Let Me See That Toostie Roll

Browsing Lovely and Gracious, an amazing DIY wedding blog, I came across a link to this too cute idea of tootsie roll roses! Since I have a little bit of experience making roses out of fondant I figured tootsie would be a snap, not to mention it wouldn’t taste like chemicals (don’t even get me started on my feelings about store bought fondant…) 

So, with a bag of “midgees” from the dollar store I tried to follow the directions for the rolls posted on Dabbled. As it turns out, they’re not as easy, or as small as they look on the screen. Pulling each petal before the other tootsie on the plate got cold and hard was a race against the clock, and once those suckers were on a chopstick they didn’t want to come off. So, after a few roses (since I was making them cupcake size each of my petals was 1/16 of a tootsie, not 1/8 like the directions imply) I gave up and decided with spring on it’s way I would make little carrots instead! They proved to be much more my speed. Each carrot took 1/4 of an orange tootsie and 1/8 of a green one. I used the same microwaving method as was used for the roses, but shaped the balls into carrots and stems, then wedged them together using the sharp end of a kabob skewer.

My next round of cupcakes I was ready to give flowers another shot, but was determined to do it my own way. Daisies! I started by cutting the tootsies into quarters, microwaved them for 8 seconds, cut them into 1/8ths and rolled them into balls, gave them another 5 seconds in the microwave, then cut each 1/8th into 5 equal pieces and rolled them into little bean shaped petals. Using the fat end of the kabob skewer I smashed the petals together and gave the center a light twist to keep them together as I removed them from the skewer. These little flowers are much easier than the roses, and make for a cute spring/summer cupcake. They could easily be scaled up for a full sized cake, too!