How To Make A Sugar/Gum Paste Water Lily

Last Updated on 5th April 2023 by Vicki

Hi all! In this post, I show you how to make a sugar/gum paste water lily flower. In my last tutorial, I showed you how to make my little froggy cake toppers, which you can see above. As promised, here’s my tutorial showing how to make the water lily flowers and lily pads. If you would like to take a look at my frog cake topper tutorial, then click here. As with all my tutorials, there is a list of all the items used at the bottom of the page.

How To Make Sugar/Gum Paste Water Lilies

Colouring The Modelling Paste

I made my water lilies from white Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste. I coloured it various shades of pink with Colour Splash Pale Pink food colouring gel.

The gel is very concentrated so you only need to use a tiny amount. It’s worth noting that the colour will also deepen over time, so be careful when you add the gel. You can always add more, but you can’t take away!

I used my daisy plunger cutters to make my water lilies. For the first layer of petals I used the largest daisy cutter and the lightest pink shade of modelling paste. I also used my different sized ball modelling tools and a flower pad to shape the petals. Below is my video tutorial, followed by a fully written step by step tutorial with images.

I hope you found the video tutorial useful. Read on for my step by step written tutorial explaining how to make them in more depth.

How To Make The First Petal Layer

Roll out your modelling paste thinly and then use the largest daisy cutter to cut out your shape.

I like to run a brush over the edges before taking the paste out of the cutter. This helps to ensure a clean edge.

Use a ball tool to thin the middle of each petal. Start at the outer edge and move towards the centre. This will thin the middle of the petal and also cause the petal to curve up too. Be careful not to touch the edge of the petals with the ball tool.

Place the flower in a flower cup and leave to dry.

Second Layer

For the second layer, I used the medium shade of pink paste and a daisy plunger cutter in the next size down from the largest.

This layer is made the same way as the first. Cut out your flower.

Use a ball tool to shape the petals.

Place the flower on a smaller flower cup to the first. Leave to dry.

Final (Middle) Layer

For the final layer, I used the darkest pink modelling paste and the next size down daisy plunger cutter.

Cut out the flower. If you still feel that you need to clean up the edges, then you can do this with a scriber needle. Gently remove any excess from the petals.

Use a small tool to thin and curve the petals, just as before. The petals should all lift towards the center.

Use your fingers to gentle close the petals some more if needed. Once shaped, leave the petals to dry.

I always leave my flowers to dry out overnight to ensure they have had enough time to harden. That being said, you still need to be gentle with them, as they are still very delicate.

Assembling The Sugar/Gum Paste Water Lily

Before assembling the lily, I added a little definition to the petals with Magic Colours Baby Pink edible dust. This isn’t essential, I just like the effect it gives.

Use a dusting brush to gently shade the outer edge of the first layer of petals. Be careful as you can easily add too much. Dust the excess powder off your brush, on a kitchen towel, before applying it to the flower.

Repeat with the second layer.

To stick the flowers on top of each other, I used a teeny tiny amount of royal icing. Try to make it so the petals underneath are in between the ones on the second layer.

Stick the middle layer in place with some royal icing. Help to secure it by gently applying pressure with a ball too. Leave to set.

Making And Adding The Stamen

It took me a while to figure out how to make the stamen. Every time I tried something I wasn’t happy with the outcome! In the end, I came up with the following technique which I think worked really well. I used Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste in Daffodil Yellow to make the stamen.

Take a small amount of modelling paste and force it through a sieve. It needs to be quite thick so you can get some length to your stamen.

Once happy with the length, use a pair of scissors to cut it off the sieve.

The paste should seal where it is cut to make it easier to handle.

I stuck a small ball of yellow modelling paste in the middle of the flower and brushed it with a little vodka to make it tacky.

Stick the stamen in the middle of the flower, as can be seen above.

Making The Pink Water Lilies

I made the fuchsia pink lilies in exactly the same way, but just used the second and third sized daisy plunger cutters instead. I did this as I wanted them to be smaller. They were made from Saracino modelling paste in Fuschia Pink.

So that’s the water lilies made! Read on to see how I made the fondant lily pads.

How To Make A Fondant Lily Pad

To make the lily pads, I used white fondant coloured green with PME Pea Green food colouring paste. I did work a little dusting of PME CMC powder into the fondant to make it a little stronger.

Use a circle cutter to cut out a circle of green fondant. Cut out a V shaped section. Neaten the edges with you fingers.

Mark veins on the leaf. I used the pointed end of a dresden tool to do this.

Ruffle the edges here and there to make it look more like a leaf. I used my bone modelling tool to do this.

I really hoped you enjoyed learning about how to make a sugar/gum paste water lily. Below is a list of all the items that I used to make them and the lily pads. As usual, if you make these, please do tag me (@acakeonlife) in a photo of them on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. I would really love to see them 🙂 My next project is to make some thank you teacher cupcakes, so keep an eye out! But that’s all for now, happy modelling!

List Of Items Used In This Tutorial

• White Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste : https://tidd.ly/3flCE5y
• Colour Splash Baby Pink Food Colouring gel : https://tidd.ly/3fnoHE6
• Daffodil Yellow Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste : https://tidd.ly/3Ca28N8
• Saracino Modelling Paste Fuchsia : https://tidd.ly/2WRt5F5
• PME Daisy Plunger Cutter : https://tidd.ly/3Cm0k3E
• Ball Tools : https://amzn.to/2S3H0FU
• PME Bone Modelling Tool : https://tidd.ly/3ikaCsM
• Dresden Tool : https://tidd.ly/3rNxlRb
• Flower Pad : https://tidd.ly/3C51d0i
• Brush : https://tidd.ly/3xtrKRz
• Dusting Brush : https://tidd.ly/3jfJWc2
• Flower Forming Cups. You can no longer purchase the ones I use. Here’s a link to Wilton’s Flower Formers : https://amzn.to/3q388RT (Please note, I do not have these so can not comment on them. I am just providing a link so you know what they are.)

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A Cake On Life is an affiliate for The Cake Decorating Company and an Amazon Associate. I may earn a small commission if you purchase products via my links. This is at no extra cost to you, but allows me to keep writing these tutorials. I only suggest products that I like and use myself.