How To Make Sugar/Gumpaste Autumn Leaves

Last Updated on 20th September 2021 by Vicki

Happy fall ya’ll! Today’s post is all about how to make these fun colour changing sugar autumn leaves. I just love this time of year. Autumn colours are so beautiful and can make such pretty cake designs! I had such fun playing with colours while making these edible leaf decorations.

I made the leaves from Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste. The colours I used were green, yellow and red. I made a paler green by mixing the green with a tiny amount of yellow. I also made two shades of orange, by mixing the red and yellow together. To cut out the leaves, I used a medium PME Rose Leaf Plunger Cutter.

How To Make Sugar/Gumpaste Autumn Leaves Video Tutorial

As the leaves were so small, they curled beautifully and held their shape while drying. If you use a larger leaf cutter, you may need help to keep it’s shape while it air dries. Placing the leaf in a desert spoon could help with this.

Tips For Dusting The Leaves

Below, you can see what edible dust colours I used on each leaf.

I always dust my leaves on a kitchen towel, placed on top of my foam pad. The foam pad ensures a soft base to prevent breaking your leaves. Make sure you remove all the excess dust from the brush on the kitchen towel, before dusting your leaf. This will prevent you from applying too mush dust to begin with. It’s best to add the colour gradually. You can always add more, but it’s hard to take away! I love this part. It’s fun and you can be as creative as you like. Most of all, I like watching the leaves coming to life!

The image below shows some of the leaves after the edible dust has been applied.

Decorating The Cupcakes

I attached the leaves to premade discs made from Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste. They were coloured with PME Old Gold food colouring paste. As the leaves were curled, I couldn’t just stick them straight onto the disc. Instead, I stuck a small ball of fondant underneath each leaf and stuck them to the disc, using piping gel as glue. I placed the discs on top of a buttercream rose swirl. If you would like to see how I pipe my rose swirls, then click here.

Rose Leaves

As the cutter is actually to make rose leaves, I thought I would show you the kind of leaves that I make for my roses.

The leaves are cut out from green flower paste. I lightly dusted some green dust all over the leaves to add definition. I then gently added burgundy or brown to the edges. Pick up the leaf and run your brush along the very edge. Half of the bristles will be on the front of the leaf and the other half will be on the back.

Items Used In This Tutorial

I hope you liked reading about how to make these sugar/gumpaste autumn leaves. Below is a list of all the items I used in this tutorial.

• PME Rose Leaf Plunger Cutter ( I used the medium one in this tutorial – https://tidd.ly/2Z0UiWM
• White Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste – https://tidd.ly/3kh0KA9
• Daffodil Yellow Flower and Modelling Paste – https://tidd.ly/3Ca28N8
• Leaf Green Flower Renshaw and Modelling Paste – https://tidd.ly/3ActTCy
• Sugarflair Extra Red Food Colouring Paste – https://tidd.ly/3zXeshJ
• PME Ball Tool – https://tidd.ly/3rNtDqQ
• Foam Flower Pad – https://tidd.ly/3C51d0i
• Wilton Dusting Brush – https://tidd.ly/3jfJWc2
• Poppy Red Edible Dust – https://tidd.ly/3Askjfy
• Apple Green Edible Dust – https://tidd.ly/3fuY9kd
• Moss Green Edible Dust – https://tidd.ly/3jcscOX
• Tangerine Edible Dust – https://tidd.ly/3yfbLrg
• Sunset Orange Edible Dust – https://tidd.ly/2VLoALT
• Burgundy Edible Dust – https://tidd.ly/3Cc9G1H
• Primrose Edible Dust – https://tidd.ly/3jaC4st
• Chocolate Brown Edible Dust – https://amzn.to/3tSdzF9
• PME Old Gold Food Colouring Paste – https://tidd.ly/2TMVf2H
• PME Piping Gel – https://amzn.to/3tRaR2Q

Pin To Pinterest

If you liked learning about how to make sugar/gumpaste autumn leaves, then why not save this tutorial for later? Hover or tap on the image below and hit the Pin It button! All posts and tutorials are always added to Pinterest, which you can follow here.

A Cake On Life is an affiliate for The Cake Decorating Company and an Amazon Associate. Therefore, 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.