How to Make A Ruffled Fondant or Gum Paste Flower

I love making ruffled flowers to dress up my cakes. I almost always make these flowers because they’re quick and easy to put together. I have used them on several of my cakes.

I almost always use gum paste when making flowers or anything I want to dry quickly. If I’m making something that I want to dry a little slower, so I have more time to manipulate it, then I will use a 50/50 mix (half gum paste, half fondant) or fondant with tylose. I recommend using gum paste or a 50/50 mix.

This pink ruffled flower is made of fondant with tylose.

I began by rolling out pink fondant, on a slightly greased (shortening) surface, a little thinner than 1/8” in thickness. I used my large and medium size circle cutters to make several circles. I kept the circles I wasn’t using under plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out.

I gently rolled the back of a paintbrush back and forth to create the ruffles. This was done on a thin (Wilton) foam pad that was dusted with a light layer of powder sugar.

I did this all the way around the circle.

I covered the top of a small bowl with foil to create a shallow bowl. This was done to shape my flower. I used small pieces of rolled paper towel under some of the ruffles to help them keep their shape.

I painted a small amount of sugar glue in the center of the flower before adding another ruffle layer. I continued with all of the above steps until I made enough ruffles. For the center, I rolled a small amount of fondant into a ball then flattened it some. I painted a small amount of sugar glue on the center of the flower and the on bottom of the ball and placed the ball on the flower. I painted the center ball with sugar glue and placed white sugar pearls on it. I recommend using white gum paste or 50/50 mix for the center ball, especially when using white sugar pearls.

I ended up using 4 ruffled circles to make this flower.

This is an example of white gum paste ruffled flower with a pink sugar pearl center and pearl dusting on the flower.

Here is another example of a ruffled gum paste flower.

This is an example of a ruffled gum paste flower without the sugar pearl center. I kept adding ruffled flowers until the center was full, about 5 ruffled circles.

The white color on the ruffles is powder sugar. I used vodka to remove the powder sugar. The alcohol evaporates quickly, leaving a clean and dry flower.

I hope you all found this tutorial to be helpful. Happy caking.

Do you have a go to flower or design?

Do you prefer to use gum paste, 50/50 mix or fondant with tylose when making flowers?