Gardenias are really pretty because they’re such a loose-looking flower, and they’re fairly easy to make using gumpaste.
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This little cake had a gumpaste gardenia on rustic buttercream icing.
There are a bunch of different varieties of them, so you don’t have to worry about making them look super specific.
Take a look at online images before you start to find one that you like.
Materials you’ll need.
Floral Wire (large gauge to support the center, and smaller for the petals)
Gum Glue (Click here for a recipe)
Make the gumpaste gardenia.
This flower is made the same way that you make a gumpaste rose, but the petals are shaped and positioned slightly differently.
Start with a wired, tightly wound center that’s like a spiral rose center, then start expanding the center by adding a row of loosely spirally petals that extend out.
That will form the center part of the flower.
The next row of larger petals will curve up toward the center, and there should be 6 of them.
These petals were wired on the one that I made so that I could move them around.
They should be attached to the center so that they fall slightly away from the spiraled center.
The next row is going to be the same size or slightly larger petals than the last row, and are also wired.
They should be curved DOWN, away from the flower.
In some varieties the outermost petals tend to curl up so much they look like they’re tubular because they’ve curled up onto themselves so much.
They should be arranged so that they’re staggered with the first wired row.
In general, you just want to give the look of a tighter center with two rows of looser curving petals outside of that.
Outer, separate petals.
The outer petals are distinctly separate from the inner center, unlike a rose, which is more compact.
When I put the flower on the cake, I usually add some loose, larger petals behind it that aren’t attached to the flower, and aren’t wired.
That way you can make the flower look larger without having to worry about wiring the petals and making everything fit up against each other.
Finish the flower off with some dark green leaves that you can add to the cake behind it.
