Fondant Daisies

2012 marks the 100^th Birthday of Girl Scouts of the USA, and the celebration is continuing all year! I’ll try to quickly post everything I learn that has to do with daisies (the Girl Scouts’ official flower), so you can make daisies for a commemorative cake (surely there’s a cooking badge that this project could apply toward). When I learned this daisy in the third session of Wilton's Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant, it was made with a 50/50 mix of gum paste and fondant. I know that gum paste is supposedly edible (and has a kosher rating and all), but I just can't imagine serving up a cupcake that's likely to get eaten by kids, decorated with something that isn't edible so much as it's "food safe" or "non toxic" (as though it were a kids' crafting supply). I tried to make the daisies out of straight fondant, and found the process is just as easy and effective (and far more delicious). 

Here’s what you’ll need: a 9” fondant roller fitted with 1/16” pink rings, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch, a container of gum glue adhesive (a pinch of gum paste dissolved in a tablespoon of water), a small brush, a large mum cutter (part of the Course 3 Student kit or the Wilton Ultimate Decorating Set, a piece of thin pink shaping foam, the veiner tool from the Wilton 10-piece Fondant & Gum Paste Tool Set, yellow and white fondant, a gum paste storage board (to use as a work surface), yellow sugar (optional), and flower forming cups (large for petals that are more spread out, small if you want your daisies to be more “cupped.” 

 Start by dusting the back side of the storage board:

 Roll out a ball of fondant. When it's as thin as it can be, slide off the pink rings and roll it just a little thinner.

 Cut out two shapes with the large mum cutter for each daisy. You'll need to press firmly…

 …and possibly roll the fondant roller over the cutter to really show it who's boss.

 Tear away the excess…

 …and smooth the edges of each petal with your finger against the cutter from the tips to the base. The cutout should pop out of the cutter easily.

 Lay one cutout on the pink foam, and draw the wide end of the veiner tool from the tip to the center on all the petals.

 Repeat this on both cutouts.

 Place a dab of gum glue adhesive in the center of one cutout…

 …and place the other cutout on top; stagger them so the petals aren't lined up on top of each other.

Roll a pea-sized piece of yellow fondant into a ball:

Flatten it slightly on the storage board…

 …and stick the narrow end of the veining tool into it.

 Paint the top half with gum glue adhesive:

 Dip it into the yellow sugar.

 Place a dab of gum glue adhesive in the middle of the top daisy cutout…

 …and stick the yellow center on it, sugar side up.

 Here are two daisies drying; the one on the left is on a large flower former, the one on the right is on a small. You could also dry the daisies flat on the back side of the storage board, if you like.

 I'll try to keep the daisy ideas coming! Happy Birthday, Girl Scouts!