Sugar Pansies

Lauren and I started our second Wilton class last night.  We used gumpaste for the first time to make pansies.  After seeing the pansy picture in the class book I must say that I was not really excited.  It seemed like a nice enough pansy, but something wasn't quite right.  Our instructor made the sample flower and I must say it looked much prettier in person than in the pictures.  So we proceeded to make our pansies and this was the result:

The pretty one on the left is my daughter's.  The sad, cracked one on the right...yep, that's mine.  Well, let me just say that I was a little devastated.  Ready to throw in the towel on this crazy cake business talk.  Who was I kidding?!? I couldn't even make a simple gumpaste pansy. *Sigh*

After a long, cranky night, I woke up determined to try this pansy again.  I looked online for some photos of real ones and realized what was missing from the flower.  I carefully constructed a few new flowers and I think they are much improved.  I am happy once again and ready to take on more flowers.  Bring on the roses! And the peonies and carnations, too! 

Real Pansy

My new and improved pansy

The missing part was the darker center area. I painted it with purple food coloring.  I think it looks much better now. Not perfect, but better.