Crystallized Flowers and Leaves

Small edible flowers (see Flowers), such as roses, lilacs, pansies, and wild violets (not African), and leaves such as the rose geranium and mint leaf, can be made into beautifully shimmering decorations to garnish cakes. When you make them yourself, each petal remains separate and sparkling. Firm-petaled flowers such as roses are the easiest to work with. Sugared rose petals of varying hues are stunning scattered around the base of a serving plate. All that’s needed is a little egg white, superfine sugar and petal dust or powdered food color, and a small artist’s paintbrush reserved for use with food. Petal dust, available in cake decorating supply stores, comes in many subtle hues. Paste food color also works well. For example, Wilton (see Ingredients Sources) makes a grape paste color the perfect hue for lilacs and a violet paste color the perfect hue for violets. For red roses, it’s exciting to use powdered or paste red food color as it intensifies and preserves the flower’s natural color. After drying, most flowers will last for years, with the exception of lilacs, which tend to brown around the edges after a few months.