The hibiscus is a beautiful tropical flower that has a dramatic
show-stopping look. For this flower, you'll need royal icing -- stiff consistency icing for the
petals
and medium consistency icing for the stamens. Two icing colors
orange for the petals and lemon yellow for the stamens
a one and a half inch piece of uncooked spaghetti
and some cornstarch. The tools you will need for the flower are
the lily nail set - use the two and half inch largest nail
a 4 inch candy foil square or aluminum foil square
two decorating bags, a coupler
round decorating tip number 1, round decorating tip number 4
petal decorating tip number 104
parchment paper and a decorating brush. Line a two and a half inch
lily nail with foil
Tint the medium consistency royal icing with yellow icing color.
Tint the stiff consistency icing with orange petal colored icing.
Fit a decorating bag with a coupler and petal decorating tip number 4.
Fill half full or less with petal tinted icing.
it a second decorating bag with a round decorating tip number 1.
Fill bag a quarter full or less with yellow icing.
For the flower pistil, hold the spaghetti about a quarter inch from the end
and slide the spaghetti through the tip into the decorating bag with petal colored
icing
while still holding the spaghetti apply pressure to the decorating bag to cover
the spaghetti while you pull it out of the tip
Pipe a dot of icing on the iced end of the spaghetti.
With fingers dipped in cornstarch, pat smooth,
slightly elongating the dot onto the spaghetti.
Place on parchment to dry while you make the flower.
When making more than one hibiscus, you can make all pistils of the flowers first.
Place petal decorating tip number 104
on a decorating bag with a coupler. To make the first of five petals,
hold the decorating bag with petal colored icing at a 45 degree angle
at 3 o'clock for right handed decorators and 9 o'clock for left handed
decorators
with the wide end touching the surface inside the cup and the narrow end slightly
lifted
With the tip hugging the side of the cup, use light pressure to pip icing,
moving up toward the outer edge. Increase the pressure slightly
and begin jiggling the tip when you rise up and out of the cup.
Gradually turn the nail one-fifth of a turn, continuing to jiggle
as you work back into the cup of the nail. Lighten pressure and stop jiggling
as you return to the center starting point. Stop pressure
and pull the tip away.
Repeat these steps to pipe four more petals. For a visual guide to make evenly
spaced petals,
pipe five evenly spaced small lines on top of the nail cup
with petal decorating tip number 104 and petal colored icing.
Use a damp brush to blend the seam at the center of each petal.
Place a round decorating tip number four onto a decorating bag filled with petal
colored icing.
Pipe a dot of icing in the center of the flower.
Insert uniced end of the pistil into the center of
the flower petals. Hold the decorating bag with yellow icing and
tip number 1
at a 90 degree angle to the dot on the end of the pistil.
Pipe pull-out dot stamens around the tip.
when finished carefully loosen the foil cup edges from the nail
and remove the foil cup with the flower from the nail to dry.
For best results, adjust the foil square as needed to allow the flower to dry upright.
When the flower is completely dry, gently peel the foil from the flower.
drying time for the hibiscus could take up to 48 hours
and it's best to store dried flowers in foil cups until ready to use.
For a different look when the flowers totally dry add brush
accent details to the center of the flower using icing color and
lemon extract mixture
color dust and lemon extract mixture or
dry brushing with dust.
well