Thursday, April 12, 2012

Crystalized Flowers How To

It is super easy and so incredibly beautiful to crystallize flowers.  You can use any edible flower.  Roses, carnations, dandelions, daisies, marigolds and pansies are all on the list along with several others.  You do want to find out if the flowers were organically grown if you or your guests plan on eating them.  Pesticide isn't the best thing to ingest :0)

Here are my supplies:
Flowers and leaves
Super Fine sugar {or granulated sugar ran through the blender/food processor}
Egg Whites
Pliers to cut the stems
Clean, for-food-only paintbrushes
A cooling rack
Wax or Parchment paper
A pen to poke holes in the wax paper


You want to first use the pliers to cut the stems to 1-3" long, depending on where you are going to use them.
Then inspect them for any old or wilted pedals.  Pull off any that don't look fabulous.

Now dip your paintbrush into the egg whites and brush onto the outside of the flower.  

Once the outside is nicely coated, you need to brush the inside.  Find a outer edge and slide your wet paintbrush inside.

Lightly brush some of the inside pedals.  Don't worry about getting every one, or about getting all the way to the bottom.  Too much egg white is bad.  It makes the flower soggy and keeps it from drying in a timely manner.  You can keep working the brush further into the flower following the natural spiral of the pedals.

There is another technique.  It is much easier, but not nearly as pretty.  The flower on the left was done as described above.  The flower on the right was just dunked into the egg white.  See how it has clumped in the middle?

Painted on.


Dunked.


You may want to brush the outside once more to make sure it is totally wet, then sprinkle the flower with the super fine sugar.  Once all of your flowers are finished, discard any extra used sugar.  


Rose buds are fabulous crystallized as well.  Paint the outside, then lightly brush the top, smooshing the brush down into the petals lightly, then sprinkle with sugar.


I always like to do a few leaves too for accent.  Depending on what I am doing, I will also usually also do a couple loose pedals and scatter them on the cake or table.

I have those fabulous Pampered Chef cooling racks that stand higher and stack.  I like to cover those with wax or parchment paper, use the pen to poke a hole... 
then insert the stem.  I have skipped the wax paper and really regretted it in the past.  If you happen to get a little too much egg white and it seeps down to the bottom of the flower, the flower will stick to the cooling rack.  Now you know and don't have to learn the hard way yourself. 

There you have it!  Aren't they beautiful?
These are great on cakes, cupcakes, or just as accents on serving dishes.  They are pretty much dry in one day, but can take two or three if you went a little heavy on the egg whites.  You can make these ahead of time, up to two weeks, as long as they are stored in an air tight container once dried.  Do be careful though.  The sugar can crumble off the flowers if bumped too much.  

Are they really edible?  Yes they are!  If you eat them the first day they still taste like rose.  By the second or third day they just taste like sugar and are stiff.  

This particular project was a cupcake wedding cake for one darling bride.  She wanted fondant daisies on the cupcakes and the small topper cake, with other flowers as accent.  What is a better accent than crystallized roses!?!

I have crystallized daisies.  They are fun, but can really stick if you don't use that wax paper.  When taking the roses off the cooling rack I typically lift them off using scissors.  Again, the more you handle the flowers once dried, the more likely you are to have the sugar flake off.

Give it a try!  These crystallized flowers are really easy, inexpensive, and such an incredible addition to any edible display.

3 comments:

  1. They were yummy! It was a first, so fun.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vanessa, your cakes are so beautiful! I would pick it anytime over the non frosted cake.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Woops, I wasn't finished. I can't believe how beautiful the real flowers are. You do the greatest things! It makes me want to eat them.

    Love, Mom

    ReplyDelete

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