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Flowers are certainly the most traditional and lavish the tops of frosted cakes. They can be made by piping buttercream, or for stiffer ones, use royal icing. Gumpaste is best used when you want very hard flowers and other decorative items. What's more, you can do them in advance, let them air dry, and keep in an open container, in a cool, dry place, until you place them on the cake.
Star Flowers are an easy way to make flowers on a cake or cookie. I like to pipe them on a cake as a top and bottom border. You can alternate their colors by using different colors in different pastry bags and by changing the tip. They make such a difference ! Icing: medium consistency for the flower and thin consistency for the center
For Star Flowers: Insert a coupler base in your Reusable or Disposable Pastry and lock round Star Tip# 2D onto it with your coupler ring. If you wish to use this large tip with a coupler, you'll have to cut an opening on a 12 inch Featherweight bag for the large coupler tip. If you do, however, you can only use this bag with the large coupler and large tips. Fill bag half full with medium consistency Buttercream Icing. It can be tinted beforehand. Make a parchment cone and insert round tip 3. Color a small amount of thin consistency icing in a contrasting color; fill parchment bag. Positions: Sequence: Hold the bag straight up with the end of drop flower tip 2D just touching surface. Squeeze, letting the icing build up to make the flower. Stop squeezing, then lift tip away. Decorate the flower center: Hold the bag straight up with the tip almost touching the flower. Squeeze out a dot of icing, keeping your tip buried in it. Stop squeezing, then pull your tip away. Your dot should have a rounded top. My other most favorite flower to make is the daisy made with royal icing. (Not too stiff). IMy petals are flat 'loops' made from the center of the nail, out and back again. I lay the tip 101 flat against the nail at about 2:30-3:00 and squeeze out very little icing in the center so I don't have a buildup. Turn the nail when you are at the outer edge...not too big of turn or you'll have holes in the center of the petals.). CAUTION that you keep the small end of the tip touching the nail at all times. (The small end of the tip is the outside edge of petals). Pipe a tip 3 yellow center and dampen your finger and apply yellow sugar for stamens affect. I stripe my bag with a pastel icing and leave the rest white. This makes a nice soft color. Sometimes I make the center of the daisy the color of the stripe. You could also add glitter (the color of the center). ***ROYAL ICING*** for delicate thin-petaled flowers
*You do not have to add all the conf. sugar if icing is getting too thick. At first, expect it to be soupy. Beat until the icing thickens. Watch for it to lose it's shine and stand in peaks. It takes less time if you have a heavy duty mixer. Maybe about 10 minutes. 15 minutes with a hand mixer.
The Swirl Flower is done in the exactly same fashion as the star flower except the wrist is twisted as you make it, giving the petals a natural looking curve. I usually pipe them on the top of the cake or a cookie, alternating colors as I go. They also look pretty piped on the top of a cake, placed at 12 noon, and then 3,6 and 9 o'clock, with one in between each. Round Tips:
#s 2D and 3 Icing: medium consistency for the flower and thin consistency for the center Insert a coupler base in your Reusable or Disposable Pastry Bag and lock round Tip 2D onto it with your coupler ring. If you wish to use this large tip with a coupler, you'll have to cut an opening on a 12 inch Featherweight bag for the large coupler tip. If you do, however, you can only use this bag with the large coupler and large tips. Fill bag half full with medium consistency Buttercream Icing. (Can be Tinted Make a parchment cone and insert round tip 3. Color a small amount of thin consistency icing in a contrasting color; fill parchment bag. Hold the bag straight up with the end of drop flower tip 2D just touching the surface. Turn hand holding bag keeping flat of knuckle at 9:00 (3:00). As you squeeze out the icing, slowly return your hand to 12:00. Stop squeezing and lift tip away. Make a dot in the center of the flower with round tip You can make a variety of flower centers using round tip 3.
Sequence: 1. Lightly touch surface
and turn wrist a full twist.
I really prefer using the tip 127 roses on most of my cakes. The tip 104 roses are so small and I really like the almost life size of the 127 roses. I try to work with two or three shades of one color. The darkest shade for the center of the flower and the first three petals. The medium shade for the next four or five petals and the lightest shade for the last 5 to 7 petals. This gives the roses some depth in color and they have much more life to them than just one color roses.
When you've applied all the flowers you want, add a leaf or two to each one, including drop flowers. Leaves make the cake look finished. Using a bag of green icing, affix a leaf tip and make small leaves with one of the pointy sides of the tip facing down. As you finish the leaf, lift up so the tip sticks up. This makes it look more realistic. When mixing the green icing for leaves and stems, add a little corn syrup - about 1 teaspoon for every 1/2 cup of buttercream. This will ensure that the tip of the leaf comes to a nice point without breaking off. This same trick works for icing to be used in writing. The icing will flow more smoothly. Some information and a few pictures from www.wilton.com and http://w3.one.net/~proicer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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