Learn how to make a sugar rose out of gum paste with this rose tutorial. I use one or two sizes of petal cutters when making sugar roses. The sizes of cutters generally depend on the size of the “rose” cones that I am making. The more petals you add, the fuller it will get. It looks really pretty when big roses and rosebuds are mixed together on a cake.
What Do You Need to Make a Sugar Rose?
- Flower paste/gum paste;
- Gel paste colors;
- Corn starch;
- Styrofoam or cake dummie;
- Flower foam pad (Orchard products);
- Dogbone tool or ball tool;
- Small spatula;
- Tylo glue;
- Small brushes;
- Toothpicks;
- Rolling pin;
- Non-stick board;
- 7 tablespoons;
- Rose petal cutters in various sizes;
- Rose leaf cutters in various sizes;
- Leaf Weiner (optional);
- Calyx cutters in various sizes;
- A small plastic bag;
- White vegetable fat;
- Edible petal dust
- Material: Constructed of quality, long lasting stainless steel
- Use: Using sugarpaste, rolled fondant, gumpaste etc
- Petal cutters for various flowers use
- Feature: Different size petal cutters let you create realistic flowers.
- Using sugarpaste, rolled fondant, gumpaste etc
Step-By-Step Tutorial
Step 1:
You will need to make a cone (No. 1 in the picture) for each sugar rose you are making. It is a good idea to start making the cones a day or two ahead. Remember that the cones should be a little bit smaller than the size of the petal cutter you will be using. Stick a toothpick in the bottom of the cone and set it aside on the styrofoam/cake dummies to dry completely.
The next step is to roll out your flower paste/gum paste thinly and cut out three rose petals. Use your dog bone tool on the flower foam pad and carefully thin the edge of the rose petals so they get slightly frilly. Put two of the rose petals in a plastic bag to prevent them from drying out. Brush the cone with Tylo glue and wrap one rose petal tight around it, so that the pointed end of the rose cone is covered (No. 2 in the picture).
TIP: Use this as a closed rosebud.
Brush with Tylo glue once again and take the two last petals from the plastic bag. Wrap them around the cone so they slightly overlap each other (No. 3 in the picture). Arrange the rose petals and make “movements” with your fingers and leave them to dry for about 30 minutes or more before you add more rose petals.
TIP: Use this as an open rosebud!
Cut out three more rose petals, just like the ones you made, to begin with. Brush the rose petals lightly with Tylo glue and arrange the next three rose petals, again overlapping the petals (No. 4 in the picture) Again make “movements” with your fingers and leave your small sugar rose to dry completely.
TIP: Use this as a small rose.
Step 2:
If you want a larger sugar rose, do as follows: Roll out your flower paste/gum paste thinly, this time cut out five rose petals with the next size of cutter. Use your dog bone tool on all five petals, as in step 1. Take five tablespoons and dust them with a little cornstarch (this will prevent the rose petals from sticking to the tbsp).
Put the rose petals on the teaspoons and let the petals go over the top of the edge of the spoons (as shown in the picture). Let the rose petals dry in the spoons for around 15-20 minutes. Then brush the lower half of the petals with Tylo glue and arrange the petals around the rose, so that they overlap each other. Set the rose aside to dry completely.
If you want an even bigger sugar rose, cut out seven more rose petals and put them in the tablespoons. Since the rose is getting rather big now you need to carefully turn the rose upside down for the last rose petals. Attach the rose petals with Tylo glue-like previously. Let the big sugar rose dry completely.
TIP: Use a piece of foam to place the rose on, to prevent it from breaking.
Step 3:
When your rose is dry, roll out some green flower paste/gum paste and cut out a calyx that fits the rose. Brush the calyx with Tylo glue and attach it to the bottom of the rose. When making small sugar rosebuds, put a small ball of green flower paste/gum paste on the rosebuds after the calyx as well.
