I have had many requests for a tutorial on the Tudor rose I used on a few cakes this past month. I took this as a chance to enhance the design slightly, as I originally found the centre flower to be too small. This rose is better balanced. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to use the comment section. Also please excuse my rusty English – it’s been two years since I wrote a tutorial.

Enjoy!

You need the following:
Two 5 petal or easy rose cutters, one slightly smaller than the other. See step 5 on how to measure the sizes needed.
A dresden tool (or blunt knife, for veining)
A dogbone tool
Gumpaste or fondant in 3 shades, see picture for proportions
White gumpaste or fondant (not pictured)
A rolling pin and a rolling mat
Powdered sugar for dusting
Gum glue or water

Take the largest lump of tinted fondant and roll it out to 1/8″ (3 mm) thickness. Use the largest cutter to cut out a flower.

Fold the petal tips over and use the dogbone tool to curve and secure the fold in place. Do this on all 5 petals.

With the dresden tool, mark 3 veins on each petal.

And here you see how you measure the cutters. The smaller cutter should fit into the folded flower with no more than 1/4″ (5 mm) to spare on each side.

Roll out the lighter tinted fondant and use the smaller cutter to cut out a flower. Fold and vein it as with the larger flower.

Brush a tiny bit of water or gum glue on the middle of the larger flower and place the smaller on top. Give it half a turn, so the petals align as seen on the picture, with the smaller petals placed between the larger. Use the dogbone tool to secure the flowers and to make an indent for the centre.

The centre is made with a heavily tinted piece of fondant, rolled to a ball and slightly flattened. It should be slighty larger than the middle of the smaller flower. See picture.

Brush the flower with a little water or gum glue and secure the centre on top. With the dresden tool, make 5 deep marks. They should align with the petals on the smaller flower.

Roll out some white fondant and make one more of the smaller flowers. With a knife, seperate the petals and vein them through the middle.

With the pointy side outwards, use a bit of water or gum glue to secure them between the larger petals. And voila – your tudor rose is ready. You can use any color your like. Traditionally they were red, but any color matching your make will do. This is a very large rose, but you can make them any size you want. Use gum glue and let them dry if you’re making small ones for the side of a cake. When placed on top, they just need a tiny bit of water.

Thank you for all your comments and emails about my tutorials. I started this blog with the intention of posting more tutorials without having to move them around, every time my website changed designs.

I would love to have your opinion on what to feature on this blog. More flowers? More lambeth? Other royal icing techniques? Recipes? Wedding cakes? Please let me know by leaving a comment on this blogpost. Thank you for your help!

This tutorial was featured on the Sugar Teachers blog.

You need the following: Two appropriately sized cutters. These ones are amaryllis cutters from Tinkertech Two. Any lily-like cutter will work for this. A chestnut veiner – or similar. White florist tape and florist wire, gauge 20 and gauge 24. As you can see, I only had green. I think I might have to go shopping for cake toys again soon. What a burden (or not). You also need gumpaste, but you probably already figured that one out. And gum glue and a fine pair of scissors.

Start with the neck. Roll a sausage and shape a beak at the end. Dip a piece of gauge 20 wire in gum glue and wire the neck. Curve it and leave it to dry for 24 hours.

For the wings, roll out gumpaste on a grooved board and cut out 4 large shapes. If you use curved cutters, like here, make sure you have two facing each way. Dip pieces of gauge 24 wire in gum glue and put all the feathers on wire. Then vein them. Make sure you vein them so the dents are on the front and the wire on the back.

Now take your pair of fine scissors and cut the edges so it will look like feathers. With a ball tool, work the outer edges so they curve and look more like feathers. I forgot to take a photo of that, sorry.

For the tail, make 3 smaller feathers the same way as you made the larger ones. Leave all 7 feathers to dry overnight. Curve them over something. An empty Pringles can is the perfect size for the larger feathers (and a great excuse to eat Pringles) and for the tail feathers, an empty roll for kitchen towels work just fine. Or a 4.5 oz Americolor bottle. Leave to dry for 24 hours. Remember, drying times may vary from place to place. Humidity is very low in Denmark right now, so I only had to let them dry for 6 hours, but I know some of my friends from southern parts of USA might need much longer drying time, especially in the summer.

When everything is nice and dry, it’s time to assemble. It’s quite simple, almost like assembling a lily. With the neck as a center, attach the feathers in pairs, two large feathers on each side.

The tail feathers are taped together as one, then bent at an angle and taped to the neck. I managed to break a feather in the process – always make extra!

Here’s a top view of the assembled swan, complete with two and a half tail feathers. These swans are best stored like here, with the wire stuck in a small jar with dried beans. This way they won’t break or tilt.

If you wish, you can paint the beaks and make eyes with an edible marker. They make for a great wedding cake topper. I cut drinking straws to appropriate length, and stick them in the cake. Then I stick the wire in the straw, so it wont come in contact with the cake.

