Lemon Slice Homemade Sprinkles Tutorial

Want to know how I made the lemon slice sprinkles for the custom sprinkle mix I made for the Ultimate Lemonade Stand?  

I borrowed a classic cane technique from polymer clay artists.   It's a technique where you make a short, fat log with the design you want, and then roll it out, snaking it thinner and thinner, until it's your desired diameter, and slice.  I had grand visions of beautiful full circle lemon slices made of gumpaste.  Yeah, that didn't happen, but I adapted to the challenges posed by using gumpaste.  ;-)

To make lemon slice sprinkles, you'll need:

• gum paste
• gel food coloring
• food coloring pen (fine tipped is best), chocolate brown color
• sharp paring knife

To make my lemon canes, I followed this excellent tutorial:

But after one attempt, I discovered that such precision really doesn't work with gumpaste.  Too soft.  So I simplified the technique, and just made a white center (light yellow was not enough contrast at sprinkle size) with a yellow exterior.

The white interior was better, but I still had a problem with my shape.  Even using a razor blade to cut the cane, I couldn't get circle shapes.  But it did naturally flatten down to wedge shapes, so I just ran with it.  Who am I to fight cake physics?

The lemon slice sprinkles looked cute as they were, but I added a few quick lines with the fine tipped side of my favorite food coloring marker (chocolate brown version) to make the sprinkles really look like lemon slices.

And here they are in my sprinkle mix along with my other homemade sprinkles!  The perfect finishing touch for my lemon flavored treats.