How to make simple sugar blossoms flowers from fondant

I'm feeling super generous so today I am going to share one of my secret decorating weapons with you, something I turn to when I need a quick fix but don't have a lot of time or money to spare.

Sweet sugar blossoms.

I've done up a quick and easy tutorial showing how simple it is to make up these sugar blossoms from fondant. Once you make them you can use to dress up anything from cupcakes, to cookies, or marshmallows and cakepops.

Yup pretty much anything you like.

There's no big trick to these flowers, just a few tools, a couple of practice runs and you will be on your way to creating a sweet posy of blossoms yourself.

They are so quick and easy to make I usually make more than I need and store them ready to use when I need a little extra something to brighten a treat up.

The step by step photo instructions are below plus I've even made a super fast YouTube tutorial up so you can watch me. Well watch my waist and arms :)


Oh and it would be super neat if you could take the time to follow me on Pintrest, Instagram or Bloglovin.

DIY Simple Sugar Blossoms

Equipment and Ingredients
White Fondant
Pink Fondant
Pink edible petal dust
cornflour (cornstarch)
Small plastic rolling pin
5 petal blossom cutter
Ball tool
dry clean brush
Separate clean bush and wateror edible glue
Non stick pad
flower formers (I use a small artists palette)
 

Dust a workbench with a little cornflour (cornstarch) and knead the fondant until pliable.

Redust the workbench if necessary and roll out the fondant until around 1mm (16") or so in thickness. You may like to lift the fondant and turn a little to ensure it is not sticking.

Using the blossom cutter, press into the thinly rolled fondant to cut out the blossom shapes. Place the cut out shapes on the non stick foam.

Use the ball tool to softly roll around each petal to thin it out and make it a cup shape.

Dust the flower formers with a tiny amount of cornflour (cornstarch) and place the shaped fondant blossoms into them to set/dry.

Once they are dry brush lightly with the petal dust using the clean dry brush. I start in the centre and dust outwards lightly on each petal. Remove any excess dust carefully with a soft bristle brush.

Roll 3 small balls from the pink fondant for each flower and adhere 3 small balls of fondant in the center of each flower with a very small amount of water.

Once dry the flowers can be used immediately or stored for a number of weeks until required. I store mine in airtight containers. Some people like to pop little packets of food safe silica gel in the containers.

The above pictures and post are original works and the property of Linda Vandermeer.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Picnic in the park Strawberry and cream cheese frosting cake

This cake is as simple as a picnic in the park.

Strawberries are finally coming down in price here which means the start of a few glorious months of plentiful and flavorsome berries so cheap you can easily top as many cakes as you like with a mound of berries and have enough left to puree up a sauce to drip invitingly over the edge.

This cake was made last year when strawberries were at their peak.

I used recipes from my own cookbook baking up a few batches of strawberry cake and cream cheese frosting (tinted blue). But you could easily use your own favorite recipe or a packet mix.

As you can see the strawberries are the stars of this cake. If you have kids let them help arrange the strawberries on top of the cake, if there happen to be too many and they slide off, don't worry it will just add to the charm of the cake.

The frosting was added with a normal kitchen knife. I  spread frosting onto the cake as evenly as possible and then I held the knife at the bottom of the cake and dragged it upwards to create a vertical line in the frosting, repeating all around the cake.

Thank you to Caketopia for lending me the pretty pink cake stand.

If you love strawberries click over HERE to get the recipe for my simple Strawberries and Cream cheesecakes in a jar. They're easy and berry delicious ;)

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Link to Amazon:

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! 

Or at Fishpond (free shipping Australia)

 

 Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!

White Chocolate Mint Swirl Macarons

These white chocolate mint swirl macarons are an exercise in looking before you leap.

Or at the very least looking inside your cookie bag before you bake.

I found a bag of mini mint slice biscuits (that's Australian for cookie) at the supermarket and I thought it would be soooo cool to make up some macarons with a swirl topped by a cute little biscuit.

I assumed that they would be the size of mini Oreo's and the mini chocolate chip cookies in bags at the supermarket.

Yes you read right. I assumed and we all know what happens when you assume.

I made up my macarons, filled them, added a swirl to the top and then opened the bag and doh! Those mini cookies were not mini enough for me.

I was thinking they would look something like my Totally Boss Chocolate Malt Macarons, but no such luck, instead they were topped with an empty swirl, still yummy but in my mind not quite what I had expected.

In my defense I had left the bag sealed to ensure maximum freshness which is why I was not forewarned.

As with most minor baking mishaps it worked out deliciously well in the end with Mr Sweet polishing off the mini mint slice cookies and all of us having some refreshingly minti macarons.

Mint Swirl Macarons

Macaron Shells
CLICK HERE for a blog post with my macaron recipe. I made a regular batch coloured half green and half brown with food gel color.

White Chocolate Mint Filling

300g (10 1/2 oz) white chocolate
100g (3 1/2oz) cream
1/2 to 1 tsp peppermint extract/oil
green food colour (I used Wilton gel colours)
30g (1 oz) unsalted butter room temperature and cut into small cubes

Pop the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl and then microwave on high for 2 minutes. Leave for a couple of minutes and then using a whisk stir until smooth and lump free. If necessary reheat further in the microwave for bursts of 30second to 1 minute to remove/melt all lumps.

Whisk in the peppermint extract and green food colour

Cover and allow the ganache to set - I left mine at room temperature overnight.

When set use an electric mixer to mix the ganache and butter at high speed for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy. Make sure all the butter is incorporated and no little lumps are left.

Assembly

Match macarons so that each shell has a matching shell the same size (if you hand pipe the shells there will always be a little variance in size). I matched up green shells on the top to like sized brown shells for the bottom.

Pop the whipped ganache into a piping bag fitted with an open star tip (I used Wilton #22) and pipe a swirl onto half the macaron shells. Press another macaron on top and then pipe a small swirl of ganache onto the top middle.

Refrigerate at least overnight and up to 3 days in an airtight container. Remove from fridge 20 minutes before serving.

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Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Link to Amazon:

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! 

Or at Fishpond (free shipping Australia)

 

 Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!