You can make the swan any color you like. Have fun!

Ice an 8″ cake with round top edge. Divide the border in 16 parts and mark them with a pin prick. Use royal icing of medium thickness. Put a heaping tablespoon in a piping bag with rope tube #43. Pipe tapered shells all the way around the cake – 16 in total – directly on the round edge.

Immediately pipe an elongated S-scroll over each tapered shell with the same tube. Push the dots down with a damp brush.

With the same tube, outline the shells just above the round edge.

And overpipe the S-scrolls. If you live in a very humid climate you might want to let the icing dry a bit before overpiping so it doesn’t start to sag. Overpipe the outline too.

Still with the same tube, pipe a snail trail border at the bottom. It is similar to a shell border, but you do not lift the tube. Just add pressure and pipe a bead, stop pressure and drag to form a “tail”. Overpipe the end of the tail with the next bead. If you are unfamiliar with this type of border, practise a few beads on a piece of parchment paper first. It is very easy and you should get the hang of it fast.

Now pipe tapered shells above the snail trail, in the same fashion as on the top border.

And overpipe twice with elongated S-scrolls.

Here’s what you have now. Starting to look like something!

Pipe frills with a small petal tube. Move the tube up and down, so the frill rests on the outline.

Pipe a tiny leaf between every shell at the bottom border. Overpipe the S-scrolls with round tube #3.

To get the frilly look on the leaves, move the tube slighty up and down while piping.

Fig 1: Pipe a bead border with round tube #3 between the shells and the frills.
Fig 2: Add elongated S-scrolls, piped first with rope tube #43, then twice with round tube #3.

Fig 1: You can do a little doodle at the very front, instead of an S-scroll.

And here you go. If you want (and don’t have shaky hands by now), you can overpipe all the scrolls with round tube #2 and then #1 for a more sophisticated look. The basket is piped directly on the cake.

This rolled fondant might not hold up to fillings with whipped cream or fruit. Everything must be sealed with buttercream, or the fondant might melt. You can omit the black color and just make white fondant. If the fondant is not elastic enough, try adding a bit more glucose. Let it rest for 24 hours before use.

This method of making black fondant will also work with other recipes. The crucial step is to add color before powdered sugar. Works with any other color too.

Sugarpaste (rolled fondant) recipe:
1 ½ egg white
2 heaping tbsp glucose (white corn syrup)
Flavoring optional
750 grams powdered sugar (1½ lbs) – this amount can vary slighty!
1 small tsp tylose (CMC)

Mix glucose and eggwhite. Don’t whip or whisk, just stir. Add flavoring now if you want.

Add a nice amount of black color – I use Americolor Super Black for this, around a tbsp.

Stir well. Should be a very vibrant black.

Mix in the powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time until you are able to knead it on the counter. Knead well until it is so firm that it will hold its shape when formed into a ball. It should not stick to your fingers by now.

Sprinkle the tylose on the (clean) counter and knead it into the sugarpaste. Knead well!

Wrap in saran wrap 2 or 3 times and place it in a ziplock bag or an airtight container. Refridgerate for a month or freeze for 3 months. The color will darken after a few hours. If it is not black enough, it will not take much color to get it jet black again.

In your mixer bowl, dissolve 1 tbsp powdered gelatin in 4 tbsp water. Nuke it in the microwave and pour over 2 tbsp shortening.

Add a few large drops of color if you need a colored batch. I added Americolor Soft Pink. Stir well. It now looks like your arteries if you eat too much frosting.

Fire up your mixer with the paddle, add 2 cups of powdered sugar. Beat on medium speed – not too fast or you’ll have powdered sugar everywhere and too much air in the fondant.

Add ½ cup golden syrup, glucose or corn syrup… whatever tickles your fancy. If you are making white fondant, use something without color. If you’re a cheapskate like me, use the cheapest option. Transfer back to mixer and add 4 cups of powdered sugar, a little at a time, beating on low-medium speed. It should have a consistency as thick royal icing. Your mixer may jump and rattle at this point.

Dump 1 cup powdered sugar on your work surface and scrape the fondant out of the bowl. Does it look like marshmallow fluff or what? You just want to take a bite. Don’t. It does not taste like marshmallow fluff! I learned this the hard way, people.

Knead knead knead! I added around 2 more cups of powdered sugar here, but it really depends on things like humidity, measurement and planetary alignment. So feel your way forwards. It should be firm enough to not move or flatten when formed into a ball. But it will be soft and very stretchy at this point. Now put 1 tbsp shortening on your hands and knead the fondant well.

Wrap in cling wrap several times. I got 1196 grams out of this, arounds 2,5 lbs. Let it rest for 24 hours, no need to refridgerate, although I always do.

You need a large rose petal cutter, a ball tool, a frill stick, paper towel and of course, gumpaste in your desired color.

