Tales of a Tiered Cake – The Flowers Part 3

The photo I really want you to see is below, after this long paragraph. It’s below the paragraph, just in case my kids don’t want to see the finished rose. It’s been made for their double-engagement party which will take place at the end of June. So kids – read no farther if you don’t want to see the rose.
The finished rose that I described in the last post has some veining on the outer leaves which make them look so realistic. Also notice that the inner leaves are darker than the outer leaves. This happens to real roses as they fully open up. You can’t tell from the photo, but I didn’t do it exactly as I described – on the inner rows I forgot that the last petal in a row was supposed to be glued down on both sides. I also used the larger petal cutter for the last two rows, and turned the flower upside down for the last two rows so that the flower would be even more open and larger than I described last time (I actually didn’t do this on purpose, but just forgot exactly when to do these things). My point is, if you don’t do it exactly as described, it can still come out beautiful!

To make some rose leaves, you roll out some green dough, making it thicker at the bottom because this is where the wire is going to be inserted. Vein the leaf with a leaf veiner.
and then cut out the leaf using whatever size is appropriate (not like the photo which has the leaf being cut first)
I like to do one large leaf in the middle, and then two smaller leaves – roses tend to have leaves clumped three together.


You can see the veining that I’ve done. Line the center vein up with the pointed tip and then cut the leaf. If you haven’t rolled the dough thin enough, you can roll it long, re-vein and then recut, or you can use the ball tool around the edges to thin them. I think the first option works better, because the ball tool will remove the veining and if the leaf is too thick to begin with, you’ll get a ridge from the unrolled edge to the center of the leaf.
To attach wires to the leaves, use a very fine wire so that you can readily bend it. I’d like to use green, but I only have thin wire in white, so I’ll have to use petal dust to color it green (I have gauge 28 as my thinnest wire). Hold the petal between your thumb and index finger. With your other hand, dip the wire in egg white, wipe off excess and then slide the wire in about 1/4-inch using your fingers as guides to make sure that the wire is in the dough and not poking through. Place a thin-bladed knife in the center vein, and then fold the dough slightly to give the leaf some 3-d shape. You can give the leaf some more movement, and use cotton or batting to keep it from falling downward before it hardens.

I’ve decided not to photograph the bud – it’s exactly the same as the first steps of the rose, and then you put on the calyx, wrap the stem in tape and add a leaf. You’ll see the completed rose with leaves and bud on the finished cake.
I have one more rose to show you, and then there might be some more on the completed cake. The last rose is a long stemmed rose but I’ve only put on 4 rows of petals. I could have put on the 5th and not turned it upside down so that it would be more compact, but I liked the size and decided just to go ahead and leave it with the 4 rows.