Some of the prettiest things I make in my kitchen are also the simplest. These homemade edible flower lollipops for party favors are made by melting clear hard candy and pouring it over pressed flowers, creating beautiful botanical sweets without making candy from scratch.
I love saving edible flowers from our summer garden for projects like this. Pressed pansies are especially beautiful in candy, but you can also experiment with other food safe edible flowers, edible butterflies, and delicate pieces of edible gold leaf.
The process is so simple. You don’t need a candy thermometer or a sugar syrup. Just a few hard candies, lollipop molds, sticks, and the decorations you want to use.
They’re lovely for garden parties, wedding favors, birthdays, or wrapping individually as homemade gifts. I also think there’s something wonderful about making beautiful candy at home just for the enjoyment of it.
Being an edible flower blogger, I’m obsessed with all gifts and sweet treats that contain dried or fresh edible flowers. These edible flower lollipops for party favors are the perfect wedding favors and making them at home will save you tons of money. You need to save this recipe to try this for your next hosting moment.
Edible Flower Lollipops For Party Favors: A Creative Twist
We already have stunning honey spoon lollipops with edible flowers, and rose honey lollipops, lavender honey lollipops, but these are the perfect balance of easy recipe + little bit of time = fab gift and lots of money saved. The reason these are even easier than honey lollipops is that, you don’t need to use a candy thermometer to check for the hard crack stage.
Choosing the Best Candy
Clear or lightly colored hard candies work especially well because they allow the flowers to remain visible. It’s hard to find a clear hard candy that isn’t mint flavored, but if you want minty fresh flavor, that would be delicious. For the lollipops pictured in this post, I used Cavendish & Harvey Sour Lemon Drops The pale yellow candy gave the flowers a warm, almost amber appearance.
I have also had great success using these honey candies when I was hoping to achieve a lighter golden color, and my son particularly loves this flavor.
Before You Begin: A Note About Decorating Your Lollipops
I recommend arranging your flowers and decorations at the bottom of each candy mold before melting your hard candy.
Once melted, the candy is extremely hot, sticky, and quick to harden. You won’t have much time to arrange your flowers after pouring, so it’s best to have everything prepared beforehand.
Place your pressed edible flowers, edible butterflies, or other decorations into the molds, position your lollipop sticks, and make sure everything is ready to go.
It’s a simple step that makes the entire process much easier, especially if you’re making several lollipops at once.
Tools + ingredients you need:
- Lollipop mold: love traditional round molds for their nostalgic appearance, but flower shaped or other decorative molds are beautiful too.
- Candy sticks: Traditional straight sticks work best if you plan to display your finished candy in a lollipop stand.
- Heat proof measuring cup with handle: Choose an oven safe vessel specifically rated for the temperature used in the recipe. A pouring spout makes transferring melted candy into the molds easier.
- Oven mitt: Essential for safely handling the hot candy and measuring cup.
- Large wooden spoon for mixing candy mixture: For stirring the candy mixture, if needed. Make sure it’s clean and completely dry.
- Hard candy of choice. I recommend these Cavendish And Harvey Hard Candy Sanded Drops, although other clear or lightly colored hard candies can also work. Your finished lollipops will take on the color of the candy you choose, so keep that in mind when selecting a flavor.
- Pressed edible flowers: Pansies, rose petals, calendula, and culinary lavender are lovely choices. Make sure the flowers are completely dry and food safe.
- You can use flowers you’ve grown and preserved from your own garden or purchase flowers specifically intended for culinary use. My guide on where to buy edible flowers is a good place to start.
- You can also experiment with food grade dried flowers commonly used for tea, such as culinary rose petals or lavender.
- For extra whimsy, try edible wafer paper butterflies, genuine edible gold leaf, or a dusting of edible glitter.
What are the best edible flowers for homemade lollipops?
Pressed pansies are my favorite because their flat shape and beautiful colors make them especially easy to display inside clear candy.
Other lovely options include:
- Pansies and violas: Beautiful colors and delicate, flattened petals that work particularly well in lollipop molds.
- Rose petals: A romantic choice, especially when using small, colorful petals.
- Calendula: Bright golden and orange petals that look beautiful in clear candy.
- Lavender: Adds a distinctive floral flavor. Use sparingly, as too much can overpower the candy.
- Chamomile: Small flowers with a gentle apple-like aroma.
- Lilac: Delicate blossoms with a floral fragrance and subtle flavor.
- Elderflower: Tiny blossoms with a light, sweet floral aroma.
- Hibiscus: Adds a tart, fruity flavor and deep color, although dried petals can be quite bold in appearance.
I recommend choosing smaller flowers or individual petals that fit comfortably inside your molds. Large flowers may not become fully enclosed in the candy.
For more inspiration, explore my guide to the most popular edible flowers.
Frequently asked questions
Are all flowers edible?
- Not all flowers are edible. Even simply garnishing a dish with a flower that is not edible can make you very ill. Be sure you have properly identified your plant before consuming. If you are foraging in nature, use a plant identification app, which helps people identify harmful vs harmless plant species so they don’t get sick from trying new things while hiking through nature. Identify the flower exactly and eat only edible flowers and edible parts of those flowers.
- Most store bought flowers are not safe for consumption. The type of flowers you plan to use for food should never come in contact with pesticides or other chemicals. The best edible flowers are ones you grow organically in your garden. The exception is the very seasonal food grade flowers sold in your local grocery store, more on this below.
- Never harvest flowers growing by the roadside, chemically treated lawns, or areas with lots of animals.
