Plumeria Cupcakes (Gumpaste)

I love plumerias, so I decided to share with you how I make them out of gumpaste. What I like about this flower is that it is fairly simple to do and they look so pretty on cupcakes and cakes. These are the perfect cupcakes all year long,whether your having a cool summer party  or you are smack dab in the middle of a cold winter and you are daydreaming of being on a nice warm hawaiian beach sipping a cold drink looking at the beautiful flowers and ocean. I love plumerias.... oh I already mentioned that.  ; ) Thank you for checking out my instructable. Please vote and rate.

You will need:

Cupcakes
Gumpaste (Satin Ice is recommended)
Small bowl of flour
Ball tool (metal is recommended) I found mine in the clay department at michaels
Small rolling pin
Wilton practice board set (keeps the petals from drying out )
Yellow or pink luster dust
Foodsafe paintbrush
Wilton shaping foam set or a foam pad from your local cake supply store- recommended
Teardrop cookie cutter graduated set or you can trace a template with a paring knife
Small cup of water
Cornstarch
Vinyl mat

To make the flour cups(they support the plumeria while it dries)

Use a small cup or bowl, pack it tight with flour. Stick your ball tool in the middle and make a dip in the flour about 1 inch deep.Set aside.You will need one of these for every plumeria that you make. I know you dont want to make 30 of these bowls ,so what you can do is wait til the plumerias are almost dry(about 3 hours) and carefuly set on the table to dry so you can reuse the bowls that you have made.

First you need a light layer of cornstarch.Take your gumpaste and roll it out as flat as you can.(about as thick as a nickel) Choose  the size of the teardrop cutter or trace your template and cut out 5 “petals”. Gumpaste dries very quickly so you will need a Wilton practice board to keep your petals from drying out. Or you could cover them VERY good with plastic wrap. Take one petal out at a time and place it on your foam ,using your ball tool , make small circles in the top rounded part of the petal then place your ball tool half way on the petal and half way on the foam, press with medium pressure along the whole top part of the petal. Repeat until you have nice thin edges that curl a little. (this method will probably take a little practice and is much easier with the metal ball tool instead of a plastic one ) Place  your petal back in the practice board so it doesn’t dry out.

Take one of your petals out at a time. Use you paint brush to brush on a tiny bit of water on the right side of the bottom V  portion of the petal. Place a petal on it and this will glue it in place. Line it up so it will look even when you’re done. (refer to picture)Press down with your finger and the point of the V to help the petals stick .Repeat this step until you have all 5 petals in your hand. If you use too much water the gumpaste will be very sticky. Put a little water on the front part of the first petal. Now sort of fold your hand so that the last petals fall onto the first petals, gently press them together. Pinch the back of the 5 V points. Place in the hole of the cup of flour to dry. Use your finger or a pen or something to carefully move the metal in uninform shapes so they look natural and imperfect. Let dry  at least over night.(to be on the safe side)

Now that your flowers are dry they will keep their shape but they are a little fragile and you might even want to make extras. Some may chip but you can put that part in the frosting a little to hide it.(depending on how bad the chip is)They will have flour on them so you can either blow on them to get it off or take a soft paintbrush to dust the flour off. Dip your paintbrush into your lusterdust and lightly "dry-paint" the middle of the plumeria. Or as you desire. Now just place your beautiful flowers on your cupcakes.


NOTE: The last 5 pics are of real plumerias. As you can see they come in all shapes and colors so you cant go wrong.