Gum Drop Flowers

Play with your food! Unleash your inner creativity by making gumdrop flowers for Spring.

Gum drop flowers add such a special touch to cupcakes and layer cakes. I love to make them for Easter, and Mother’s Day. For Easter I turn orange gumdrops into carrots. For Mother’s Day I like to cascade a gumdrop roses down the side of a layer cake.

All you need are gumdrops, granulated sugar, a sharp knife and a heavy rolling pin. I prefer to use large fruit flavored (not spiced) gumdrops.

Use the sugar as you would flour when rolling out sticky dough.

I find a firm press down with the heel of my hand to squish the gum drop is a good start before proceeding. I generally cut the gumdrop in half and press it into granulated sugar before rolling it out thinly. Then, cut the discs in half and begin to wrap them into a rose, just a you might do with ribbon. Cut discs of green gumdrops into wedges and pinch the ends to make leaves.

For a carrot, just cut a gumdrop into quarters and roll and pinch them into a carrot shape. Make spiky greenery with a green gumdrop.