For the base you need 5 petals. Roll out the gumpaste fairly thick and cut out 5 shapes. Cover the 4 so they don’t dry out.

Grab your frill stick and roll the petal flat. Postiton the frill stick from the pointed end and along the red lines for an even rolled petal.

Use the ball tool to create lots of motion and to flatten the edges.

Steal an ugly old bowl from your grandma and drape the petal over it.

Give the remaining 4 petals the same treatment and postiton them over the bowl in a circle and glue them together. Be careful not to glue them to the bowl though! Make the circle as perfect as possible, as you will use the bottom layer as a guide for the shaping of the entire rose. Let it all dry for several hours.

Now make one more layer of petals and glue them to the bottom layer. To shape the rose, I use folded paper towels cut in small pieces and inserted as supports. Take your sweet time to do this, but you need to get it done before it dries too much. The point is to lift the petals up from the bottom layer. Let it dry.

Add one more layer. Let dry.

It gives a great effect to lift one side of the petal higher than the other.

And now for the last layer of 5 petals. This in the top of the rose and the petals must be close together. Use lots more paper towel for this!

This is how I shaped my rose. As you can see I closed it pretty good on the top. You can make it more open if you want to.

Let dry completely and carefully remove the paper towel.

I painted mine with Edable Arts “Scarlet” powder color mixed with iso propyl alcohol and sprinkled cornmeal in the middle to make the flower center, as there is no wire in this flower that will hold stamens.

You need a foxglove cutter – or you can use a round cutter and shape them – a small calyx/jasmine cutter, a dogbone tool, a veining tool, a small rolling pin/celstick, soft square brushes, gauge 33 and 20 wire, floral tape, and white gumpaste. Also a light and a dark powder color for the flower itself, and green powder color for the calyx. You can also color the gumpaste with paste color instead of brushing it, but brushing with powder makes for more lifelike flowers.

Roll a small sausage and flatten it like a mexican hat.

Roll it very thin.

Cut your flower. Place the foxglove cutter so the small scallops touches the cone.

Hollow with a dogbone tool.

Hollow even more with your celstick.

And vein.

Bend a piece of gauge 33 wire in half and twist it. Make a tiny loop and fasten it to the flower. Make tiny dots on the large scallop and all the way to the bottom of the flower with a dark color.

Brush on the outside with a light color – pink og purple are most common – and brush the edges of the inside as well.

Cut out a small calyx and cup it with your celstick or dogbone tool.

Glue it to the top and brush it green.

Make a bunch more and also some buds – the buds are just small sausages dusted green and pink and put on a wire.

The flower is assembled upside down. Start with the buds and tape them to a piece of gauge 20 wire.

Continue with the flowers.

Carefully bend the flowers and buds downwards and snip off the excess wire. And voila. A Real foxglove has more flowers than this, so just keep on making them.

You need two gerbera cutters, of any brand you prefer. One big and one small. I use a plunger cutter with veiner from PME here, because it saves time. The small cutter is from FMM. You also need a pair of pointy scissors, a rolling pin, a nonstick board, a flower former (or anything that will keep the gerberas shape while drying) and of course two colors of gumpaste.

Make a ball of gumpaste and hollow it slightly. Cut the edges one row at a time, but leave the hollowed middle. You now have the flower center.

Cut out two small shapes and glue them to the center.

Cut three large shapes and vein them. Gerbera leaves are not frilled in any way, but if you want a different effect, you can use a ball tool or a frill stick to flatten the petals and create motion, to make it look like this:

Glue the three shapes to the center and place in a flower former. It is okay for the petals to droop slightly.

You need a ball tool, a veining tool (optional), a gauge 18 wire or a frillstick, two rose petal cutters that follows in size and fits the size rose you want, taped gauge 20 wire, gumpaste of course, a rolling pin and a mat. A small foam pad is optional.

Tape some gauge 20 wire and glue a pointy gumpaste cone to it. Let dry for at least 12 hours.

With the smallest petal cutter,cut out one petal. Thin the edges with a ball tool and vein it with a frillstick or, like here, a piece of gauge 18 floral wire.

Wrap it tightly around the cone with glue.

Cut out two more small petals, ball and frill them, and curl the edges as shown on the picture.

Wrap around the cone with glue and let the petals overlap each other. This step is where you chose how open your rose should be. If you leave a large gap between cone and petal, the rose will appear very open. Wrap it tightly for a more dense look. You can smooth the inside of the petals with the veining tool to get a rounder look.

Should look like this.

Repeat with 3 small petals. You can let the rose dry for a few hours now to make the next step easier.

Repeat with 5 large petals. Should look like this.

Repeat again with 5 large petals. I do this upside down on a small foam pad, it makes it easier to get it neat.

And voila. Put a calyx on if you want. You can cut the wire off now, or leave it in if you are making a spray.