Making Sugar Paste Daffodils
- Rebecca
- Apr 2
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 10
Daffodils are the perfect gift for Mother's Day, Easter and Spring. Follow these step by step instructions to make realistic Daffodils.
First let's examine a daffodil's visible anatomy to see what parts we need to replicate.
Description:
The flower head is the area from the base of the Ovary to the tip of the Trumpet, the ovary is a quarter of that length, whilst the petals form three quarters of that length. the base of the petals wrap closely around the first 1/3 of the trumpet (equal to the length of the ovary) before flaring out. The Petals are the same length as the Trumpet.
The Pistil is about 36mm in length and about 2 - 3mm in width, tapering to 2mm at the stigma. The stigma culminates in 3 circular basins. Surrounding the pistil are 6 stamen, about 5mm shorter that the pistil. The anther at the tip of each stamen is encrusted with yellow pollen and forms about 1/5 of the length of the stamen. Though the pistil and stamen are white their base is yellow and green where they attach to the ovary.
There are 6 petals, 3 narrow and 3 wider petals, the narrower petals are the inner petals and the wider the outer petals.
The spathe which looks like transparent Kraft tissue wraps around the neck of the stem ending beyond the top of the ovary just before the petals flare out.
In this post I describe how to make a Pistil, Stamen, Ovary and Neck, Petals, Spathe and the stem as well as how to colour them.
Materials Required:
Flower Modelling Sugar Paste ( White Green and Yellow)
20 and 35 gauge wire
Green floral tape
1tsp of Polenta or ground rice
Edible Glue
Corn flour (for dusting)
Dresden tool
Pallette Knife
Ball tool
Frilling tool
Rolling pin
Daffodil cutters and veiners
Lustre Dust - Forest green, Vine green, Foliage green, Ginko, Aubergine and Daffodil yellow
Make Pistil
1 - 2 mins per pistil (make one per flower)
Cut a 50mm length of 20g wire, brush it with or dip it in edible glue.
Take a half pea sized ball of white sugar paste thread it onto the wire and twiddle the paste between your fingers moving towards the tip of the wire until the wire is covered to form the style of your pistil.
Take a small bead size of white paste, roll it into a ball to form the stigma
Dip the tip of your covered wire in edible glue and push it into your ball of paste slightly flattening the ball of paste.
Take the tip of your palette tool and make 3 equally distanced indentations around the rim of your stigma (optional).
Mix a tsp of rice flower or polenta with a little daffodil yellow lustre dust to represent pollen.
Brush the top of your stigma with edible glue and dip to into the pollen, gentle tap the style to knock off any excess pollen.
Make Stamen
1 - 2 mins per Stamen (make 6 per flower head)
The Stamen is made up of a filament and a pollen encrusted anther
Cut a 40mm - 45mm length of 35g wire
Take a small bead sized ball of white sugar paste thread it onto the wire and twiddle the paste between your fingers moving towards the tip of the wire until the wire is covered to form the filament of your stamen.
To make the anther take a pinch of yellow paste and roll it into a tiny cylinder shape. Roll one end to a point. Using a Dresden tool spread open the other end of the cylinder and apply edible glue to this end. Wrap the open end around the tip of your filament to assemble the S
stamen, Slightly curve the end of the anther.
Whilst still tacky dip the anther in your pollen mix and tap off the excess pollen.
Brushing from the base towards the centre, colour your stamen with daffodil yellow lustre dust.
Make the ovary
Colour some sugar paste green (I suggest with vine).
Take a medium sized ball of green sugar paste and roll into a cone or teardrop shape. Roll the pointed end of the cone into a cylindrical shape. Making the ovary and neck.
Run a Dresden tool down the ovary at 3 equidistant points to give the look of a seed pod.
Make a well in the top of the ovary. Take a 20g wire and dip it in edible glue then insert it through the neck of the ovary.
Assemble the Pistil, Stamen And Ovary
Take a pistil and evenly disperse 6 stamen around it, secure them in place by wrapping with cotton thread. Brush the base with edible glue and Insert it into the ovary.
Make Trumpet
Rollout some yellow paste and cut shape out with a trumpet cutter. Frill the edge with a ball tool and place in trumpet veiner, wrapping around veiner, glue the over lapping edges together and press vein detail into trumpet.
Thread trumpet onto stem securing with edible glue at the base of the filament just above the ovary. Leave to dry before attaching the petals.
Make Petals and attach Petals
Cut, thin and vein 3 narrow petals and 3 broader petals. Evenly space and glue the narrow petals around the base of the trumpet, wrapping them tightly around the base before flaring them out about a third of the length up the trumpet. Position and glue the broader petals between the gaps of the narrow petals.
Stem
The stem sits below the neck (the area beneath the ovary). Take 5 - 6 strands of plastic wire and align these with the wire stem protruding from the sugar paste neck and secure these to the stem wire using dark green floral tape.
Colouring the Neck and Flower Head
Brushing from the ovary down the neck brush first with Forest green, followed by Foliage green, Ginko, Aubergine and Daffodil yellow.
Lightly brush the base of the outer petals with a mix of Vine green and forest green. Lightly dry brush the base of the of the trumpetinside and out with vine green. Also faintly dry brush the back of the outer petals up the cenrtre with vine green. Steam or glaze to set the colour.
Making the spathe
Take a small amount of beige or light brown coloured sugar paste. Roll it out thinly until it is transparent. Using a narrow leaf, (e.g. ruscus), or pointed Oval cutter, cut out 6 spathes, place them on a foam pad and slightly frill the edges with a ball tool. Vein with a corn husk or Corn cob veiner. Fold under one end of the spathe, brush the base of the flower neck with edible glue and apply the folded end of the spathe here, at the intersection between the neck and stem. Wrap the spathe around the neck and ovary with the tip just hovering over the base of the petals, curled slightly backwards. Dry brush with cream lustre dust.
Making the Leaves
Daffodil leaves are broad, and swordlike in shape, tapering towards the tips. Roll some leaf green sugar paste into long narrow sausage shapes. Dip 20g wire in edible glue and feed this through the sausage shape stopping near the tip. Flatten the paste with a rolling pin to the left and right to form the leaf. Trim into a broad swordlike shape. Dust as above and steam or glaze to set the colour.
