Decorating cakes, pies and muffins is a real art. Recently, the use of culinary mastic, from which you can create a variety of compositions, has become a very popular method of decoration.
If you are a beginner decorator, then you will need to choose your own recipe for making mastic, which will be convenient for you to work with. We warn you that the mastic may not work the first time, therefore, we advise you to be patient and not to give up the intention to learn how to use the mastic after the first failures.
One of the most popular recipes for baking decorations today is mastic for marshmallow cake. This mastic turns out to be quite tasty, to get a pleasant acidity during its preparation, water can be replaced with lemon juice or a solution of citric acid. In addition, various flavors and colorants can be added during the cooking process.
So how to make marshmallow mastic? Take a cup with a volume of two hundred and fifty grams and rather tightly put sweets in it. For this portion of marshmallows, we need two tablespoons of water and a little less than two glasses of powdered sugar.
We transfer the sweets to dishes suitable for use in a microwave oven, pour water into the same place and put in the microwave for thirty seconds. If you don’t have a microwave, you can melt sweets in a water bath, but it will take much more time.
As a result of exposure to microwaves, the sweets will increase in volume and become soft. We need to mix them with water to form a homogeneous mass. Then we begin to gradually add the sifted powdered sugar in portions, carefully stirring the mass. We need the mastic to acquire an elastic consistency. Properly prepared mastic for marshmallow cake at this stage is quite sticky. It needs to be rolled up in a bowl and roll in icing sugar, and then sent for thirty minutes to the refrigerator, tightly wrapped with plastic wrap. Keep in mind that after proofing, the mastic will become more dense, so do not try to get sticky during the kneading process. And to add elasticity to our mass, you can add about half a teaspoon of butter to its composition.
I must say that this recipe is not entirely accurate. Each time you prepare the mastic, you will have to choose the proportions yourself, since the amount of powdered sugar depends on various reasons, in particular, on the type and quality of marshmallows used.
If you need colored mastic for the cake, then you need to tint it with food colors. If you have gel dyes, then they are already used with ready-made mastic. Liquid dyes are added at the beginning of the batch, replacing them with part of the water.
Marshmallow mastic can be used to make flat and voluminous cake decorations. To sculpt volumetric figures, it is worth kneading a slightly denser mass, slightly reducing the amount of water.
If you need to make durable and solid jewelry figures, then you should use gelatin mastic. To make it, you will need half a kilogram of icing sugar, fifty grams of starch, six grams of gelatin (in plates, not granules), 55 milliliters of water and a few drops of lemon juice.
Soak gelatin in water with lemon juice and mix icing sugar with starch. Then combine these mixtures, thoroughly mixing. At the initial stage, it is better to use a mixer, since the mass is quite dry and difficult to mix. Finally, knead the mass with your hands and send it to the refrigerator for about twenty minutes, tightly wrapping it in film
When making figures from this mass, you need to remember that gelatin mastic quickly dries in the air. Therefore, it is necessary to separate from the total mass small pieces necessary for the manufacture of a particular part. The rest of the mastic should be covered with a film.
And how to make mastic for cakes using gelatin in powder? Use the following recipe. We take two teaspoons (without a hill) of gelatin and fill it with cold water (30 ml). We give the gelatin to swell and dissolve it, heating over a fire or in the microwave. It is very important that the solution does not boil, otherwise the gelatin will lose its properties. Then, pour a teaspoon of liquid glucose into the dissolved gelatin and begin to gradually add the powdered sugar, kneading the mass with a spoon and then with your hands on the board. In total, about three hundred grams of sugar will be needed. It is necessary for the mass to become elastic, but not thick. Mastic for the cake, prepared according to this recipe, should stand in the refrigerator for at least four hours, but it is better to leave it there overnight.
When cooking any type of mastic, you need to remember that the amount of powdered sugar is approximate. You may need a much larger amount of this product than is written in the recipe. And be sure to sift the powder before use, otherwise you will not be able to get a homogeneous mass.
You can apply mastic decorations only on a dry surface. Otherwise, it will simply dissolve. As a layer between the cake and the layer of mastic, you can use marzipan or an already frozen butter cream.