Fun & Original Birthday Cakes. Maisie Parish

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Painting on Sugarpaste

      There are various different ways of painting on sugarpaste. The most common way is to use paste food colour diluted with some cooled boiled water, or you can use liquid food colours and gels. There are also some food colour pens available, but these tend to work better on harder surfaces. Another way is to dilute dust food colour with clear alcohol; this is particularly useful if you want it to dry quickly. Just wash your paintbrush in clean water when you have finished.

      Brushes

      To paint facial features I use no.00 or no.000 sable paintbrushes. The finer and better quality the brush, the better job you will make of it. To dust the cheeks of my figures I use a cosmetics brush, which has a sponge at one end and a brush at the other. For less detailed work, you can use a variety of sable brushes in different widths.

      Food colour pens can be used to add quick and simple embellishments. These paintings were created with pens, as they are cleaner and easier to apply than liquid food colours.

      The eyelids of this girl were dusted with Rainbow Dust sky blue edible glitter to highlight them and add interest.

       Storing Sugarpaste

      Sugarpaste will always store best wrapped tightly in a freezer bag, making sure you have removed as much air as possible, and then placed in an airtight container to protect it from atmospheric changes. It should be kept out of the sunlight and away from any humidity, in a cool, dry area at least half a metre (20in) off the ground. If the paste has become too dry to work with, knead in some white vegetable fat (shortening). The main thing to remember with any paste is to keep it dry, cool and sealed from the air, as this will make it dry out and go hard.

      Liquid food colour is a great way to add details such as the eyelashes on this doll, which were painted on with a no.0000 (very fine) paintbrush.

      Modelling

      Mastering modelling with sugarpaste is the key to creating professional-looking cakes. This section reveals all the tools and techniques you need to help sharpen your modelling skills.

       General Equipment

      There is a myriad of tools on the market for cake decorating and sugarcraft, but many of them are simply unnecessary. The following list gives my recommended essentials, and these are the items that form the basic tool kit listed in each of the projects in this book.

      

Large non-stick rolling pin For rolling out sugarpaste and marzipan.

      

Wooden spacing rods (1) For achieving an even thickness when rolling out sugarpaste – available in various thicknesses.

      

Two cake smoothers with handles (2) For smoothing sugarpaste when covering cakes – use two together for a professional finish.

      

Flower former (3) For placing delicate parts in while working on them so that they do not lose their shape.

      

Paint palette (4) For mixing liquid food colour or dust food colour and clear alcohol in for painting on sugarpaste.

      

Quality sable paintbrushes (5) For painting on sugarpaste and for modelling – used mainly for painting facial features and applying edible glue. The end of a paintbrush can be pushed into models to create nostrils, used to curl laces of paste around to make curly tails or hair, and used to open up flower petals.

      

Textured rolling pins (6) For creating decorative patterns in pieces of sugarpaste – for example, rice textured, daisy patterned and ribbed (see texturing sugarpaste).

      

Pastry brush (7) For painting apricot glaze and clear spirits onto fruit cakes.

      

Cutting wheel (8) For making smooth cuts on long pieces of sugarpaste, for use on borders mainly. A pizza cutter can be used instead.

      

Plastic marzipan knife For trimming the edges of cakes and boards for a neat result.

      

Sugar press (9) For extruding lengths of paste to make grass, wool, fluff and hair – a standard garlic press, found in all kitchens, is very effective for this.

      

Plunger cutters (10) For cutting out different shapes in sugarpaste – such as daisies, hearts, stars and flowers.

      

Good-quality stainless steel cutters Round, square, rectangle, butterfly, heart, petal/blossom – in assorted sizes. For cutting out clean shapes for use in decorations.

      

Frilling tool For making frills in sugarpaste and sugar flower paste pieces – a cocktail

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