Candy Flower Cake

Our contributor, Erin Gardner of Erin Bakes, is back with a new tutorial today!  Join along as she shares a new cake project with a step-by-step tutorial.

Spring is coming!  Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself as I stare out of my window at mounds of snow.  Until the real blossoms start popping, I’ll settle for the next best thing – bright, bold, and tasty candy flowers.  Today we’re decorating a cake with chewy candy flowers made from Airheads and Laffy Taffy!

Airheads and Laffy Taffy are remarkably easy to work with and hold their shape really well.  They’re also super affordable at about .25-.50 per piece.  I got approximately 13 petals from each piece of candy and needed about 4 pieces of each color to finish the cake (6-inch base and small 4-inch top tier).

I used my candy flowers to decorate a fondant finished cake, but they’d work just as well on a buttercream iced cake or as cupcake toppers.

CANDY FLOWER CAKE
a tutorial by Erin Gardner

Supplies:

Cherry and Orange Airheads
Banana Laffy Taffy
Yellow and Green Licorice Ropes
Small Knife
Rose Petal Cutter Set (small round cutters would work too)
Parchment Paper
Rolling Pin

Unwrap one of your pieces of candy and microwave it on a piece of parchment paper for 5-7 seconds.

Roll the candy, while it’s still warm and pliable, between two pieces of parchment paper to about an 1/8-inch thick.

Cut out 5 petals for each flower.  Don’t toss your scraps!  They can be squished together, microwaved again, and re-rolled.

Arrange the petals into a flower shape, overlapping the petals in the same direction as you go.  Use a little bit of water if you have trouble getting the petals to stick to each other.

Cut three 1/2-inch long pieces of yellow licorice rope.  Pinch the three pieces together at one end.  Tuck the pinched end into the center of your flower.

Repeat this process to create additional flowers.

Cut a piece of green licorice rope to use as the flower’s stem.

Attach your flowers onto the sides of a fondant covered cake using a little bit of water, piping gel, or frosting.

VENDORS & CREDITS
Tutorial : Erin Gardner of Erin Bakes
Learn From This Baker : Online Cake Classes with Erin Gardner on Craftsy