TIP: Apply dry edible petal powders with a soft brush to your roses, for great-looking effects.
Note: Remember to remove any toothpicks when placing the roses on the cake.
Happy Caking!
Eating a cake is satisfying, but making one is more exciting yet fulfilling. Here on our website, we offer you different tutorials about cake making, cake topper ideas, lots of treat recipes, and more baking-related topics. Or you might have an interest in Small Gum Paste Roses.
can I use egg white instead of Tylo glue to stick petals on? stuck at home & don’t have any Tylo!
Thanks
Bex
This is amazing, I have been trying and trying to make roses, following many different Youtube videos, and I must say, this is the easiest one to follow and its not even a video. The first picture number 1,2,3,4 helped my immensely. So I thought I would leave a comment just to say thanks.
Thank you!
How do you attach the flowers to the cake?
I use cocktail sticks. Of course this will require that the roses needs to be removed before the cake will be cut.
Fantastic!!! Thank you, most rose tutorials had me in a muddle and they all looked squashed but this was very easy to follow and I am very happy with the result
this is the best tutorial i have come across yet and ive been searching for a while! thank you so much! ps the teaspoon idea is brilliant!
Thumbs up to you
Can you tell were you get your supplies? I leave in jacksonville,fl and I can find all the tools . Thank you for all the information.
Sincerely, Maria
How do you color the leaves olive green? Thank you.
When coloring gum paste for leaves I often mix 2 green colors together. Like a moss green + a bright green.
I think your idea with the tablespoon is brilliant. So much easier than trying, and failing, to use a toothpick to roll the edges of the petals. Do you have a tutorial for doing wired petals/leaves?
Thank you very much
I don’t have tutorials on wired petals sorry.
Could you please tell me how to remove the toothpick after the rose dries out? I tried doing that and ended up breaking the flower. I have heard that people usually use the toothpick to insert the rose into the fondant cake. After taking out the rose how do you attach the rose to the cake ?
Normally I don’t have that problem when I need to remove the toothpick. I simply just gently twist the toothpick until it release. If I need to place the rose on the side of the cake I use a toothpick or it won’t hold up. If it’s on the top of the cake a dot of royal icing use to be enough.
sugar roses are the best. i love to make them with my parents
You can find a fabulous tutorial here: https://cakejournal.com/archives/gum-paste-rose-tutorial-on-youtube
Fra: Disqus [mailto:]
Sendt: 23. september 2011 00:22
Til: louise@cakejournal.com
Emne: [cakejournal] Re: How to make a sugar rose
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Thank you so much for sending me these sugar flowers. I would like to make a humble request from you, if possible will you please teach me how to make a horse out of gum paste, through cake journal.
Y.P.
Sorry, my to do list is very long at the moment.
Thank You beautiful. Do you know how to make sugar sheets, that you can use to cut out decorations out of?
No sorry 🙁
Fra: Disqus [mailto:]
Sendt: 27. september 2011 03:40
Til: louise@cakejournal.com
Emne: [cakejournal] Re: How to make a sugar rose
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What is a good substitute for tylo glue? can I use water or eggwhite?
Water, egg white both works ok. But I think that you get a more sticky glue with the egg white.
Fra: Disqus [mailto:]
Sendt: 13. september 2011 16:37
Til: louise@cakejournal.com
Emne: [cakejournal] Re: How to make a sugar rose
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where can you get that rose leaf veiner, luv it
Cheri ==maxxell_snow@hotmail.com
It’s Diamond Paste Veiners/ Garden rose leaf.
I can do a lot of flowers, but I have never mastered the rose. Hopefully this will work.
tanks for the training,am going to get my tools and start learning right now
pls let me know what the ingredian for sugar paste(sugar craft)
azie KL
I don’t have a recipe for sugar paste, sorry.
ohhhmy.
louise, your website is just lovely.♥
i’ve been wanting to learn and try to make things like this for a loong time.
thanks so much! 🙂
Hi there, I am making a wedding cake in a few weeks for my brother who has decided that he now wants his cake royal iced. The only problem I have is I have no idea how to now attatch the fondant wired flowers to the top (hygrangeas and roses) as with a fondant covered cake you just stick a flower pcik in it?
