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To Make Flowers for Cake Ornaments

Flower making of icing and gum paste is a trade of itself and it is generally cheaper to buy than to make them. But it often happens that the ready made article is not obtainable and we must do the best we can. Dip three or four sheets of writing paper in some wax melted on a plate and form the flowers with the cornets or brass tubes on the waxed paper. The cornet that has the point cut off slantwise when pressed will discharge the icing in a narrow ribbon form and it is not difficult with that to form five rounded leaves, the points all meeting in the center and making a pansy, or a number of narrower petals around a centre like a dahlia. To make the conventional red and white roses a core, or little pyramid an inch high has first to be made and let dry to form them on. These coves are of stiff icing forced out of a cornet and drawn up high. They should stand on small pieces of waxed paper. When dry and hard wrap a morsel of the ribbon icing pressed out of the cornet over the point of the core, like the inside leaf of a rosebud. After suddenly breaking off the ribbon commence again at the back of the first leaf and form another, covering the point of the core on the other side. Let the next leaf lean outwards a little and the next still more, making them all adhere to the core by one edge of the ribbon and making the rose leaves larger and larger till the core is covered and there is room for no more. The flat four and five leaved flowers, such as resemble apple blossoms and pansies, should be painted with a few fine lines of color. The roses are made red by coloring the icing they are made of.

After learning to use the cornets in making borders on cakes and making flowers, to make raised ornamental work, such as lattice work, fences, sides of temples, etc, to be raised up and joined together on the cakes, or baskets and other objects it is only necessary to know that all such may be made on paper coated with white wax, and when the object is dry and hard the paper can be warmed and it will slip off.

Most of the white plaster-like ornaments for cakes in the confectioners' windows, such as birds, baskets, lace leaves, vases and twelfth-cake figures are made of gum paste, a compound that could be eaten but probably never is, although it is one-half sugar.