Easy Gumpaste Cosmos Flower | Beginner Friendly | Free Template
Cosmos are beautiful daisy-like flowers that bloom throughout the summer months. Not surprisingly, the name Cosmos comes from the Greek word ‘kosmos’ which means ‘beautiful’. Aww!
The flower comes in a variety of colours and shades - pinks, orange, red yellow, lilac, white, maroon. There is even a species called Chocolate Cosmos, that actually has a wonderful scent of chocolate!
The great thing about producing this flower in sugar, is that they are easy to make so its very beginner friendly. The leaves are attractive and feathery, and can be made from florist tape, so no cutters required! Yeah!
Not wanting to leave anyone out, so if you don’t have the petal cutter, I have included a FREE TEMPLATE for the petals. If you are using the template we will be using the mid size petal. So let’s get started!
Main Equipment Required
The full list of equipment is outlined below the photo.
Tools
28 gauge white florist wire (for the petals)
24 gauge florist wire (for the centre/stamen)
18 gauge florist wire (to extend the stem)
Small headed stamen (similar to these)
Ball tool (plastic or metal is fine)
Rolling pin (6” or 9” length)
Paint brushes – For edible glue and dusting petal dusts.
Spoons x 8 (for drying petals)
Small digital scales (optional)
Acetate sheet (to cover up cut petals)
A glass cup (to cover gumpaste to stop it from drying out)
Zip lock bags/cling wrap/air tight container - Gumpaste dries quickly, so it will need to be stored away while you work.
Something to insert your flower into as you work, such as a cake dummy, polystyrene or florist foam blocks (Oasis).
Edible Ingredients
*Gumpaste - My gumpaste recipe is easy to make and great especially if you live in a hot climate.
Light yellow gumpaste
Light pink gumpate or any colour you want to make your Cosmos flowers in.
Fine Cornmeal or fine Semolina (for making the edible pollen)
Petal dust - Colours according to the colour of the flower you do.
Edible Colour paste/gel colours - If you colour your gumpaste.
Corn flour/Corn starch – To prevent gumpaste from sticking.
How To Make An Easy Cosmos Flower
Making The Centre
Like the Japanese Anemone tutorial the Cosmos has an interesting and striking centre. It is a stunning yellow colour colour and with some species displaying darker stamen around the edges and middle which looks like a bit like a regal crown.
Cut a 24 gauge florist wire into three pieces. Take one piece of wire and bend a small hook into the wire.
If you have a small digital scale you need to weigh out about 2 grams of light yellow gumpaste. If you don’t have small scales don’t worry, it just needs to be a ball about 1.5cm in size.
Condition the light yellow gumpaste with a small amount of vegetable shortening. Roll it into a tear drop shape. Brush some edible glue onto the hook end, then push the hook end into the pointed end of the tear drop shape. Ensure that you secure the gumpaste to the wire by twirling it between your fingers at the base and pulling off any excess gumpaste.
Flatten off the rounded end by gently rubbing it on a flat surface. Be careful that the wire doesn’t poke through the gumpaste.
Use a small ball tool and make a slight dip in the centre. Use some small scissors (embroidery style scissors if possible with a curved end, however straight ended scissors will work to), to make tiny snips, over the whole surface of the gumpaste. So you are left with a textured centre.
For the raised parts around the edge of the centre, use a small bunch of very fine stamen. Dust the stamen with edible petal dust in a deep aubergine colour. I used Sugarflair’s Grape Violet mixed with CrystalColors Tree bark. Make sure to brush off any excess dust.
When you have dusted the stamen, lightly brush some edible glue over the stamen tips, then dip the stamen into the edible pollen, to lightly cover the tips. Set the stamen aside to dry.
Note: The edible pollen is a mix of fine cornmeal (or semolina) mixed with edible petal dust. I used Sugarflair’s Primrose and Egg Yellow. Use whatever edible dust colours you have to achieve the pollen colour.
Take the centre and brush it liberally, but evenly with edible glue, ensure there are no lumps of edible glue. Dip the centre into the edible pollen, again ensuring that it is evenly covered. Knock off any excess edible pollen.
Cut the ends of the stamen, they only need to be about 0.5cm in length. Use some tweezers to help you place them around the edge of the centre. Make sure to add the stamen to the centre, while the centre is still soft and the stamen can be pushed in easily.
Note: You may or may not need to add edible glue to the ends of your stamen before adding them to the centre. I didn’t need to add any edible glue, since my centre was still soft enough to hold the stamens in place.
Use the same edible dust colour that was used to brush on the stamen to lightly add some shading around the stamen and edges. Set your finished centre aside to dry.
Note: If you knock off too much of the edible pollen from your stamen like I did (I was being impatient and working with them before they were fully dry!). Just lightly re-brush some edible glue on the stamen tips and re-dip them into the edible pollen.
Wired Petals
Cosmos generally have 8 petals. However there are some species that have more and some with vertical petals in the centre. Have a look at some cosmos flowers on the internet or if you have access to some, take the time to study them.
