How to make a freesia from fondant or gum paste

In this  ”how to” / tutorial I explain how to make a freesia in fondant or gum paste. Your cakes will look beautiful when decorated with these flowers.

How to make a freesia: You will need:

Fondant or gum paste
Tylo powder, (only needed if you use fondant)
Icing color (For example yellow or purple for the flower and green color for the calyx)
Freesia cutter
Corn flour duster
Gum paste mats (both a white foam mat and a blue mat with holes for the mexican hat method are needed)
Rolling pin
Balling tool
Edible glue
Paint brushes (for glue)
Floral wire 24 gauge & green tape
Stamens
Pliers for cutting and bending the floral wire
Tooth picks

How to make the freesia

1) Start by adding color to the fondant or gum paste using the color of your choice. Use a food coloring paste. Please notice: If the fondant or gum paste is left on the table for a while it will dry out and become unusable. I always protect the fondant by wrapping it in a plastic bag when not in use.

2) Knead the fondant or gum paste and add a pinch of tylo powder so that the fondant becomes easier to work with (if you use gum paste you don’t need the tylo powder). Make a small ball of the fondant or gum paste and roll the ball into a sausage shape.

3) Place one end of the sausage in one of the holes in the blue foam mat. Shape the leftover gum paste on top of the mat so that it looks like a smal lump.

4) Flatten the lump with your rolling pin, roll in all directions to flatten the fondant into a large circle. You can also flatten the fondant even more by using a tooth pick instead of the rolling pin.

5) Now, check that the freesia cutter fits the size of the fondant circle but don’t cut out the fondant on top of the mat.

6) Gently remove the fondant / gum paste from the mat, (if you wriggle it carefully you can remove it). Place the fondant on a cutting board / non stick board that you have dusted with corn flour. Place the flat part facing down.

7) Cut out the flower using a freesia cutter. Press down the cutter firmly and twist it a bit. This way you ensure that you get a clean cut and this makes the flower look nicer.

8) Remove the excess fondant /gum paste and shape the little ‘sausage’ so it looks like a flower.

9) Place the flower on the edge of the white foam mat and thin the petal with the ball tool by gently gliding the tool on the petal. Repeat the process on the other 2 petals.

10) Roll out one more piece of fondant with your rolling pin. Remember to dust the board with corn flour.

11) Cut out one more freesia and use the ball tool to thin the petals. This time you only need the 3 petals so you don’t need to use the blue mat to create a ‘sausage’ shape on the flower.

12) Dot a bit of edible glue on the first petals you made and place the second petals on top. Make an indent through both set of petals with the small ball on the ball tool.

13) Take some floral wire and cut it into 3 pieces. Bend a small hook in one end of the wire using the pliers.

14) Bend 2 stamens and attach them to the hook by squeezing the hook together with the pliers.

15) Attach the floral wire with the stamens to the flower. You do this by attaching the floral wire into the center of the flower from above. You should not be able to see the hook when you have inserted it in the flower.

Let the flower dry by hanging it upside down (you can make a hook in the other end of the floral wire and use this hook when you want to hang it upside down).

16) Now you need to make the calyx for the freesia: Start by adding some green color to the fondant. Afterwards, roll out the fondant / gum paste on your board. You need to roll it out thinly.

17) Cut out the calyx using the freesia cutter

18) Dot a bit of edible glue on the calyx

19) Attach the calyx to the flower by pulling the calyx through the floral wire from below and glue it to the flower.

20) When the flower is dry you can cover the wire with floral tape. In order to get the floral tape to stick to the wire you have to stretch the tape to make it sticky. Wrap the tape around the wire using your finger tips. You need to press hard while your wrap the tape (it can feel a bit uncomfortable in your finger tips). Ensure that the tape is as close to the flower as possible leaving no wire visible.

I hope you can use the tutorial, please leave a comment if you have questions or ideas for improving this method for making fondant freesias 🙂