Filler · Intermediate · $97
The deep-burgundy flower that anchors everything.
Chocolate cosmos are the secret weapon of every dramatic wedding cake. The dark, almost-black burgundy that lets the other flowers sing. Master the dense pollinated centre, the deep-coloured gum paste, and the deep dusting technique that builds drama without flattening the petal or making it look chalky.
Skill Level
Intermediate
Lessons
7 lessons
Length
~2 hours
What You'll Learn
Four skills, one very dark flower.
Dark flowers are harder than light ones. Every shadow you add can turn into a void. The whole course is about building depth without losing the petal, and the centre detail that proves you’re looking at a real bloom.
01
Deep-colouring the gum paste
You can’t dust your way to true burgundy on white paste. The gel-paste-to-gum-paste ratios for getting deep wine, dusty rose, and almost-black colours before you start. The starting point that the dusting later builds on.
02
The dense pollinated centre
What separates a real cosmo from a craft-store one. Stamens, pollen dust, the slightly-clumped centre that looks like it grew. The detail that makes someone lean in and confirm it isn’t real.
03
The silhouette
Cosmos petals are simple but the arrangement is precise. Eight petals, evenly spaced, each one slightly twisted off-axis. The cutting and assembly technique that gets the unmistakable cosmos shape.
04
Deep dusting without flattening
The hardest skill on a dark flower. Adding depth, edge work, and tipping in colours that are already dark, without the petal turning into a flat shadow. The layering technique that keeps dimension visible.
Why Chocolate Cosmos
The flower that makes everything else look expensive.
Walk through a luxury wedding cake portfolio and notice what the high-end cakes have that the mid-tier ones don’t: dark flowers. Burgundy, plum, deep wine. They’re the contrast that lets the blush peonies and the cream roses sing. Chocolate cosmos are the most-requested of the dark fillers, and the hardest to make convincingly.
The reason almost no one can make them well is because they break the usual sugar-flower rules. You can’t dust your way to deep colour. You have to start with deep paste, and then build depth on top of depth. Most cake artists try the dust-only approach, end up with patchy flowers, and quietly stop offering them. This course teaches the proper sequence.
“Beyond the incredible sugar flower and piping techniques I’ve picked up, it’s given me so much more confidence around the business side of things.” · Michelle Henry · Iris Street Bakery
And the price is intentional. At $97, this is a filler-flower course, designed to be bought alongside one of the bigger flower courses (peony, rose, gardenia). Together they give you both the centrepiece and the contrast that frames it.
The Curriculum
What you'll watch, module by module.
Five focused modules plus a full downloads vault. Approximately two hours of paced video. Yours to keep, forever.
Module 01
Introduction & Materials
2 lessons
- ▷Welcome & what makes dark flowers different
- ▷Tools, stamens & gel-paste recommendations
Module 02
Stamens & Pollen
2 lessons
- ▷Building the dense pollinated centre
- ▷Pollen dust technique for realism
Module 03
Petals & Deep Colour
2 lessons
- ▷Deep-colouring the gum paste before you start
- ▷Cutting & assembling the 7-9 petal silhouette
Module 04
Taping & Dusting
2 lessons
- ▷Taping the assembled flower
- ▷Deep dusting on dark paste without flattening
Module 05
Arrangement Ideas
1 lesson
- ▷Pairing cosmos with peonies, roses & summer/fall blooms
Downloads
Tools, recipes, colour guide
3 downloads
- 📄Tools & Materials List
- 📄Dark-Colour Gum Paste Mixing Guide
- 📄Sugarpaste Recipe
when you're ready
Yours to keep, forever.
Pay once. Watch in your kitchen, on your phone, or with a friend. No subscription, no expiry, no platform that disappears.
Chocolate Cosmos
$97 one-time
Lifetime access. Watch as many times as you like.
- ✓Five focused modules
- ✓~2 hours of paced, in-depth video
- ✓Deep-colouring gum paste before you start (the proper sequence)
- ✓The dense pollinated centre with stamens and pollen dust
- ✓The eight-petal cosmos silhouette
- ✓Deep dusting on dark paste without losing dimension
- ✓Pairing with peonies, roses, and other summer/fall blooms
- ✓Dark-colour gum paste mixing guide PDF
- ✓30-day money-back guarantee
If the first lesson doesn’t land for you, email me within 30 days and I’ll refund you in full. No questions, no friction.
What Students Say
“Having decided to make my own wedding cake, I first discovered Alexandria through her YouTube tutorials. I quickly fell in love with her beautiful work and her clear, easy to follow teaching style, which left me wanting to learn more.”
Rachel Dolphin · made her own wedding cake
What You'll Need
Almost nothing.
You can start this course with what’s already in your kitchen and at most one quick trip to a craft shop.
The essentials
- ✦Gum paste, store-bought is fine to start
- ✦A ball tool (or a clean paintbrush handle)
- ✦A foam pad (or a folded kitchen towel)
- ✦Floral wire, 24-gauge for the petals
- ✦Florist tape, white or green
The nice-to-haves
- ✦A small rolling pin
- ✦A veining or Dresden tool
- ✦A pair of small needle-nose pliers
- ✦A set of petal dusts, any soft-pink and yellow
- ✦A small paintbrush for dusting
Once you’re enrolled, I’ll send you my full Sugar Flower Starter Kit PDF with affiliate links to everything I personally use. You don’t need it to start, but it makes the second flower easier.
Your Teacher
Hi, I'm Alexandria.
I founded Finespun Cakes in Toronto in 2015 and have spent the last decade designing wedding cakes and teaching sugar flowers to over 1,000 students worldwide.
I trained at Le Cordon Bleu, studied under Ron Ben-Israel in New York, won an American Cake Award, and was named one of Wedluxe’s Top 10 Wedding Cake Designers in Canada.
My courses are taught the way I wish someone had taught me, with every step shown, no gatekeeping, and no rushing through the parts that actually matter.
a smarter way
Why buy one course when you could have all of them?
Chocolate Cosmos is included in the Finespun Academy at $29/month, along with every other course, over 100 studio recipes, all seven studio tools, and live time with Alexandria every month.
After five months in the Academy, you’ve already gotten more than the price of this single course. Most members stay much longer.