Gum paste Stephanotis or Hawaiian Wedding Flowers

Making gum paste stephanotis flowers is really easy to do, requires very few special tools, and are sweet and elegant on any cake, cupcake, or cookie.

You will need gum paste (I prefer pre-made), a foam shaping pad, corn starch of dusting, pearl Nonpareils (you could also use a tiny piece of gum paste rolled in pearl colored dusting powder if you like), and a small dog bone shaping tool (my favorite). You will also need the cutter for the base of a rose, it looks like a wavy five point star.

Knead the gum paste until smooth using a very small amount of crisco if needed to keep it from getting sticky. Dust your work surface with corn starch to keep the gum paste from sticking. roll out your gum paste until fairly thin. Many bakers like to use the rolling guides to make their paste the same, I am best at "eyeing" it, but it should be about 1/8 to 1/16 of an inch.

Cut several stars using the rose base cutter. Pull up the excess gum paste, knead it into a ball, spread it with a small bit of crisco and wrap for later.

Place one star on the thin shaping foam and using the small dog bone tool gently go round the edges to soften them. You do not want them to ruffle, but you don't want them to be thick either.

Using the same tool, start near the center of the flower and pull out along each petal, just to give them some curve and definition.

 Finally place the star on the thick shaping foam and using the same tool, press down in the center to form the divot. This is not exactly accurate for a stephanotis as they typically have a long white piece coming down from the flower before beginning the stem, however, on a cake, that would not be seen and would have gotten in the way of how I wanted the cake to look!

 The last step is to place it in a safe place to dry (I use the plastic tubes that can be supports for a tiered cake that I have cut into 1-2 inch pieces) and add the pearl. The pearl is traditional for a stephanotis and is designed to hide that tube piece that I mentioned earlier. To add the pearl, use a small paint burst to place a drop of water or gum paste glue to the indent in the center and drop in the pearl.

Perfect! The corn starch will help the gum paste dry quickly so work with small amounts of the dough, but it will help, especially if you waited and do not have days to wait for something to dry!

This flower is always white in nature, but I think that if you were wanting to be creative, it could be beautiful in any color!

Flowers, Flowers, and more Flowers

I have taken on the always daunting task of making a wedding cake. Only my second to date, but my perfectionistic self always worries that it won't be absolutely perfect. On ones wedding day, they deserve perfection...although I know that I will be the only one to see the flaws, I will still see flaws. However, here goes! The bride has asked for a hawaiian themed cake with basic white fondant and Hawaiian colored flowers. (Do you know how many colors of flowers there are in Hawaii?) When I think of Hawaii, however, I picture pinks, corals, and yellows so that is where I will take this.

I started by doing lots of research on line. I looked up Hawaiian flowers, weddings, cakes, everything that I could think of. I finally concluded that I needed to make a few flowers in a variety of colors or the small cake would get overwhelmed. I decided on the Hawaiian Wedding Flower (Stephanotis), Plumeria, Calla Lilies, and a coral colored forget-me-not type flower that doesn't really exist (the bride saw vines with flowers on the other wedding cake that I did and loved them.)

I was not quite sure how to make the plumeria so I went back to the trusty old internet and watched a you tube video. I would highly recommend this. It is not hard, but there is a trick to rolling or twisting the petals to get them to look just right. It also takes a bit a patience (not something I have to spare) and some time. There is another post with step by step instructions if you are interested...

The cake itself was pineapple (top and bottom tiers) and strawberry (middle) with vanilla buttercream and a white chocolate, marshmallow fondant. All fitting with the theme. I am very pleased with how well the cake turned out. Those who were already at the wedding site when I delivered loved it and I am very anxious to hear what the bride and groom thought (they were busy getting ready and the wedding was just last night). Was it perfect, of course not.....but I am pretty sure that I am the only one who could see any faults. I guess that it the curse of the perfectionist baker!