Gum Paste Rose Bases
This is part 1 of 5 on making gum paste roses @naomicakes.com!
Ingredients
- 1 golf-ball sized piece gum paste (see recipe notes)
- 1-2 tsp vegetable shortening
- plastic wrap
- 1 glass water
- 1 sm fondant/gum paste rolling pin (see recipe notes)
- 3 rose cutters (set) (see recipe notes)
- 1 piece styrofoam
Instructions
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Smear a clean work surface with a little shortening, and knead the gum paste until smooth and pliable.
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Roll the gum paste out to be about 1/4-1/2-inch thickness, and cut out tear drop shapes with the smallest rose cutter of your set, 1 per rose you intend to make. (I made 10 for this tutorial)
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Remove the excess gum paste from around your tear-drop cut outs, wrap in plastic, and set aside. Cover the tear drop cut outs on your work surface in plastic as well, pressing it to the greased surface to seal and prevent the rose bases from drying out.
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Remove one teardrop cut out from under the plastic, and cover the remaining pieces again. Using your fingertips, roll it into a smooth, 3D teardrop shape. Dip a toothpick into some water, and press it at least 1/2 way up into the base of the teardrop shaped piece of gum paste.
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Stick the rose base, toothpick side down, upright into a piece of styrofoam to dry. Repeat with the other teardrops until all of the bases are formed.
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Allow the bases to dry 12 hours or more before continuing to the next step.
Recipe Notes
IMPORTANT:
Any leftover gum paste will dry out if it's not kept well-sealed. I recommend wrapping it in plastic, putting it into a ziplock bag, and putting it into a sealed container to keep maximum freshness.
For making large gum paste roses without a rose petal cutter set:
A standard rose cutter set will make fairly small roses (maybe 2-1/2" across the top for the largest rose).
To make larger roses, you can purchase a rose cutter set with large petals, or you can do what I do and use regular round cookie cutters from a cutter set with a wide range of cutter sizes. Choose 2-3 of the smallest circles (I like to use 1/2 to 1-inch as the smallest of my chosen cutters), and use the little one to create the rose base according to the directions on this tutorial card.
When shaping rose petals from a round cutter (for the next tutorials in this series), you will gently pull on one side of your gum paste cut-out to elongate it and create a petal shape. From there you can proceed thinning and frilling the petals according to the instructions.