Realistic Edible Modeling Chocolate Roses

The first time I made modeling chocolate was to make roses for a cake for my sister. I wanted to make something spectacular as she was celebrating a special occasion. Making modeling chocolate was going out on a limb for me; I can cook, but I had never done anything like that. It turned out to much easier and much harder than I had expected, at the same time.

My rose making has become much better since then. I decided today to share with you how to make realistic roses for cakes or whatever desert you want. I think the added touch of a more realistic rose than what you see most of the time is very elegant and just brings instant beauty to a desert. Plus, the modeling chocolate tastes good!

Sorry, everybody, apparently the editor deleted my supplies list. I had issues with this when making the Instructable, but I thought I had finally succeeded. I was wrong. Here are the supplies:

1. Candy melts. I am using Wilton candy melts in white, but you can use whatever color you want. You can also use food coloring and knead it into the clay after you make it to change the color.
2. Light corn syrup
3. Large heat proof bowl
4. Small heat proof bowl
5. Measuring utensils
6. Spoon (not pictured)
7. Plastic wrap
8. Small pill bottles or other curved objects that you can place the rose petals on to harden so they hold their shape
9. A roller (I have been told you can use a pasta machine, but I have never used one)
10. Rose mold. You can make your own rose petal mold (which is what I did) from a real rose petal and Amazing Mold Putty. This silicone putty is food safe and there are tons of videos online about how to make a rose petal veiner for your cakes.
11. Cornstarch to prevent sticking
12. A small heart cookie cutter about the size of your rose petal mold

The recipe I use is by Sugar Geek Show. You can find it here.

It calls for 16 oz candy melts to 4 oz corn syrup. If you have a kitchen scale, definitely use it. If not, this equals about 2 cups of melts and 1/2 cup corn syrup.

Place a piece of plastic wrap on your work surface. Make sure it is a large piece.

Pour the corn syrup into the small heat proof bowl. Heat in the microwave for just a few seconds to get it warm, NOT HOT. If you can't bear to have your finger in it, it is too hot. Set aside.

Now melt the candy melts by heating in short bursts of about 10 seconds at a time. Stir between. Don't heat until all the melts are melted. Heat until almost all the melts are melted and then just stir them around until they all melt. The heat of the already melted candies will cause the solids to melt, too.

Now pour the heated corn syrup into the melted candies. Fold it in. You will see streaks and feel the candies begin to seize (harden). Don't stir it, fold it in. The stage you want is described by everyone as "soft serve ice cream". You can see in my photos that it isn't like I exactly totally mixed it all together, just mostly.

Pour it out onto the plastic wrap. Cover with a second piece of plastic wrap and then flatten it. Leave it for a while so it can harden. Once it is hard, you will be able to break pieces off of it that you can then knead and they will be easily malleable.

Break off a piece of modeling chocolate and knead it until it is no longer stiff.

Lay down a piece of plastic wrap and sprinkle a thin layer of cornstarch on it. Roll your modeling chocolate out thinly (but not so thin it tears).

Take the heart cutter and cut out a heart.

Take the heart and press it into the rose mold, with the top of the heart being the top of the petal. Just lay it on the mold, put the top half of the mold on it and press.

Wha-la! A beautifully veined petal.

Once the petal is veined, lay it over the pill bottle to give it a slight curve as it hardens, making sure to lay it long ways, not sideways (the tops and bottoms of the petals should be pointed toward the tops and bottoms of the bottle, not going down the sides).

You can either make a whole bunch of petals and set them to harden, or you can make petals as you go.

*You don't have to have a rose petal mold. You will still have the more realistic shape of a rose, but the veining just makes it leap from "good" to "realistic".

Make a small mushroom shaped figure with the chocolate. This is the base of the rose.

Take a petal and wrap it around itself like you would wrap a newspaper, except make it a spiral instead of just a tube. *You should use a freshly made petal, not one that you allowed to harden. Take a second fresh petal and wrap it around the first, tight, but not so tight that you can't see the distinction. If your clay starts melting, set it down or put it in the fridge. You don't want to ruin your sculpture by pushing to get it done without taking a break when you could save it by just taking a break.

Take the tube of petals and attach them on top of the mushroom. This is the center of the flower.

Make a set of three petals. Set these aside to harden. Once the petals have hardened enough that they will not just flop over when you hold them upright, take one petal and lay it against the flower center piece you just made. Take a second petal and lay it slightly under the first petal. Do the same with the third. The photos illustrate this better.

Carefully overlap all the petals and wrap them loosely around the center. The flower is opening up.

Take your finger and carefully bend bake the edges of the petals you just added.

This time make five petals. When you lay them on the pill bottle, curve back the edges towards to outside of the petal.

Apply these petals in the same overlapping method as before. Don't squeeze them up as close to the flower center - the rose petals fall away as they go outward.

I find that it helps to hold the rose upside down while applying the petals. You can even lay it on its face to harden as you make the next layer, just know that you will need to bend back some of the center petals that will flatten a bit.

You can make as many layers as you want, but I am going to stop at three.

Make five petals in the same manner as before. Apply them the same way you did in the last step, but I highly recommend applying them with the rose upside down. Let harden and you are finished.

Now you could paint these with food coloring. I attempted this with some gel food coloring, but someone made the comment, "Why does it look like the roses the Queen's men are painting red?" Yeah, it was interesting. I will hopefully be able to investigate this more in the future, but for now I have a half-painted white rose.

Now you know how to make realistic edible roses. These look really good on cakes and I know they would look really cool on cupcakes. I think the modeling chocolate tastes really good; way better than fondant, and it molds really easily so the veining from the petal mold makes it look so much more realistic.

I hope this tutorial helped you and have a great day.