This easy gumpaste poinsettia tutorial uses a simplified method to create the poinsettia center which can often be complicated to make. But it produces a show-stopping masterpiece when finished to display on a winter wedding cake or Christmas cake centrepiece.
Poinsettia have also been cultivated in chic ivory shades too so consider this when designing your winter wedding cakes.
Gumpaste Poinsettia Tutorial: Materials
- green gumpaste
- red gumpaste
- poinsettia cutters (we’ve used the FMM set)
- 28-gauge green cut into quarters (or white which can then be dusted green)
- 26-gauge white wires cut into quarters
- edible glue
- small sugarcraft scissors
- yellow pollen (you can made your own with powdered gelatin mixed with yellow dust color)
- green floral tape
- foam pad
- ball tool or bone tool
Gumpaste Poinsettia Tutorial: Method
- Roll a small ball of green gumpaste about half the size of a small pea/petit pois) into a cone shape. Dip a 28-gauge green wire into edible glue and wipe off the excess. Insert the wire into the cone of gumpaste and pinch the base to secure it to the wire.
- Flatten the top of the ball of gumpaste.
- Then cut into the top and sides of the gumpaste with a small scissors.
- Brush a little glue on the spiky bits of the gumpaste. Dip into a dish of yellow pollen. Set aside to dry. Repeat to make 9 in total for the poinsettia center.
- Once dry, arrange the center stems together in a cluster (you can bend the stems outwards a little – they aren’t supposed to be tightly bunched together) then tape the stems together.
- To make the red “bracts” (what most people think of as the red petals are actually leaves or bracts), we will be using the following cutters from the FMM set (No. 3 – No. 7 cutters) pictured below from left to right. We will be cutting the following number of petals/bracts with each cutter: No. 3 cutter – three petals/bracts, No. 4 – three petals, No. 5 cutter – five petals, No. 6 cutter – three petals, No. 7 cutter – five bracts in spruce green instead of red.
- To make the bracts, start by rolling out a sausage of red gumpaste and place it horizontally on your work surface.
- Using your rolling pin, roll the gumpaste away from you, keeping the edge closest to you a bit thicker (for inserting the wire into the petal) and rolling the end furthest from you a little thinner.
- Cut out the required number of bracts for each cutter in this way.
- Take one of your white wires and dip into edible glue. Wipe off the excess then insert into the thick end of the bract. Pinch the base of the bract to secure it to the wire.
- On a foam pad, thin the edges of the bracts with a ball tool or bone tool.
- Place each bract on to a leaf veiner to vein.
- Then pinch the top of the bract along the tip of the central vein. (Don’t be tempted to pinch the bract at the base to give it “movement”. The base of each bract needs to be relatively flat when it comes to assembling the poinsettia.) Leave the petals to dry overnight – you can dry them on foam allowing the bract to curve downwards slightly if you wish.
- Once dry, dust the bracts all over with red dust color. Dust the green bracts with spruce green dust. Lightly steam the bracts to set the color but not the point where they become shiny – we want a matt finish.
- Taping up: firstly tape each bract wire from the base of the bract down about two inches along the wire. (This stops the petals “spinning around” the central wire as you’re assembling the flower.) Then assembly the poinsettia, start by taping the three smallest bracts around the center you made earlier, followed by the next size in the gaps between the first set of petals.
- Tape in the next 5 bracts, followed by the final three. Finally tape the 5 green bracts around the flower to finish.