The technique of decorating confectionery with sugar or milk mastic was born in the UK in the last century. In 1981, a corresponding guild of professionals was formed in this country. But such decoration is becoming more and more popular. No matter how tasty the cake is, it will become even better if it is decorated with flowers. Edible, of course. Cake with tulips made of mastic is appropriate for Valentine's Day, March 8, birthday. Spring flowers create a festive mood and a hunch that the culinary masterpiece will not be difficult for the stomach. The main thing is that the buds turn out to be as close as possible to real tulips. The lurid flowers look messy and can ruin the overall picture of the cake. In this article, we will teach you how to make tulips from mastic. The master class will be accompanied by photographs in order to explain each stage of the work.
Equipment
Nowadays, there are many specialized stores where you can buy a set of tools for sculpting different colors and figures. Also available is ready-made mastic. It can be sugar, milk, made from marshmallows. But let's focus on the hardware. What do you need to make beautiful tulips from mastic? A master class usually demonstrates the technique of sculpting flowers using equipment from Martellato or Marset. These sets include cut-out molds for petals of various shapes, a soft mat, a plastic tray for drying, and a mold for adding texture. To bloom tulips, you can use Modecor's gel dye . But, in principle, you can "grow" flowers without special tools, resorting to the help of improvised means: cookie cutters, knife, egg container. Dry food colors will help to give the desired color .
Ingredients
You need to sculpt tulips from sugar mastic the day before the expected serving of the cake. The decoration should dry. You can attach them to the cake, as well as connect the fragments with each other using melted chocolate or a kind of food glue (glucose syrup). To work with mastic, we need water and potato starch. To remove the excess of the latter, you need to stock up on a glass of vodka. It seems to be all. Now consider how to create tulips from mastic step by step.
With wire frame
No matter how we sculpt flowers, we first need to color the mastic. Unless you are going to make white tulips. But then you need to paint part of the mastic in green - for leaves and stems. Before making a tulip from mastic, cut out with a plunger (or a cookie cutter in the shape of a heart, which we then cut in half) such petals. On slightly crumpled foil, which will give them a natural texture, we straighten the tips. We can roll them out a little and create corrugation with the handle of a knife. We leave to dry the petals on a special device or on an egg container. So they turn concave. We dress our petals on the wire, simultaneously giving the tips naturalness and shape. We do the same with green mastic. We roll up the flagellum, gracefully bending it like a stalk of a delicate flower. To make the texture of the leaves look natural, we cross out the veins with a toothpick.
How to make a tulip from mastic without wire
This option is more complicated. But the result is amazing: sugar flowers can not be distinguished from real ones. These tulips also have stamens with pestles. You can even create "breeding varieties", for example, with a corrugated or torn edge of the petals. Skillfully using dye, we will achieve iridescent shades of colors. So, we begin our master class: "Tulips from mastic step by step." Take a small piece of yellow mastic and knead it. Roll up the sausage. We make three clamps with tweezers, forming a pestle. Cut out mugs from yellow mastic. So that she does not stick to her hands, we dust her with starch. We attach the pestle to this flower bed. Leave to dry in the open. By the way, mastic, which is currently not used, must be hidden in a well-closing container or wrapped in cling film. Modeling material needs soft, like plasticine, so we protect it from airing.
Step Two: Petals
This is the most critical stage of work. To make the petals the same size, we roll out the mastic of the desired color between the two skewers. The layer should be as thin as possible - somewhere with one millimeter. If you have a proprietary plunger, cover the surface, press the spring, cut out the petal. Everything is simple. If you work with improvised means, then cut out the hearts with a cookie cutter. For one flower you will need three pieces. Cut the hearts in half. We remove them in a container so that they do not dry out. Now, to make tulips from mastic look natural, you need to give their petals a texture. We do this with the help of mold. Just gently squeeze the mastic into the shape, giving the surface a tender vein of petal. If there is no branded equipment, do not despair. Take a piece of foil, crumple it slightly. Put a petal on this surface, slightly press down.
Step Three: Quivering Tips
We take out the petal from the dryer and lay it on the mat (or sponge) with the pattern down. Using the stack, we make the edges thinner. We work in circular motions, rolling mastic up from the center. We give the petal the final shape. If it is a bud, bend the edges inward. If these are full-flowered tulips from mastic, slightly open the petals so that a cup of flower is visible, with a pestle and stamens. By the way, about the basis. While the petals are drying on a convex surface (always with a pattern upwards), we roll balls from the mastic with a diameter of 2-2.5 centimeters. We take them lightly on one side. On the base we sculpt a second ball, smaller. On it we use water to mold a pestle and stamens. We set this flower cup in a high glass for drying.
Tulip
When all fragments of the flower have completely dried, we begin to fasten them. On the base of the three petals, apply some kind of food glue. It can be melted chocolate or glucose syrup. The first option is preferable - tulips from mastic are obtained as if with a brown streak. Until the glue has dried, we fasten these three petals on the base with a pestle and stamens. This is the inner row of the flower. We do the same with three more petals. But we attach them from the outside of the cup, trying to cover the gaps between the leaves of the first, inner row. The buds now need to be combined with the stems and leaves. To do this, it is better to resort to the help of alcohol (vodka) or glucose syrup.
Finishing touch
Both buds and leaves need to be stored in special forms, sprinkled with starch. From this product look as if powdered. Excess starch must be carefully removed with vodka. For gloss, you can dissolve a little honey in alcohol. If you want your tulips from mastic on the cake to look very realistic (to mislead the guests), paint the tips of the stamens in black. To do this, dip a brush in kandurin. We work extremely carefully - the stamens are very fragile, therefore they can break. Well, now we place our flower or a whole bouquet on the surface of the cake. With cream, you need to be careful. Too liquid can spoil all your work, starting to dissolve the mastic. It is best to place the decoration on the cake shortly before serving.