- If you haven’t tried a particular flower in culinary uses, taste a small piece of the petal before consuming a whole petal. You can be allergic to flowers. Use flowers sparingly in your recipes due to the digestive complications that can occur with a large consumption rate.
- There are so many edible flowers to experiment with, but I especially love varieties that offer a pleasant fragrance or subtle flavor without overpowering the sweetness of the candy.
- A few of my favorites include:
- Rose petals: Floral and fragrant, especially beautiful in lightly flavored candy. My candied rose petals are another lovely homemade confection.
- Culinary lavender: Wonderfully aromatic and particularly good with lemon-flavored hard candy. Use just a few buds for a delicate flavor.
- Pressed pansies: Mild in flavor, making them ideal when you want the flowers to contribute beauty without significantly changing the taste.
- Chamomile: A lovely choice for its delicate apple-like aroma, especially when paired with honey or lemon flavors.
- Anise hyssop: One of my favorite culinary herbs for its sweet, licorice-like flavor.
- For more ideas, explore my guide to the best-tasting edible flowers.
How do you keep edible flowers from moving when pouring melted candy?
The easiest method is to place your pressed flowers at the bottom of the mold before adding the melted candy.
Pour slowly and carefully to avoid disturbing the flowers. Some may shift slightly or float upward as the candy fills the mold, but I find that arranging everything in advance gives you much more control.
If a flower moves, you can gently reposition it with a suitable heat-safe utensil while the candy is still liquid. Never touch melted candy with your fingers.
Remember that the candy begins setting quickly, so have all your decorations prepared before you start melting.
Can I make these edible flower lollipops ahead of time?
Yes! These are wonderful for preparing ahead of a party or packaging as homemade gifts.
Allow the lollipops to cool completely before removing them from the molds. Wrap each one individually in clear, food-safe cellophane and store them in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
Avoid refrigeration because condensation can make hard candy sticky.
I love finishing individually wrapped lollipops with a little ribbon. They’re such a beautiful way to share something homemade, especially when the flowers come from your own garden.
Easy Edible Flower Lollipops (Using Melted Hard Candy)
Ingredients
- 1 cup clear hard candies any flavor you desire, about 200 grams
- Edible flowers of choice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Place a silicone lollipop mold on a sturdy surface.
- Place pressed edible flower or garnish of choice in each mold cavity. Add lollipop sticks.
- Unwrap the hard candies and place them in a tall, oven safe, heatproof pouring vessel with high sides and a pouring spout to help prevent the melted candy from bubbling over and make pouring into the lollipop molds easier.Transfer to the preheated oven for approximately 10 minutes, watching very closely as the candies melt. The candy may begin to bubble as it heats, so it's important to leave plenty of room in the vessel. Never fill the vessel more than one quarter full with unmelted candy.If the candy begins to foam or rise toward the rim, carefully remove the vessel from the oven using heat resistant mitts. Do not attempt to transfer hot, bubbling candy into another container, as molten sugar can cause severe burns. Allow the bubbling to settle before proceeding.Use only a vessel explicitly rated for your oven temperature. Not all heatproof glass measuring cups are oven safe, even if they can withstand boiling liquids. Avoid sudden temperature changes that could cause glass to crack.
- Carefully remove the vessel using oven mitts. Stir to remove bubbles. Immediately pour the melted candy over the flowers into the molds, filling each mold without overflowing.
- Use the back of a metal spoon to press the flowers down if needed when they rise to the top. If the flowers float upward, gently press them into the candy using the back of a metal spoon. Work carefully; the melted candy will be extremely hot and solidifies extremely quickly once taken off the heat.
- Allow the lollipops to cool completely at room temperature until firm, approximately 1 hour or longer depending on thickness. Remove gently from their molds.
- Wrap individually in food safe cellophane or candy wrappers. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
Notes
- Candy choice: Use clear or pale hard candies so the flowers remain visible.
- Edible flowers: Pressed pansies, rose petals, and small calendula petals work beautifully. Only use positively identified, food safe flowers that have not been treated with pesticides.
- Decorations: Butterflies must be edible wafer paper or another edible food decoration. Gold leaf and glitter must explicitly be labeled edible, not merely non toxic.
- Storage: Avoid refrigeration, which may cause condensation and sticky candy.
- Safety: Hot melted sugar can cause serious burns. Keep children away from pouring and unmolding until completely cooled. help incorporate my notes as well The liquid candy will be hot and you need to work FAST. Don't get burnt by hot candy! Candy making is fun, but it's harder than it looks. Once your melted candy reaches room temperature is hardens so make sure you're all prepared before melting your candy.
- Use unique hard candy molds for gorgeous lollies. You can find some that look like flowers or other unique designs to make them extra special.
- Wrap them in clear cello bags with a small bow for easily transportable options, this will prevent them from sticking together and getting dirty.
- Try a gorgeous wooden candystick for an elevated look. However, if you want to stand them in a lollipop stand, avoid these and go with plain lollipop sticks. The bulb at the bottom of the wooden sticks willl make them impossible to use the stand. I learned this the hard way.
What flavor candy did you use. I really like the color. Could you share what you put in the picture on the oval gold tray. Love that color. Are the candies clear or honey or something else.? Thanks
Great question! I will add this to the post, I used Cavendish And Harvey Sour Lemon Drops Candy for these photos. I’ve also used clear rock candy, but liked the color of the lemon drops more! https://amzn.to/45p0WUj
These edible flower lollipops are such a delightful idea for party favors! I love how they add a touch of elegance and creativity to any occasion. Can’t wait to try making them for my next gathering! ??