Could there be anything as sweet as the pairing of sugar and flowers? I created these pretty gum paste blossoms with my new Cricut Cake machine. My idea was to make sugar flower-topped cookies that would complement a bridal bouquet or the flowers at a wedding, bridal or baby shower, and could be given away as favors to guests.
The sugar cookie and icing recipes can be found here, but I used a small jewelry box top to make the cookies rectangles, and I spread the icing on these cookies as opposed to piping a border and then “flooding” the icing.
Following are the instructions to make the sugar flowers along with my suggestions for real flowers that you can match them up with at a wedding, shower, or party.
General Notes About Making These Sugar Flowers
- All flowers were made using the Martha Stewart Crafts Cricut Cartridge “All Occasions Cake Art,” with the design and sizes specified below.
- I used the “min.” pressure and speed setting on the Cricut machine.
- I used Wilton’s ready made gum paste and kneaded in icing gel color to get the right shade for both the gum paste and the cookie icing.
- Roll out the colored gum paste to 1/16-inch thickness using a light dusting of cornstarch (not powdered sugar as it makes the gum paste too sticky).
- You only need about a golf ball size of gum paste or less as it rolls out very thin.
- After rolling out the gum paste, place it on a Cricut cutting mat that has been greased with vegetable shortening, and put it into the freezer for at least ten minutes, preferably 30 minutes.
- If you wish to experiment with different designs, for best results when cutting out gum paste shapes that are less than 3 inches, choose bold shapes that are not too intricate.
White Mini Daisies Cookie
Cricut design is <Flower1-s> set at 1/2 inch. See page 52 in the All Occasions Cake Art book.
Cut out white gum paste flowers with the Cricut, and then gently press the flower shapes with your fingers to make the petals even thinner like a real flower. Use a small ball fondant tool or the ball end of a swizzle stick to impress a dent in the middle of each flower. Use a toothpick to make a yellow icing dot in the center of each flower. Apply flowers to freshly iced cookie.
Real Flower Pairing Suggestions: daisies, paper whites, dahlias, carnations, most white small blossom flowers.
Yellow Dahlia Cookie
Cricut design is <Flower1-s> with 2 flowers set at 1 inch, 1 flower set at 1 1/2 inches, and 1 flower set at 2 inches. See page 52 in the All Occasions Cake Art book.
Cut out yellow gum paste flowers with the Cricut, and then gently press the flower shapes with your fingers to make the petals even thinner like a real flower. Drape a 1 inch flower over a small ball fondant tool and pinch the center as you take it off the tool to create the innermost petals. Drape the other 1 inch flower over the ball tool and lightly pinch the center to help the folds keep their shape. Place a small dab of cookie icing in the center of this flower shape and set the first pinched flower shape inside it. Repeat this process with the 1 1/2 inch flower, placing the assembled 1 inch flowers inside it and finally with the 2-inch flower shape placing all assembled flowers inside it.
You may wish to let this flower dry out a bit in a crumpled bed of paper towels so it keeps its natural shape. If the gum paste is not dry enough the flower petals may droop after they are applied to the cookie. Apply flower to freshly iced cookie.
Real Flower Pairing Suggestions: dahlias, carnations, mums
Lavender Mini Blossoms Cookie
Cricut design is <Flower2-s> set at 1/2 inch. See page 53 in the All Occasions Cake Art book.
Cut out lavender gum paste flowers with the Cricut, and then gently press the flower shapes with your fingers to make the petals even thinner like a real flower. Use a small ball fondant tool or the ball end of a swizzle stick to impress a dent in each petal and the center of each flower. Use a toothpick to make a white icing dot in the center of each flower. Apply flowers to freshly iced cookie.
Real Flower Pairing Suggestions: Hydrangea, lilacs, violets, lavender
Orange Orchid Cookie
Cricut design is <Leaf3-s> with 5 leaf shapes set at 1 inch. See page 65 in the All Occasions Cake Art book.
Cut out orange gumpaste leaves for orchid petals using the Cricut. Cut off the leaf stems. Use a small fondant ball tool to make an impression along the center of each leaf. Turn the leaf over as these orchid petals have a convex bend. Lightly moisten a small artist’s paintbrush with water and dip it in pink icing gel color. Lightly brush sheer pink strokes on 1/3 of the leaf at the rounded end; make stroke lines toward the pointed end of the leaf. Using a toothpick, dip an end in pink gel food color and then make tiny dots on each leaf.
Assemble the leaf on wax paper. Use a dab of the cookie icing on the back of each leaf at the rounded end and fan out all 5 leaves to resemble the orchid petals as in the photo above. To make the center white and pink part of the orchid, color gum paste fuchsia using pink icing gel color with a bit of purple too. Form a fleur di lis shape and bend the two sides up to make the pink part of the orchid. (This may sound vague, but it’s the best analogy I could think of. ) Roll a small piece of white gum paste into an egg shape and use cookie icing to adhere it to the center of the pink “fleur di lis” gum paste, and then apply the orchid’s center to the orange petals using cookie icing.
Let this flower dry out a bit on a bed of paper towels so it keeps its natural shape. If the gum paste is not dry enough the flower petals may droop after they are applied to the cookie. Apply flower to freshly iced cookie.
Real Flower Pairing Suggestions: orchids, exotic flowers
Pink Rose Cookie
Cricut design is <Flower3-s> with 1 flower set at 1 inch, 2 flowers set at 1 1/2 inches, and 1 flower set at 2 inches. See page 57 in the All Occasions Cake Art book.
Cut out pink gum paste flowers with the Cricut, and then gently press the flower shapes with your fingers to make the petals even thinner like a real flower. Drape the 1 inch flower over a small ball fondant tool and pinch the center as you take it off the tool to create the innermost petals. Drape a 1 1/2 inch flower over the ball tool and lightly pinch the center to help the folds keep their shape. Place a small dab of cookie icing in the center of this flower shape and set the first flower shape inside it. Repeat this process with the other 1 1/2 inch flower, placing the assembled flowers inside it and finally with the 2-inch flower shape placing all assembled shapes inside it.
You may wish to let this flower dry out a bit in a crumpled bed of paper towels so it keeps a natural rose shape. If the gum paste is not dry enough the flower petals may droop after they are applied to the cookie. Apply flower to freshly iced cookie.
Real Flower Pairing Suggestions: roses, peonies, ranunculus