Any ideas?
Thanks
Hiya Louise,
Can you please advise me- i am trying to make gumpaste from fondant- can you please advise me how to do this using tylo powder ?
Many Thanks
Hi I am from South Africa and was wondering where I could get this baking kit from.Anyway love your website.
Hi Louise, just stumbled across your site, it’s amazing. I am trying to make a sugar Christmas decoration. Every year instead of gifts my husband and I make each other a Christmas decoration out of the material for the corresponding wedding anniversary, paper, leather, cotton etc. This year it is sugar. I was just wondering how long they would last. We don’t ever want to eat them but really don’t want them to go mouldy as we want to hang them on the tree every year. Any ideas for a sugar receipe that will last? Really appreciate your help x x
Hi Louise ~ I’m so glad you referenced this tutorial again. It truly is a beautiful rose:D
Ayla: If you use gumpaste when making the rose. The petals will hold up the shape.
Debs: I would place them in flower picks or in drinking straws that have been filled with RI. If the cake is a firm cake it will hold the roses better if they are big and cascading down the side of the cake.
Annie: It depends on what type of cutters you are looking for. But a set of rose petals, rose leaf and a mix of small 5 petal cutters is good to start out with.
Rosie: If they are on wires you can put them into drinking straws that are filled with royal icing.
Hello, great tutorial. Just wondering if anyone has any tips on attaching the roses to a three tiered weding cake? I’ve made nice big blooms for my best friends wedding cake, but am worried they might fall off the cake. I was going to use royal icing to “glue” them on, but is this a fool proof method?
Hi!
I love your website and I am hoping to start making gum paste decorations soon. I was wondering if you’d have recommendations for a good cutter starter kit?
ur works r superb dear
Hi, this is a fab site. One question though – how do you attach these to the cake and can you put them in a cascade down the sides or will they be too heavy? Thanks.
Hi, how do you stop the fondant / gum paste from getting warm & drooping when putting on the petals?
You are an amazing artist. Thanks for sharing your talents 🙂
Great tutorial. Love the photos- they really help alot!
Hi Louise, I absolutely love that rose! I have just start sugar craft as a hobby and found your rose tutorial the easiest to follow! I hope my roses can get as good as yours one day, thank you for the tutorial!
Nancy: To make them bigger you need to use both a larger cone and petals.
Hi Louise!!! Thanks so much for your tips!!! I need to make a Wedding cake for a friend and she wants me to make really big fondant roses… any advice you could give me would be wonderful. Thanks again!!!
love this site, easy to follow.
wow cool cake making….do you sell them if yes how do we buy it??
What’s this technique called?
This is lovely, thanks for the great tips
Luvin it!! wish there was a fave’s button so we could save our favorites here hehe.. beautiful roses, love the spoon method
Cathy & Somara: The leaf veiner that you can see on the photo I cant remember the name of. If you want a really great leaf veiner then I can recomend this one: https://www.globalsugarart.com/product.php?id=19025&name=Classic%20D/S%20Multi%20Purpose%20Veiner%20(SV-001)%20by%20Sunflower%20Sugar%20Art
You can see it used here:https://cakejournal.com/archives/how-to-make-gum-paste-strawberries
I was wondering about the brand of leaf veiner as well.
Hi Louise,
i was just wondering what brand is your leaf veiner?
thanks!
mette: just store your sugar flowers in a box out of sunlight. Dont store in the fridge.
suzanne: Well you could start with the tutorials that I have on my site. Look for cake decorating classes in your area and buy 1-2 books about cake decorating. You can also find many great sources online.