Lightly condition some gumpaste with vegetable shortening (either colour the gumpaste or leave it white - I coloured my gumpaste with Sugarflair’s Skintone). Roll the gumpaste evenly and thinly over a groove board. Place your petal cutter or cosmos petal template over the groove line (make sure the groove line is either around half way or under half way of the petal). If you are using the template use a sharp knife or scalpel to cut around the petal.
Note: Have a sheet of acetate to the side of you, to place your petals under, so if you cut out a lot of petals at once, you can place them under the acetate and this will stop your petals from drying out.
Brush one end of a 28 gauge wire lightly with some edible glue. Carefully thread the wire into the groove, by holding the petal in between your index finger (or second finger) and thumb, then secure the petal at the base against the wire.
Use a silicone peony or lisianthus petal veiner to vein the petal.
Carefully remove the petal from the veiner and place the petal onto a foam pad. Use a ball tool to thin the edges. Along the centre top edge of the petal, use the ball tool to slightly elongate the middle section.
Use the wide end of a dresden tool to create a very soft frill along the top edge.
Use the fine end of the dresden tool to lightly run it over the surface of the petal.
The cosmos petal is fairly flat, so drying it in a spoon is enough to create a soft curved shape to the petal.
Prepare all the other 7 petals (if you are doing 8 petals), in exactly the same way as steps 1 - 7.
Dusting The Petals
The cosmos flower come a wide variety of colours. You can either choose to leave the petals un-dusted or dust the petals in an edible petal dust colour of your choice. Either dusting the whole petal or parts of the petals
I continued my theme of pink using Sugarflair’s Blush Pink & CrystalColor’s Cherry For Katie, mixed together. Dusting slightly darker pink at the base of each petal to about 3/4 way up the petal and a touch of colour on the top edge of the petal.
Assembling The Cosmos
Once your petals are ready. Prepare each petal by bending the wires to an angle of about 45 degrees. Have some mid-green florist tape ready.
Take the centre and your first petal. Make sure the petal sits carefully under the base of the centre, tape it on (remember to stretch the florist tape to activate the glue).
You will tape on the first 4 - 5 petals (you can choose on this - I taped on 4 petals first). Then tape on the remaining 3- 4 petals (the amount you have left will depend on the amount you first taped on - I had 4 petals left), behind in the gaps.
Before taping down the length of the stem, add one half length of 18 gauge florist wire, to give the flower some extra support. Continuing taping down the entire length of the stem.
Calyx & Leaves
Again, you can choose to leave the finished flower at this stage, or you go two steps further and add the calyx & leaves. The calyx and leaves on the cosmos flower are feathery and simple, making them super easy to make. Making them out of gumpaste, would probably result in them breaking, so the best way to make them is using using florist tape. So I suggest you give it a go, you won’t be disappointed!
Calyx (Sepals)
For the calyx (sepals) - Have eight pieces of light green florist tape cut to a length of around 5 cm.
Take one 5cm length of florist tape, stretch it and twiddle (twist) the tape tightly between your fingers and leave about 1 - 2 cm of tape untwisted at one end, and that’s it!
Note: If the tape is sticky on your fingers, lightly dust cornflour (cornstarch) on your fingers, each time you twist the tape in between your fingers.
To secure the sepals to the stem, use the untwisted 1 - 2 cm end to secure this to the stem. Make sure to attached the sepals right under the base of the flower. Tape on the first 4 sepals, then tape the last 4 sepals in between the gaps. Use a small amount of florist tape to secure them in place so they don’t drop off.
If the sepals on the calyx are too long, just cut them down, to the length that you want.
Leaves
For the leaves the technique is the same, but have some short lengths of 28 gauge florist wire ready, so they can be made into branches.
Have some pieces of light green florist tape, that are about 8cm in length. Also have some prepared that are 5cm in length.
Take the 8cm length tape, stretch it, then twiddle (twist), the tape in between your fingers. Leave about 3 - 4 cm of tape at one end untwisted. Twist the 5cm tape in the same way, leaving about 1 -2 cm of tape untwisted at one end. The shorter length will make the shorter leaves.
Take a twisted long length and twisted short length and twist them together. Then cut off the end of the shorter length. With the exposed untwisted longer length that is left, twist this around the 28 gauge wire.
Have some shorter lengths twisted ready to be attached to make up your leaves.
Note: Make some leaves bunches that are small, only 2-3 leaves or up to 5 leaves or more. To add some variety to the flower when you tape the leaves onto the stem.
To tape the leaves onto the stem of the flower, bend the leaf wire to a slight angle. Tape the less amount of leaves towards the top of the stem of the flower and the bigger number of leaves towards the bottom of the stem. Stagger the positioning of the leaves, so it makes the stem look interesting and natural.
Once your leaves are taped on, use your fingers to gently move the leaves into place.
That’s it your gorgeous Cosmos flower is completed! It so easy you can go on to make a variety of colours. I got carried away, so that’s what I did!
What colours of Cosmos flowers will you make?
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you make this Cosmos flower, please remember to tag me - #arisecakecreations - @arisecakecreations on Instagram or Facebook, so I can see your beautiful work.
