How to Make Fondant Flowers (Easy Sugar Flowers)

🧾Supplies required

• Fondant - I made the flowers using Satin Ice fondant. I tinted white fondant in the colors of the rainbow.
• Food colors - I used gel food paste from both Wilton and Americolor to tint my fondant.
• Simple blossom silicone mold - The mold is used to form the flowers and is the main tool for this project. It has 2 parts and has veins imprinted on the inside. Both need to be used together for every flower (more on this below).
• Flower petal cutters - I made these fondant sugar flowers for a unicorn cake and in 2 different sizes. For the larger ones, I used a 5 petal metal cutter. For the smaller ones, I used a smaller, 5 petal flower plunger cutter. 
• Flower formers - these are basically small, bowl shaped tools that are used to set the flowers in a rounded shape. You can also use painting palettes to dry the flowers. These palettes are relatively inexpensive and of the right size to hold the flowers in shape while drying.

Step 1: Roll the fondant and cut the flower petals

To begin with, roll your fondant thin, but not as thin as you would if using gum paste. This is because fondant does not work well when rolled too thin. Cut out the petals.

Step 2: Shape the flowers with the mold

Next, place the cut out fondant flower on the silicone mold . 

The mold has 2 components, one is concave and the other convex. Dust both with cornstarch (you can make your own DIY dusting pouch with this easy tutorial) and place the fondant cut out on the convex component.  

And then, using your fingers, loosely press the fondant piece such that the fondant cut out rests loosely on the convex without being stretched. This step helps in avoiding the fondant from being stretched too much when the concave mold is placed on top and pressed down. And this in turn helps to avoid tears in the center of the sugar flower due to overstretching.

Another important tip to remember when pressing both the components of the mold together is to make sure not to put pressure in the center. Instead, only press all the five sides of the mold to imprint the veins on the petals.

Pressing the center of the mold tends to stretch the fondant. This can cause tears to your fondant flowers (especially the centers), so do be vary when pressing the molds.

Also, make sure the top and bottom components of the mold are placed on top of one another correctly. Both components have a small cut on each. These cuts are to be inline in order for the flower to be formed properly. 

Here is how the fondant sugar flowers would look like after being veined with the mold. 

Step 3: Unmold and set the flowers

If the fondant sticks to the mold, you can use a needle tool or a toothpick to gently remove the flower.

Place the veined fondant sugar flowers in a flower former until they set and hold shape.

Options for making smaller flowers

The silicone mold can not only be used for large flowers, it can also be used for smaller ones. 

The process of making the smaller fondant sugar flowers is similar to making the larger ones. Except that the fondant flowers need to be cut using a smaller flower cutter. 

Again, the mold has to be dusted. Also, the fondant cut out must be placed loosely on the convex. This will avoid it from being overstretched when the other silicone mold is placed on top.

And this is how the fondant flowers would look like after veining. Again, if the flowers stick to the mold, use a needle tool to remove them without damaging the petals.

And again, place the fondant sugar flowers in flower formers until they are set and able to hold shape. 

And that is how easy it is to make these fondant flowers. 

How to attach the fondant flowers to your cake

The flowers can be placed directly on cakes with fondant glue, royal icing or shortening, depending on where you wish to use them.

It is advisable to use fondant glue when using the flowers on the sides of a cake so that they stick well and do not risk falling off the cake with movement.  

Here is how I used these pretty fondant flowers to decorate my unicorn birthday cake.

And that's pretty much my tutorial for easy fondant sugar flowers.