I like you site.I would love to learn how to make sugar roses.Also I want to take a course in cake decorating.where and how do I get started to learn to make roses and other flowers.I love baking and would like to learn how to decorate.
Hey Louise
Do you keep the air tight box with the flowers in the fridge? ( i use fondant with tylo powder, but i dont know how to store them..)
brill got a idea,i could not find a book but this is good
I just started playing around with gumpaste and by watching several videos a few times I made my first 12 roses. thank you for your tutorial because I now see the problem I was having with the calex.
your tutorial is extremely helpful
sarah: Do you mean my Easter ebook? That can be purchased here on the site. Please look here https://cakejournal.com/ebook-store
hi louise,
really easy to follow tutorial, would like to get your book i live in the uk and would like to know where to purchase it from, please could you help? i am making my own wedding cake and have been looking for a website that gives you step by step intsructions and couldn’t find any till now, thank you again!
baha: if you steam the fondant when you are finished with like a hand held steamer, it’ll make the fondant shiny.
baha: no I dont use any oil but now and then if the fondant is a bit dry I knead in a little bit of crisco
hi there u are an awesome cook
hope to make this soon
Louise do You oil the flowers? What can i do to make fondat more shiny?
Clarissa: Well im just working on a flower kit together with one of my sponsors…..
Louise, I love those flowers. I really want to learn how to make them. I am a beginner though. Is there a starter kit that you can buy with all of these items in it?
baha: Well you can buy tylo powder from the UK to ok prices though. But I remember that once on wrote to me about using a “dental fix powder” (for fake teeth) because it have a gum agent in the powder. Try and look for it at your drugstore/pharmacy? If you are not going to eat the flowers anyway their should not be any problems.
Louise thank You very much:) unfortunatelly I can’t find the tylo powder here 🙁 Can I use something else instead???
baha: well when using gum paste or tylo powder with your fondant it harden up the flowers so it is not nice to eat. But it will hold the shape of the flowers so nicely.
If you only add a little amount of tylo powder or mix a little gum paste with your normal fondant you can make flowers there dont get as hard as the ones with a lot of tylo or gum paste. note that when making roses you want to make sure that the petals holds their shape. this will be more difficult if not using gum paste/tylo powder.
Pls write if you still have more questions. Thank you!
Anonymous: I like to use tylo cmc powder to make gum paste. There are many good gum paste recipes on Google.
Traci: you have to go to the other post: How to make gum paste roses to find the video tutorial by Fran.
Hi, I just love Your website. I’m from Poland and we havent got such things as tylo powder for example. So i have a question, Is this gumpaste eatable?
i will be very very happy if You answer me, because i have read a lot about it but i can’t find the answer for my question. Sorry for my english
Jo
Can you please tell me where i can find your video of how to make the roses, saw it but dont know where it went. Thank you
Hi louise, your website is fantastic and i’m inspired to learn about baking (i’m a beginner!!) I had no idea you could do so much with sugar!! I would like to ask what the best ingrediants are for gum paste, and other ways suitable for making sugar flowers. Unfortunately i’m having no luck in making flowers and roses that look nice. Thanks 🙂
jean: To tell you the truth, it has always been a little confusing with all the different pastes that you can get. I have never tried mexican paste or maybe I have not sure really. But when searching for mexican paste is says that its a modelling paste that dries up hard so thats why its great for larger items.
Hi Louise Take it my email to long winded can you tell me what Maxican paste is & used for thanks brill web site
hi Louise, your web site is Great, and very informative. Was just searching the web to find out, how much tylo powder is needed to be added to sugar paste to make a larger rose & found your web page & you answered my question from the information you had there, brilliant. So you maybe the person to tell me what is & what do you use Mexican Paste for. Many thanks jean ( From England )
Kat: You can get the equipments from http://www.confectionerswares.com or http://www.globalsugarart.com
hi there, thank you for that.
i do know where i can buy the kit from please tell me where i can buy it from.
thank you.
thks louise…u r such a great help…really apprieciate it.. i lov ur bunny marshmallow too..
ayang19: Its because you need to add either Gumtex or tylo powder to the rolled fondant. Otherwise it will be sticky and it will not dry properly or harden.
