Sunflowers (Piped)
Equipment:
Wax paper squares
Small brush
Silicon piping bags
(No tube sizes or quantities are given on purpose as
these sunflowers can be any size).
Small Palette knife,
Leaf nozzle of appropriate size
Plain writing nozzle of appropriate size (optional)
Options dependant on what your Sunflower is destined
for: Wax paper for royal icing, cup cake for butter
cream, cookie on a stick for royal icing.
Materials:
Sunflower, Pale yellow, Dark Brown food colours
Royal icing or butter cream in two different shades of
yellow, one should be markedly darker yellower than
the other.
Royal icing or butter cream in dark brown.
Royal icing or butter cream in leaf green if you intend
to pipe leaves (optional).
Pale Yellow, Sunflower yellow and Dark brown dust
food colour (only if you’re using royal icing), two
dusting brushes.
Note: I mainly describe here the method for royal icing onto wax paper however the basic technique is
the same for whatever medium you are working in or on.
1 Decide upon the size of your finished Sunflower then cut a square of wax paper to match. If you are
piping a sunflower topper for a cupcake then you will not require wax paper as you will be piping
directly onto the top of the cupcake. On the reverse side of the wax paper draw two circles, one inside
of the other. For a cupcake mark the paste on top of your cupcake using circular cutters. The middle
circle will represent the middle of the Sunflower with the outer circle will be a piping guide for your
outer petals.
2 Ignore this next step if you are piping directly onto a cupcake. Turn your wax paper over so that the
markings are face down; this way there is no danger of contaminating your royal icing with ink or
pencil lead. Attach the wax paper to a flat surface, such as a small cake board, on which the Sunflower
will be left to dry once completed.
3 Insert your leaf nozzle into a paper piping bag and then fill one side of the piping bag with dark
yellow royal icing and the other half with paler yellow royal icing. This same method can be used
when piping buttercream icing directly onto a cupcake. When you pipe you should now end up with
icing which is two toned. This is particularly useful if piping butter cream as it will add an extra
dimension to your finished Sunflower as you cannot dust butter cream.
4 Following the outer circle, pipe a circle of leaf shapes (these are the petals),
once completed pipe another circle of petals on the inside of the first
endeavouring to pipe the petals over the gaps between the first petals. Finally
pipe a third circle of petals which will roughly line up with the first circle of
petals. (You can do as many circles of petals as dictated by the size of your
Sunflower).
5 Insert the plain writing nozzle into a paper piping bag and fill it with the dark
brown icing. To create the ridge in the Sunflowers centre pipe a doughnut
shape equidistant between the edge of the inner petals and the centre point of
the Sunflower. Starting at the inner edge of the petals pipe concentric circles of
dots until the entire centre of the Sunflower is complete. Leave this to dry for
approximately 24 hours before removing from the wax paper. For the cupcake
shown at the end of this step by step I used a disk of paste pushed into a sieve
to create the grid effect for the Sunflowers centre.
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Sunflowers (Piped) By Ceri DD Griffiths
Handy Hint
On buttercream cupcakes using chocolate chips or chocolate vermicelli to
create the centre of your Sunflower is a particular favourite with children
whilst for a quicker centre use one large chocolate button.
Please note that this next stage can only be completed with royal icing sunflowers.
6 Once you have removed the royal iced Sunflower from the wax paper place
it onto a piece of kitchen paper to prevent it sliding around whilst dusting.
Using Sunflower yellow dust food colour and a dusting brush, darken the base
of each petal. Using a paler yellow dust food colour and a dusting brush, dust
the remainder of each petal. Use a puffer to remove the excess dust from the
petals. No matter how careful you are the dark centre of the Sunflower will be
discoloured by the yellow dust therefore re-establish the dark brown centre
with dark brown dust food colour (Do Not puffer this).
7 Once you are happy with the shading of the Sunflower you can steam it. This is best achieved by
keeping the Sunflower on a flat surface and wafting steam from a kettle over it, you will only need the
smallest amount of steam to set the dust colour. Your Sunflower will look shiny at this point but don’t
worry it will dry to a matt finish (approx 10 minutes). These Sunflowers store well in a dry dust-free
container for future projects so it is worth making a few at a time for those last minute requests.
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Sunflowers (Piped) By Ceri DD Griffiths