Sugar Artist Edna de la Cruz from Design Me a Cakeis known for designing elegant cakes with a "Wow" effect! This cake is no different. Using edible paper art in many forms, she designed this elegant blissful cake which is just breath taking.


Materials

Covered Petal Cakes and Round Cakes.

Sweet Accents™ Food Safe Die Cutting and Embossing System

Designer Borders & Flowers and Flourishes Sweet Accents Dies

Food Safe Daisy Punch

iDesign™ number 98 printed, using an Icing Images Premium™ Icing Sheet and using an edible printer. (If you do not have an edible printer, Icing Images can also print and ship an edible iDesign for you.

Tylose Glue

Piping Gel

Airbrush (red with lemon extract)

White, Red & Yellow DECOgel™

Design Me a Cake Super Pearl Mold

Design Me a Cake Sunflower/Daisy Center Mold

Design Me a Cake Wire Gauge 24

Petal Dust (color: Greenbean)

Icing Images Premium Wafer Paper (colors: white, red and green

Dowel Rod

Decorating Petal Cake

Start with a fondant covered petal cake. Measure the height of the cake to determine how high you want the border. Make sure that the border will rise slightly above the height of the cake. Using the Sweet Accent Die Cutting and Embossing System, cut the printed iDesign Icing Sheet with the Scallop Die from the Sweet Accents Designer Borders die set.

When applying the imageon the petal cake, cut the paper to the width of each petal toensure that the paper will be flat against the cake. Adhere the icing sheet to the cake using tylose glue or piping gel. Be careful not to use too much glue or gel.

Add additional effects to the icing sheet by airbrushing the paper lightly with red airbrush color diluted with lemon extract.

To make two different colors pearls to act as borders on the bottom of the cake, first mix white and red DECOgel and pour in to the Super Pearl Mold and let it set. Then repeat the same process with yellow and white DECOgel. Once set lay the pearls around the border using a little bit of melted DECOgel as the glue to adhere the beads.

Creating Flowers

To create the centers of the daisy, use the Sunflower/daisy center mold. Using wire gauge #24 shape the end of the wire in an L shape so the wire will have a strong bond with the gum paste. Make a ball of gum paste and place it in the mold and then add the wire to the gum paste with a very light amount of tylose gum glue. Let it dry overnight before adding the petals to the flowers.

To create the daisy use a food safe Daisy punch or the food safe Sweet Accents™ Flowers and Flourishes die to cut the wafer paper flowers.The daisy can be created with two layers, but adding a third layer gives a fuller look to the flower. To adhere the layers together, add tylose glue to the back of the center.

Slide the wire throughthe center of the daisy then slide the first wafer paper daisy cut out with the shiny side facing up and then add a very light amount of tylose glue to the wafer paper daisy. Too much glue can make the paper melt so make sure to add a very light coat. It is best to slide the first layer of the daisy on all the flowers you are making and then dry them upside down. Once dry, add the second layer making sure that the petals of the second daisy go in between the petals of the first layer. For the last layer place them in a Styrofoam ball to dry making sure all layers dry in different positions to create full daisies.

To create the smaller daisies, follow the same instructions however glue the rough side of two pieces of wafer paper together using piping gel. Use piping gel to add the gum paste centers. Let dry before placing them on the cake.

Leaves

For the leaves, fold a piece of Icing Images Premium green Wafer Paper 4 times. Cut long thin leaves. Dust the wafer on both sides with "green bean" petal dust. The color won't be smooth but it will look great.

Roll the tip of the leaf with a dowel rod.

Using piping gel, glue the rough sides of the red and yellow Premium Wafer Paper together.

Using the vine from the Flowers and Flourishes die set, cut the wafer paper using the Sweet Accents Machine creating the cutting sandwich as follows: Pink Board (C), Wafer Paper, Die, White Plate (A).
Roll the cutter through the machine.

Use as many dies as desired from the Flowers and Flourishes die set to embellish the cake.

Use the gum glue or a very small dab of water to adhere them to the cake. Add small daisies to complete the design.


Edna de la Cruz has been interested in creating beautiful things with her hands all her life. She began as a fashion designer doing fashion shows in Central Florida.

Over 18 years ago, she decided to try her hand at cake decorating. She took basic classes with Wilton and fell in love with the art. Edna worked at a custom cake shop as the Wedding Designer for over 7 years and now owns her own company. Some of her work and tutorials have been featured in magazines like Cake Central Magazine, American Cake Decorating Magazine, Imagen, El Nuevo Dia and other publications. Today, she not only designs wedding cakes, but she teaches both through her instructional DVDs and in classrooms throughout the country. Edna has been invited to be a judge at the prestigious shows including the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show (OSSAS), run by Kerry Vincent and other shows around the Country. Edna teamed up with Paul Joachim and won the Food Network Challenge, Extreme Aliens. You can see examples of her work at her website