When it says ready to use it is meant for covering cakes with. If you dont have gumtex or tylo powder you should be looking for ready made gumpaste this is to make flowers out of.
hi Louise…i try making rose frm rolled fondant which i bought ready made..i found out tat my fondant tend to become sticky while drying up the rose…where did i go wrong? cos the packaging state ready to use n didnt state any other instruction.. can u pls help me…?
Kosiette: Look for “rose petal cutter sets” from either: FMM or Tinkertech two.
https://www.globalsugarart.com/search.php?search=rose+petal+cutters
hi Louise. im trying to buy the petal cutters that you have and used here. can u tell me what sizes you bought. thank you
Lana: Try this one https://www.nicholaslodge.com/gumpaste.htm its from one of the sugarcraft masters.
Carleen: I have a flower that has been made ages agoe ang it still looks fine. But yes most people have difficulties throwing out the decorations.
holly: this is a dogbone tool:https://www.globalsugarart.com/product.php?id=17237
sian: Thank you
i love your site, i’m learning to make flowers, very helpful thankyou. from england
may you please tell me what a dogbone tool is. im new at the cake bisness and i just cant figure it out.
Louise, I agree it does go very hard, but if it went on a wedding cake the bride could keep it for a long time, obviously the colour will fade but it will last for years. Customers always say, its too pretty to eat!
please could you tell me the easiest and most efficent way of making flower paste. Many thanks Lana (from england)
Mirasol: 🙂
love all of the great tips!!!!a million thanks from California!
Laypeng: you can get tools from sugarcraft supply stores online.
where do i get those ingredients/tool for making a sugar flower? Thank you!
Nice post i like it, Keep it up
Find more about handmade cakes at https://www.morefood.co.uk/cake-details.html
thank you……….
Cute_Lily: :o) glad to hear that….
lou…u’re really helping us a lot…
thank u verrryyyyy muuccchhhh….
anita bradley: Great to hear that Anita.
If i need help i know where to come, and step by step instructions really help.
thanks
anita
Emma Doll: It may look harder than it is… But it is not very difficult to make the smaller roses:-)
WOW! that looks hard! well i was just looking on the internet and i looked it up it looks beautiful and tasty. i bet they leave a good touch on the cake. well hope you have fun time making them every one! !i love cooking!
Thersa: Try this recipe for gumpaste/flower paste from Nicholas Lodge:
https://www.nicholaslodge.com/gumpaste.htm
Thanks.
hi i love the sugar roses…………..they do a really great finish on a cake
Hi Louise.. great tutorial.. I was wondering how do you make the flower paste / sugar paste ? do you have a recipe or know where I can find one.. this would be such a great help.. your gallery is awesome.. I love your work .. you are very talented.. you fairy is adorable as well as the turtles.. Love it just Love it.. Thank you again for everything..
Geraldine. No I am sorry I have not made that yet. But I found this one from Wilton https://www.wilton.com/decorating/basic/callalilly.cfm
hi, cant wait to try out the rose,, do you have a tutorial on making a calla lilly?
efe: I am glad that you like it.
am really grateful for the tutorial,am crazy about sugar petals,thanks alot
It depend on how many you are going to use. I make mine 1-2 weeks before. They dry up and can be a bit hard to chew on. I would not keep them longer than 6 month if they are going on cakes ect.
How long prior to an event (e.g. wedding) should the sugar paste roses be made? How long do they “last”?
Thank you handmaiden.
I really like the spoon method. Thank you!I really enjoy your tutorials.
FANTASTIC tutorial, thankyou very much.
I am glad that you are learning 🙂
lovely, im learning this