I'm sitting here patiently waiting for my craftsy tute to load.... slowly running out of time for this cake... I have my gum paste made, my cutters and molds and even petal dusts ready - just need the instruction. I'm starting to get nervous about running out of time to get them made - and made nicely. How huge is the learning curve? I think I'm going to avoid using wires this time - I saw a gorgeous hydrangea cake that had the individual flowerlets all over the top and partially down the sides of each tier and I think I'm going to go for that look - so that's one technique I won't have to worry about right now. As long as I can use royal icing for the centers since I've already colored all of the gumpaste purple.

They're fairly simple, right?

Oh - have you heard anything about a possible American Airlines strike? A friend left a msg that they're going on strike.... I hope not. That's the airlines I'm taking home on Friday - when I have to finish this cake. Of course.

In my opinion, it's not that they're so hard, it's that you have to make such a LOT of itty-bitty flowerlets for them to look like anything. So what you need more of than anything is time and patience. Of course, as I post this, I realize it's already Friday and you've found out the answer to this question one way or another. I hope your hydrangeas turned out even prettier than you thought they would and that your cake is a total success!

You will have more natural looking hydrangeas if the paste is pale green or cream, because then the dust sticks to the veins and looks very natural.

Royal icing is OK for the centres, just add it at the very end.

Jacqueline Butler PetalSweet blog shows the assembly line to get each step right, which also makes for the nicest looking hydrangeas.