Sugar and Spice and Everything Hard to Do
A chic gumpaste Dahlia from caljavaonline.com- a.k.a. my backup plan.
My sisters and I have a tendency to get overly excited about complex baking projects, like modernist Gingerbread houses. We get really pumped about them and talk for weeks about our plans- and then comes execution. Despite our general artistic and baking competency, they usually end… not so awesomely.
My sister Jana started making a gingerbread model of the Pantheon in high school that I think still exists in pieces somewhere in my parents house. Our attempt at making marshmallow fondant was, in a word, tragic. The ruined carcasses of our failures lie in our wake, and you’d think we’d have learned our lesson by now.
Despite all this, though, a new twinkle has appeared in my eye: gum paste flowers. Pinterest has tricked me into believing that they are easy to make and totally “DIY-able.” “Plus,” Pinterest says chirply in unison with Martha Stewart and other unflappable bakers, “they last forever!” I believe neither of these things, yet I know I will spend at least a handful of afternoons in the kitchen, swearing at a pile of sugar and gum tragacanth and begging the gumpaste to do my bidding. I’m envisioning stuff like the picture above, but I’m afraid I’ll end up with something more like this.
When you are 12 months away from your wedding, things like making sugar flowers sound reasonable. I have a feeling this will change as time continues its march- and if and when it does, I am comforted by the fact that gum paste flowers can be purchased online, thanks to the miracle of the internet.
So while I wait for my tools to arrive and for my inevitable frustration to become a reality, here’s a handful of some lovely commercially-available sugar flowers on the interwebs after the jump.
Gumpaste Succulents- ACakeToRemember on Etsy.com
Succulents are having a moment for weddings right now, probably because they seem hard to kill (but not impossible- trust me). I like the subtlety of coloration in these options from the Richmond-based ACakeToRemember. A little less romantic than your usual sugar flower, I might just get a couple of these and put them in pots in my living room to trick people.
Assorted Size Garden Roses- caljavaonline.com
These roses come 15 to a box (sizes ranging from 1″-3″) for $51.67, which seems like a not-terrible price. I feel like you can’t go wrong with a bunch of white flowers- it’s super chic and sculptural. The little ones would be gorgeous on a cupcake, and the larger flowers would make a lovely statement piled on top of a simple white cake.
Pink Sugar Gumpaste Peony Set- SUGARonTOPsugarart on etsy.com
Despite the liberal use of lens flare, this Boise-based Etsy shop does really nice work. I especially like their color work- it makes me rethink my aversion to everything besides white and gray (sometimes I think I live in Pleasantville). At $50.00 for the set of two, these are very, very pricy, but they feel more bespoke than some of the options on the larger websites.
5.5″ Cattleya Orchin- XL: www.wholesalesugarflowers.com
12.99 for 6 big-a$$ orchids? Sign me up! I HATE the tulle and ribbons on these- like, HATE- but I feel like that can’t be too hard to remove. The orchid itself is pretty decent.
And last but not least…
Ahahaha JK JK
