Bestseller · Intermediate · $147
From lifeless petals to wow, are those real?
My most popular course, and the one students rave about most. The fluffiest, most realistic peony you’ll ever make, taught across 29 lessons and four hours of paced video. Two colour variations included.
Skill Level
Intermediate
Lessons
29 lessons
Length
4 hours
The Perfect Peony
What You'll Learn
Every fundamental that makes a peony look real.
Not paint-by-numbers. A whole new way to view flower-making, with the techniques that translate to every other flower you’ll ever make.
01
Saturated gum paste colour
How to make richly deep-coloured gum paste from scratch. Pink. Burgundy. No more fighting your colour to get it deep enough.
02
A lightweight base & stem
Build a base so light it won’t tear fondant or sink into buttercream, but strong enough to hold the fluffiest finished peony.
03
Layer-by-layer petalwork
The inner-petal pack, the par-dried outer petals, and the technique that gives a peony its abundance, taught in two colours so you see how each behaves.
04
Realistic dusting
Dust pink. Dust burgundy. Build up colour slowly without splotches or over-dust. The technique that brings the peony to life.
05
Arranging on the cake
Flowing flower arrangements on tiers large and small. Which flowers to pair with peonies, how to think about movement, finished and beautiful.
Why The Peony
The flower brides ask for by name.
If you’re going to learn one sugar flower properly, make it this one. The peony is, year after year, the most-requested wedding cake flower in the world. Couples request it. Planners specify it. And the cake artists who can make a real, fluffy, layered peony are the ones who book.
This is the course I built off ten years of making peonies for paying clients in my Toronto studio. Every shortcut, every technique, every dusting decision I make weekly in my own work is in here. Not theory, practice.
“I really love the peony tutorial that I continue to reference when I need a refresher.” · Paulina Gouzy · Academy student
It’s also the course students rave about most. New students post finished peonies in the community group every week, and the response is always the same: “is that your first?” Yes, every time.
The Curriculum
What you'll watch, chapter by chapter.
Three full chapters and bonus material across 29 lessons. Four hours of paced video. Yours to keep, forever.
Chapter 01
Preparing for your Perfect Peony
4 lessons
- ▷Chapter 1 Overview
- ▷Petal practice
- ▷Creating your base and stem
- ▷Making your gumpaste
Chapter 02
Creating your Perfect Peony
7 lessons
- ▷Chapter 2 Overview
- ▷Layer 1: Inner petals (pink and burgundy)
- ▷Layer 2: Outer petals (pink and burgundy)
- ▷Layer 3: Outer petals (pink)
- ▷Layer 3: Outer petals (burgundy)
- ▷Creating your calyx
- ▷Colour, roll and cut your petals
Chapter 03
Completing your Perfect Peony
5 lessons
- ▷Chapter 3 Overview
- ▷Dusting burgundy peonies
- ▷Repairing broken petals
- ▷Arranging your peonies onto a cake
- ▷Dusting pink peonies
Bonus
5-Day Sugar Flower Challenge
7 lessons
- ▷Welcome to the 5-Day Challenge
- ▷Day 1: Hydrangeas
- ▷Day 2: Spray Roses
- ▷Day 3: Cherry Blossoms
- ▷Day 4: Silver Dollar Eucalyptus
- ▷Day 5: Dusting, Calyxes, Taping
- ▷Classic Gumpaste Recipe Video
Downloads
Cheat sheets & schedules
2 downloads
- 📄Peony Sample Schedule & Flower Arranging Recipe
- 📄Peony Colouring Cheatsheet
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.
The Perfect Peony
$147 one-time
Lifetime access. Watch as many times as you like.
- ✓Full course, three chapters, 29 lessons
- ✓Four hours of paced, in-depth video
- ✓Pink AND burgundy variations, see both colours behave differently
- ✓Bonus: 5-Day Sugar Flower Challenge (hydrangeas, spray roses, cherry blossoms, eucalyptus)
- ✓Peony Colouring Cheatsheet (5 favourite colour combinations)
- ✓Sample Schedule & Flower Arranging Recipe 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
“Learning how to make sugar flowers gave me the skills and confidence to turn my cake hobby into a real, full-time business. I went from timidly charging $50 for birthday cakes to positioning myself as a luxury wedding cake artist, with most of my orders now in the four-figure range.”
Rachel M · Dreamcakes, Austin
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?
The Perfect Peony 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.