Peony Cake

by Kelsey Price
(South Carolina)

This peony cake was 12 inches, but it doesn't need to be more than 8 or so. It was 2 cakes torted and filled, so four layers. I iced it light pink, but kept it simple because I wanted the flower to be the focal point.

You can't see it in the pictures, but the bottom of this cake had dusty rose colored buttercream balls around the exterior, with cream nonpareils in the crevices on the top and bottom of the cream. Tt's a very pretty border that I use a lot. To make the flower...

I got my peony cutter on Amazon, but they sell the same one on Sugarcraft. I'm very happy with it because all of the petals are a different shape.

To make the petals, roll out your gumpaste very thinly, and cut out a few petals at a time so your gumpaste doesn't dry out. Don't forget to keep your extra in a bowl covered with a damp cloth as it will dry out quickly otherwise.

I use the Wilton shaping foams and gumpaste/fondant tools. After you cut out a few petals, use the shallow foam to frill your edges a bit with your fall tool. Then transfer it to the thicker foam to use your ball tool to roll it up and give each petal a natural look.

To start your flower, take a few thick floral wires and hot glue them into a small styrofoam sphere. Wrap the wires with floral tape to secure.

Take 5 of the smallest petals, and overlap them over the top of the ball secure with a little water. Then go to the next size up and add five or six more petals. Hang upside down to dry.

After the second row of petals, you will need to transfer the larger petals to an egg dish to dry before securing them to your flower.

Make lots of petals so you can add them where it feels right. There is no right or wrong way to do it, but you can use the picture of mine for a little guidance.

You can secure them with gum glue, but it takes forever, and in a bind, you can definitely hot glue your dried petals to your flower. Accent with petal dust and stick it on your peony cake.