A variety of small blossom cutters can be used to make different shape flowers with this mexican hat sugar blossom tutorial by Emily Lael Aumiller from her book, Pure Artistry: Extraordinary Vegan and Gluten Free Cakes. Little sugar blossoms can be a great way to add a simple accent to a cake or to fill in any empty spots when arranging larger sugar flowers and leaves.
TOOLS:
- Small stamens
- 29-gauge wire, trimmed to 4-inch lengths
- Green and white floral tape
- Sugarpaste/Fondant
- Cornstarch in muslin bag for dusting
- Silicone modeling tool
- Blossom cutter
- Ball tool
- 1:1 mixture of water and corn syrup
- Cake dummy
- Paintbrush
- Green powder dye
- For each blossom, tightly secure 5 small stamens to the top of a wire with white floral tape.
- Create a rounded cone shape from a small piece of sugar paste.
- Flatten the edges to resemble a hat.
- Dust a nonstick surface with cornstarch.
- Use a small silicone shaping tool to thin out the edges of the cone, rotating the cone evenly as you work.
- Use a blossom cutter to cut the edges of the cone into a flower shape, keeping the tapered cone in the center of the cutter.
- Remove the excess sugar paste with your fingers.
- Guide the blossom out of the cutter by pushing it gently with the round side of the shaping tool.
- Dust your hands with cornstarch. Holding the blossom in the palm of your hand, shape the petals using a small ball tool so that they are rounded and thin.
- Dip the stamen wire into the water–corn syrup mixture.
- Insert the stamen wire through the center of the blossom, guiding the flower to the end of the stamens where the white floral tape begins.
- Taper the bottom of the blossom, taking off any excess sugar paste. Insert the wire into a cake dummy and let the blossom dry for 48 hours to 1 week before continuing with the next step.
- Once the blossoms are dry, wrap green floral tape around the tapered ends of blossoms. To assemble multiple blossoms, stagger them in bunches and wrap them with green floral tape.
- Using a paintbrush and green powder dye, dry-dust the underside of the blossoms.
(Excerpted from Pure Artistry: Extraordinary Vegan and Gluten Free Cakes © 2016 by Emily Lael Aumiller of Lael Cakes. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.)
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