Since I’ve had several requests for how I made the flowers on top of the Holt Gala cake, I thought I’d give you all a simple tutorial – especially since it was as easy as grabbing my camera during our play-doh play time! They are a cross between a ribbon rose and an actual rose…and the best part is they are SUPER easy to make!! So, here are the steps to make your own modeling chocolate rose – Jessicakes style!
1. Roll out your modeling chocolate to 1/16″ thick. Cut out two circles for each flower you want to make. The size of the circle cutter will effect the finished size of the flower. For this demonstration I used a 3″ circle cutter. Cut each circle in half.
2/3. Holding one half of the circle with your left hand, pinch the rounded edge with your right thumb and pointer finger so it thins that edge out and ruffles it a bit.
4. Make a few and let them sit on the counter so they don’t get too soft
5/6. Begin at one tip, start loosely rolling the half-circle up along the rounded edge.
7. Place the flower just below the top rounded edge of the next half circle.
8. Wrap both corners over like you’re wrapping it up in a blanket. Now use your finger and slightly brush the top edges of the flower out a bit to open the flower up before adding more circles.
9. Add another half-circle. Place the flower just below the top rounded edge of the next half circle.
10. Wrap it up like a blanket
11. See how edges are close to the center of the flower, almost standing straight up? – use your finger tip to brush/pull them out slightly to open the petals up – see image 12.
That’s it! Add as many half circles as you want in order to get the size flower you want. Again, the size of the circle cutter you use will effect the size of the flower…so have fun playing with your circle cutters!
It’s so easy…here’s my daughter making her own play-doh version!
Happy flower making!
Very cute flowers. Thanks for the tutorial.
I rarely ever use modeling chocolate….would you get the same effect with fondant or gum paste?
If you don’t use Modeling chocolate, you can use gumpaste.
Thanks so much. I sat down and went through your blog last night. Your work is so beautiful!! Can’t wait to follow along as you create new masterpieces.
These are so awesome! I can think of so many beautiful ways to use these – thanks for sharing the tutorial! I’ve included it in our roundup of beautiful foods for a floral themed party. Floral Themed Food Finds
Your blog is amazing!!!
Best wishes from Madrid,
Hi Jessica,
I’m so happy I stumbled across your blog…I love it!! I have a question about modeling chocolate. I’ve never worked with it before, but I’ll be making figures for a Zelda character cake for a child affiliated with Icing Smiles (so excited~my first!). My first instinct was to grab the fondant and gumpaste and do a 50/50 mix, but I’m not fond of the taste of gumpaste, and I want this to be yummy in case the boy decides to bite Zelda’s head off From what I’ve read, modeling chocolate may be much more palatable, but I’m just not sure how easy of a medium it is to work with. Any thoughts?
Your cakes are amazing and thank you in advance!
Susan
Susan: I HEART modeling chocolate! But, for you, the best way to figure it out is to try it yourself. I’d just make up a quick batch and play around with it. You can also mix gumpaste and modeling chocolate to get a great consistency for modeling…and it hardens nicely…but doesn’t taste as horrible. Enjoy the cake!
Hi Jessica,
I was hoping you could help me out with a few things. I have a cake that I have to finish for tomorrow and I’m working with modeling chocolate for the first time. Well, first I’ve made a couple characters out of the chocolate(they are pretty delicate and I can’t afford to have them fall!) and they will be sitting on top of the cake which has a crusting cream cheese buttercream finish but on top of that will be a round circle of modeling chocolate that they will be on. My question is how to secure them. Do I use melted candy discs? Then I’ll need to attach flowers that have been made of the chocolate to the buttercream finish. Don’t know what to use for that. And to make it all that much more difficult, the cake needs to be refrigerated because of the cream cheese so I’m afraid that the chocolate will sweat like fondant does when it’s refrigerated and then brought out to room temp. Do you know if that’s the case and if so, will everything be ruined? I’m feeling overwhelmed to say the least. I haven’t done butercream that requires refrigeration because of these type of things and because I live where it’s so hot all the time! Any help would be so appreciated!!
You’re a true blessing, Thank you!
Joey
Can you put the characters and flowers on at the venue when the cake is in the final spot so you won’t have to worry about the refrigeration issues?
If you didn’t build the characters with wire or sticks coming out of their feet (in order to attach to the cake), then you’ll have to use melted chocolate. Just a little dab and they should be fine. I have no idea for the flowers. It depends on how big they are. You would want to have them on wire or flower picks so you can insert them into the cake and the cake helps to hold them. I don’t know how they will stick to the buttercream…I’m sorry. If they’re 2 dimensional, they’ll be fine sticking to the buttercream…but if they are weighty and sticking out, I’m not the person to ask. Sorry!
Hi, love your blog and tips. I was wondering if the modeling chocolate you use feels greasy? Cause the one i use (homemade) feels that way. Is that normal in modeling chocolate? I wish i could get some ready to work modeling chocolate but where i live is not possible
Thank you!
Mine doesn’t feel greasy…but if you’re comparing it to fondant, it does have a more “wax-y” like quality to it?! But, it should be smooth and pliable…not greasy.
What recipe do you use?
Jessica
Hello! i use this recipe:
2 lbs white chocolate
1 cup corn syrup.
Everyone tells me that i should use guittard white gourmet chips, but is impossible to get those where i live, so i use Turin. Thank you so much for your time.
Hi Jessica,
You said you generally prefer modeling chocolate; what kind of projects do you prefer using gum paste?
thanks.
I rarely use gumpaste because I love the texture and flavor of modeling chocolate and because I’m in a cooler climate it tends to be pretty stable. Although…it has it’s limitations. I’ll use gumpaste when things need to be stable/hard like certain kinds of flowers with long petals or numbers I want standing up on the cake…things that need stability no matter the temperature. I hope that helps!