Fondant & Gum Paste

The fondant and gum paste class was so much different than decorating basics. It was almost like sculpting in comparison. I thought for sure I would be no good at this, but they give you all the right tools and steps to make it pretty easy to get some decent results. I need some practice to refine, but I'm really happy with what I learned. The fondant cut outs I did for Emeline's cake were just the beginning. Here are some flowers I learned how to make:

Top left & right: Mum and daisy. Middle left & right: Rose & calla lilly. My rose got a little smooshed in transit, but you can get the idea. Very delicate petals. Bottom left & right: carnation & various cutouts, inlays & overlays.

I really liked the calla lilies, but I wasn't very happy with my first one, so I decided to put them on my final cake, so I'd have an excuse to learn how to make them better. My best lesson I think was to not put too much gum glue adhesive on it, so the gum paste isn't too wet. That will keep the petals from melting and getting messed up. Also, making sure the original cuts are very precise helps to have a smooth finish.

For the final cake we also learned how to cover it in fondant, so this was my first try at that. Here's my final calla lily cake!