Sugar roses

In class for the last few weeks we have been working on a sugar rose display. I have been incredibly excited by this task as I think being able to make roses is going to be a useful skill to have as a lot of people request this type of flower on cakes.
The leaves were easy enough to make as usual. The roses themselves were not so easy, shall we say class was very quiet that week (lots of concentrating going on!!)
To make large roses from individual petals you first need to start with a polystyrene cone on a wire. These can be made with flower paste in advance but the new use of the cone makes the roses lighter in weight. You then wrap the first petal aroung the cone tightly to cover the top of it, when you look into the centre of the rose you shouldn't be able to see the cone. Then add another two petals at this stage to start of the centre. Building the petals in layers add 3 petals, another layer of 3, and then two layers of 5. The rose can then be manipulated to look more realistic. It sounds simple writing it down this way but trust me it's not! Once the roses and leaves are dried you can dust them to your liking and join them in an arrangement of your choice.