Lucks Edible Image ® Dena Designs Contest Dahlia Tutorial from Kara’s Couture Cakes
Learn to make striking dahlia flowers using edible images. Kara shows you how to make this light as air flower, embellished with pearls and gold gilding.
Supplies
- Gold highlighter
- Gumpaste
- 2 largest petal cutters from Gardenia Cutter Set II
- Lucks Edible Image® from the Dena Designs Designer Prints™ collection
- Offset palette knife
- 192 proof grain alcohol
- Small tipped paint brush
- Sugar pearls
- Water
- X-acto blade
- Ziploc Bag
Roll out gumpaste to ⅛ inch thick and cut a disc approximately 2 ½ inches in diameter.
Choose any pattern you like of the Lucks Edible Image® designs. I only removed one sheet at a time to work with from the packaging because they dry very quickly, making them brittle. As you are working with pieces of this sheet, keep the remainder of the sheet in a Ziploc bag.
Cut a small portion of the Edible Image® sheet, placing the rest of the sheet in the bag. Use a small piece at first while getting used to its consistency and how it dries. As you become more comfortable with working with the sheets, you’ll be able to cut larger pieces and work more efficiently.
Starting with the larger petal cutter, press the cutter into the sheet (preferably on a cutting mat). I leave the end of the cutter empty, without any of the sheet as a slightly larger base makes shaping easier in the next step. You do not need to wiggle the cutter or pull it against the sheet. Once you remove the cutter you will be able to easily peel the petal away from the sheet.
With a slightly wet brush, paint a small strip of water down the middle of the lower 3rd of the petal. If you use too much water, the sheet will disintegrate and become unusable.
Gently fold the first side over onto the wet area of the petal. Do not crease the fold along the length of the petal. It should gently curve and simply adhere itself to the center.
Again, apply a scant amount of water to the folded area, and press the open side of the petal onto it, creating a fully curled petal.
Once you have 16-20 petals (with a few extra, just in case) fully formed, you are ready to assemble the first layer around the gumpaste disc.
Apply a light amount of water to the 12 o’clock position on the disc.
Gently apply and press the petal. Don’t press too hard, or it may stick to your finger and tear when you lift up.
Repeat with 3 more petals placing them a 3, 6, and 9 o’clock to evenly divided the disc into 4 quadrants.
Between each set of petals you should be able to apply 3-4 petals to fill, depending on their width from folding.
Continue adding petals to fill the first layer.
Using the smaller petal cutter, cut and fold at least another 28 petals to create the next 2 layers. Paint another coating of water around the inside of the first set of petals.
When you begin to layer the next set of petals, they should be offset against the first, placing them in the middle of two of the larger layer.
Finish the second layer with as many petals as needed.
Repeat layering in an offset manner for the third and final layer.
Time to shape the center! Roll a small piece of gumpaste into a ball, and place it in the center of the flower to check and adjust size as necessary.
Apply a small amount of water to the entire center, and gently press down the ball so it fills the center. The ball should remain higher in the center and slope down slightly towards the edges.
Time to apply the sugar pearls or dragees.
Apply a moderate amount of water to the gumpaste ball, making sure it doesn’t run down the sides and onto the petals but enough to create a good sticky surface for the sugar pearls to adhere.
Place the first sugar pearl in the center and press down lightly.
Begin to form rings of pearls around the first one to create an intentional looking pattern until full. You could apply the sugar pearls to the gumpaste before applying the gumpaste to the flower, but I find that the gumpaste ball becomes distorted and may crush some of the petals.
You can leave your flower natural at this point and allow to dry, or you can embellish it a bit more.
I decided to gild the petals using a 192 proof grain alcohol, gold highlighter, and a number 0 paintbrush. Using a very high alcohol content spirit is necessary with the Edible Image® sheets. Even vodka has too high of a water content to safely apply without melting the petals.
Carefully line just the edges of each petal. I tried to be less than perfect about the line width, and make it look a bit more random to create more interest.
The gold highlighter adds just a bit of shimmer that brings out the pattern and rich colors in the sheets.
I allowed my flower to dry for 2 days before adding it to my floral spray. The petals were still soft and movable, making it easy to apply to a cake.
Thank you Kara! Nice tutorial. I will definitely be using this :)
Thank you for the great detail and instructions!
Many thanks for the tutorial - I would love to keep in touch with you.
wow...beautiful work! thank you!
This is awesome!! Thanks for sharing :)
Thank you all for such sweet compliments! You are very welcome, I truly enjoy teaching the things I love to do.
Beautiful project and very well written and EASY TO FOLLOW tutorial. Gratitude!
How usefull tutorial. Thank you.
Lovely just lovely I really like this beautiful
Can you do this with Wilton sugar sheets?
Awesome! Thanks for the tutorial!
Just curious....and I know it varies by market/location, etc... but what would you charge for such embellishments? How long did the flower arrangement take you?
I am a new hobby baker, and fairly confident with my cake prices. But, pricing for figures, flowers, etc through me off! Any input would be appreciated. :-) Thanks!