Fondant Floral Cameos - Tutorial

I have been asked numerous times how I did the cameos for my Christmas ornament cookies. I thought I'd take the time and re-do the cameo part of the photo tutorial I did for the German magazine Magie Des Zuckers.

I start with a flexible mold and two colors of fondant. This is a floral cameo mold set from First Impressions Molds. I love their molds because of the depth of detail, and extreme flexibility.

At this point I will also tell you to practice and get to know your mold especially if you're doing a two toned layered design so you'll know when and where you need to add or remove fondant to achieve a sharp clean cameo image.

I start by placing a ball of the first color of fondant (in this case white) in the center of the mold cavity. I can add more fondant as I need it.

I've placed my finger in a tip of a plastic baggie so the fondant doesn't stick to it and pull back out of the mold. I'm pressing the fondant into all the crevasses that create just the flower part of the design.

I push it to the very ends of the floral design scraping back with my fingernail (still in plastic) so I leave just the flower. Notice how clean the flower design is in the first cavity. The second cavity shows some darkened areas (see arrows) that I know is part of the background and should be scraped back, but I'm leaving them to show how it will affect the cameo look later.

  

In some cases using the blunt end of a toothpick, or skewer will help in removing the excess fondant. Just don't use anything too sharp as you might damage the mold. If you happen to remove too much, just add it back and try again. This may seem time consuming, but the more you get to know your mold, the faster you'll get.

Now that all the cavities are finished, its on to the second part of the cameo.....the background.

To make the background piece I use an oval cutter that is pretty close to being the right size to fit the oval section of my mold. This cutter came as part of a set of three and I think it was in the clay section of my craft store.

I roll out my second color of fondant with a Wilton fondant roller and cut an oval out with the cutter. I'm using a darker brown than I normally do so the details will show up better.

I lay this into a flower cavity and carefully press it into place. I doesn't take much pressure. Just a couple of circular motions should do it. You want to adhere the floral section with the background piece. Be careful because the fondant flower underneath is still pliable, and you don't want to cause it to become distorted.

When all the cavities are finished, pop this into the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.

After 10 or 15 minutes in the freezer they should be hard enough to pop out when the mold is flexed.

Carefully pop them out helping with your fingers if needed and place them right side up on parchment paper to dry. I actually use some foam pieces I've saved that were used as cushioning between commercially piped royal icing figures. They don't stick, and air can circulate easier to dry them faster.

 And here they are. They will almost immediately start to soften up again once they're out of the freezer, so leave them undisturbed until they're dry.

Notice the second finished cameo. That was the one I didn't completely scrape away all the excess white fondant and you can see the difference it makes in the overall look. The end one on the right also looks like I should have spent more time removing the background.

When these are dry enough to pick up without distorting the design they can be placed onto iced cookies, or if you're making them ahead, keep them in a container until you're ready to use them.

If you need to use the mold again right away dry off any condensation with a coffee filter as they won't leave lint.

Next time I'll show fondant framing for the cameos. 

♥ Happy Decorating ♥