Take the Cake with Crystallized Edible Flowers

Grow your own cake decorations with this easy and do ahead candied flower technique

Crystallized Edible flowers known as candied or sugared flowers are a great way to preserve the bounty of your edible flower garden. They will last for up to a year and add beauty to your desserts, giving them a personal and elegant touch. Easy to make, the results are spectacular. They make a delightful hostess gift or look stunning on a celebration cake.

Important tips about choosing edible flowers

There are many kinds of edible flowers, but not all work well for sugaring, Rose Petals, pansies, violets, cymbidiums, and lilacs are the most frequent choice for confectioners. I recommend taking the time to make them yourself to yield a more impressive finished product than the commercially made ones that often look like blobs of sugar than the actual flower that they are.

One note of caution about edible flowers, make sure they are organic and were not grown around areas that are treated with pesticides. Make sure they are from a safe source and never eat anything grown on the side of the road; plants absorb pollutants and can be toxic even if they are edible.

Make your own Crystallized Flowers

For food safety reasons, I suggest using meringue powder instead of fresh egg whites and can be found wherever Wilton baking supply products are sold. Superfine sugar is sometimes called bakers sugar but can be made with granulated sugar by processing in a food processor until fine.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons meringue powder

2 Tablespoons water

15-20 edible flowers of your choice

1 ¼ cups superfine sugar

In a small bowl, mix the meringue powder with water. With a small paintbrush, paint all the sides of the flowers to coat completely. Sprinkle the sugar on the flower on both sides and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let dry for 2 days.