Another skill learned and surprised by my ability yet again. Oooh yes....nothing like a beautiful cake to make my day!