Fondant cactus tutorial: succulents for wedding cakes

I will explain how to make a fondant cactus for decorating your wedding cakes. Are you looking for some wedding cake ideas? You probable have an order already.

The wedding season is approaching and it’s the best time to get to work and think of new edible decorations for this season’s wedding cakes. You know that I sometimes post different wedding cake ideas on my social media. I think it’s really important to offer some innovations every year in wedding cake decorations. What do you think? For me, the typical white rose and icing garland have become obsolete.

Fondant succulents: creative ideas for decorating your wedding cakes

I like to work with new designing options and that’s why I thought about showing you how to make a fondant cactus. More precisely, I will show you how to make fondant succulents. Sugar succulents can look really good on rustic or country wedding cakes. Succulents are a variety of cactus. They have really thick leaves and full of water.

Fondant succulents are easy to make and they look spectacular. I think they’re best for rustic wedding cakes, whether it’s a fondant cake or a naked cake. They look amazing if you join them with small, natural flowers, arranged over a white background. You can see some examples of wedding cakes decorated with succulents here:

Ingredients for making the fondant succulents

Before getting started, prepare all the materials. You save time if you have it ready from the beginning.

• PME rose cutter set (4 different sizes)
• Ball tool
• Foam pad
• Green wire gauge 24
• 1 Wire gauge 20
• Floral pliers
• Green or brown floral tape
• Small fondant rolling pin
• Big plastic spoons
• Some brushes
• ProGel Gooseberry
• Rainbow Dust Autumn Green, Lime Zest and Burgundy
• 70gr of white Renshaw Flower & Modelling Paste

Fondant succulents tutorial

1. Colour 70gr of Flower & Modelling Paste with ProGel Gooseberry.

2. Extend a portion of modelling paste and cut a piece with the biggest cutter. I use PME cutters, they’re great and the cut is really clean. Remember that the paste must be thick (between 3 and 4mm). Succulents have really thick leaves.

3. Cut all the petals with a plastic knife, that way you’ll get 5 different pieces in the shape of a teardrop.

4. Cut a wire in 4 equal parts. Wet the tip of the wire with edible glue and insert it 1cm into the leaf. Sharpen the edges of the leaf with a ball tool. Do it always on a foam pad.

5. Make a small pinch in the centre of the upper part of the leaf. Put it on a plastic spoon and let dry for 24 to 48 hours. You must repeat the process 5 times for every leaf size. You’ll get 5 huge leaves, 5 big leaves, 5 medium leaves and 5 small leaves.

6. Take a small portion of modelling paste (7gr aprox) and shape it into a cone.

7. Cut a third of the wire (gauge 20) and prick the cone in it using some edible glue. With a pair of small scissors, make two cuts on the upper part in order to divide it in three.

8. Make some small balls (the size of a green pea) and shape them into a teardrop. Then, flatten them in order to create a pointed leaf. You’ll need 6 small leaves. Glue them in two layers of 3 leaves each.

9. Use three kinds of shades to paint the leaves. First, mix some Rainbow Dust Lime Zest with some Rainbow Dust Autumn Green and shade the whole leaf. Next, paint the upper half with some Autumn Green.

10. Finally, shade the tips of the leaves with Rainbow Dust Burgundy using a small brush. Do it also on the centre.

11. Join all the leaves by sizes before assembling the whole plant. This previous step is necessary to avoid confusions and assembling leaves from different sizes in the same layer.

12. Wire the smallest leaves first. Do it by rolling the their wires in the central wire. Roll the wires always in the same direction.

13. Cover all the wires with floral tape.

14, 15 & 16. Keep wiring the leaves. First the medium ones, then the big one and, finally, the huge ones. The assembling process is exactly the same as before.

Other applications of the succulents

If you want to create a plant pot cake, you can make one or more succulents and prick them in the cake. Crush some oreos (creating a dark powder, perfect for highlighting the succulents) and sprinkle them on the plant pot. Then, pinch the succulents and voilà! Easy and perfect cake.

I hope you liked this step-by-step tutorial on how to make fondant succulents. I’ll take the opportunity to ask you this: would you like me to show you how to make a different variety of succulents?

Marc