70
16b
15b 16a
17a
17b 17c
18a 18b
Steps 16a-b.
Press each wired petal into the floral veiner. Take the
ball tool and subtly frill the edges on the foam pad. Take
the bulbous cone tool and make lines pulling outwards
to create small tips. Lay flat to dry overnight.
Steps 17a-c.
Once your petals are dry, take the Mauve petal dust
and shade the bottom of each petal. There are many
different colour variations of cosmos, so play around
with colour! Take your first four petals and gently
bend the wire back, holding the petal firmly and being
careful not to break the petal from the wire. Tape each
petal, one by one, with the floral tape. Space the petals
around the stamen evenly. Tape the remaining petals
underneath the first set, filling in the spaces. Shade the
back of the flower with the Mauve petal dust.
To decorate the cake:
Cover all tiers in white fondant, except for the 8” tier.
Cut out an 8” circle of white fondant and place on top
of the 8” cake, covering the top only. Set the cakes
aside.
To create the rustic wood effect panels:
Steps 18a & b.
The 12” cake will need 20 panels that are 2” wide x 9”
tall. The 6” cake will need 10 panels that are 2” wide
x 6” tall. Using white fondant, cut all panels with a
template or a ruler to the desired size. Allow to dry
overnight. Only let dry until firm, some elasticity is still
needed. Gum paste is also an option as it would only
have to dry for 4 hours. These panels must be quite
thin.
Tip: Flip all panels over halfway through the drying
process. The panel should be stiff enough that it does
not bend when you pick it up.
Paint on some wood grain-like brush strokes with ivory,
brown and white.
Steps 19a & b.
Once the panels are firm, gently bend vertically and
horizontally to create small surface cracks. This will
make the rolling step work more effectively. You will
need to cut out a second set of panels in dark brown
fondant. Roll it out to ¼” as they must be thicker than
the white panels. I prefer to cut about five panels at
a time as these need to remain soft. Brush the brown
panel with a small amount of water and adhere one
matching woodgrain painted panel to it.
Steps 20a & b.
Take the small rolling pin and roll over the two attached
panels slowly to make more surface cracks. Once you
have achieved the desired look, trim the edges back to
the original size using the template or ruler. Set these
panels to dry until they are completely hardened.
19a 19b
20a 20b