Confectionery mastic is one of the most common materials that are used to decorate cakes and pies. With it, they look much more beautiful, appetizing and eaten at times faster. And what else does the hostess need for happiness?
No less popular are mastic decorations, which can be very diverse. Flowers, trees, vases, baskets, people, animal figures and even whole palaces are molded from it. The main thing is desire and fantasy.
What is mastic?
The composition of the mastic is quite diverse, but its foundation is always powdered sugar. For this, it is often called sugar. The following components can serve as an additive to it:
- marzipan;
- marshmallows;
- starch;
- gelatin;
- milk;
- protein.
To change the color and smell of mastic, a variety of flavors and food colors are added to it. Some even manage to add delicious confectionery beads, stars, flowers to it - any options are possible. Thanks to all this, sugar mastic decorations are always very diverse and look like real works of confectionery art.
Knead
Different mastics mix in different ways. We will consider the simplest one made from marshmallows. To make it, you need marshmallows themselves and powdered sugar. If during mixing you use coarse powder with whole crystals of sugar, the mastic will tear even when rolling.
The cooking process is simple. First, the candies melt to a state of mass, and then powdered sugar gradually interferes with this mass. Ready mastic should be plastic, uniform and dense. She should not stick too much to her hands or objects. This is necessary so that jewelry from mastic is convenient to fashion. So that everything works out as it should, keep an eye on the proportions (which is more and less) and try not to overheat the sweets (just wait until the marshmallows begin to swell and melt).
Roll out
Next, the mastic must be rolled out. This is done on a table sprinkled with powder or starch, or between sheets of polyethylene lubricated with any vegetable oil. The disadvantage of the first method is that the rolled sheet will have to be “unfastened” from the table, kept on weight. Decorating with cake mastic is easier to carry out in the second way. In this case, you just need to remove the upper polyethylene, turn the rolled layer over, cover the cake with it, and only then remove the remaining layer of polyethylene. The thickness of the rolled mastic sheet should be about 3 mm. If it is less - it can break. It can be thicker if you are going to sculpt something.
Still torn?
If the mastic sheet with which you covered the cake suddenly burst at the most crucial stage, do not despair. Plaster seams, patches and other imperfections with a wide brush, previously moistened in water. Smooth the cake with such a brush until its surface becomes even.
If you find air bubbles under a layer of mastic, puncture it in these places with a needle and also gently smooth holes with a brush.
What is better to paint?
Of course, it is best to use food colors, but they are far from always being found. Instead, you can use ordinary paints for Easter eggs, but you should do this very carefully, because salt usually is present in such paints, and mastic should not be salty. You can also try natural dyes: beetroot juice - for red, spinach juice - for green, carrot juice - for orange. Of course, mastic decorations painted in this way will be less beautiful, but at the same time 100% harmless.
The hardest thing to do is black mastic. To do this, mix three dyes: red, yellow and blue (1: 1: 2). The proportions must be observed very clearly, but even so, there is absolutely no guarantee that you will get a neutral black tint. You can also get black mastic by first making brown (with burnt sugar or chocolate), and then adding a drop of blue dye to it.
Do you want mastic to shine?
To make the mastic jewelry sparkle, use a soft brush to apply a layer of a solution of honey and vodka on them (1: 1). Do not be afraid that vodka will affect the taste and smell of the cake, it will quickly evaporate before it does harm.