11 minute read
Over The Moon by Christina Georgiou A sweet
EDIBLES
SK Fairtrade Sugarpaste: 2.05kg (4lb 83/8oz) Bridal White SK Professional Dust Food Colours: Bluegrass and Rose Round, filled sponge cake, 15cm (6") deep: 18cm (7") wide Vanilla buttercream: 450g (1lb) SK Professional Paste Food Colour: Bluegrass SK Designer Metallic Lustre Dust: Antique Gold Clear alcohol, i.e., vodka or gin SK Paste Food Colours: Black, Brown, Pink, Purple and Yellow SK HD Sugar Modelling Paste: 305g (103/4oz) Beige and 65g (21/4oz) White Sugarflair Spectral Paste Colour: Chocolate
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EQUIPMENT
Round cake drums: 12.5cm (5"), 18cm (7") and 28cm (11") Non-stick rolling pin Non-stick board SK High-Quality Paintbrushes: nos. 00, 2, 4 and 10 Palette knife Smoother Belissimo Flexi Smoothers: Medium Dowels: 3 FMM Modelling Tool: Knife & Scriber Craft knife Floral wire: 26-gauge white Star cutters: 2.5cm (1") and 3.5cm (13/8") Water brush pen Wooden skewer PME Modelling Tool: Quilting Silicone sculpting tool Modelling tool: small ball Mini clipper scissors Cocktail stick A
COVERING THE BASE DRUM
1Place a 18cm (7") drum in the centre of the 28cm (11") base drum, being mindful that the cake will be slightly larger. Doing this will help you to avoid adding the clouds in the cake area.
2Weigh out 200g (7oz) of Bridal White sugarpaste and begin to roll balls of all different sizes for the clouds. Position them sporadically around the outer edge of the 28cm (11") drum (A). Remove the 18cm (7") drum from the middle.
3Roll out 300g (101/2oz) of Bridal White sugarpaste to a 3mm (1/8") thickness on a surface dusted with cornflour.
4Use a pastry brush to cover the surface of the 28cm (11") drum with a little cooled, boiled water.
5Carefully lay the sugarpaste centrally over the top and down around the sides of the drum so it covers the clouds. Trim away the excess paste from around the base and lightly run your fingers around the groves of the clouds to emphasise the shapes. Set aside to firm overnight.
MAKING THE CLOUD TOPPER
1Take 600g (1lb 51/4oz) of Bridal White sugarpaste and roll out balls of different sizes for the clouds. Position the clouds on the 12.5cm (5") drum until it’s completely covered. Make sure the clouds are coming off the edges of the drum to look more abstract.
2Brush over the surface of the clouds with a little cooled, boiled water. Roll out 150g (51/4oz) of Bridal White sugarpaste to a 3mm (1/8") thickness and attach centrally on top of the damp clouds, making sure to tuck the excess sugarpaste around and underneath the clouds and drum slightly to keep everything together.
3Gently run your fingers over the groves and mounds to emphasise the shapes of the clouds.
4Using a no. 10 paintbrush, brush a little Bluegrass dust in the grooves of the clouds where there would be shadows.
COVERING THE CAKE
1Secure the cake centrally to the 18cm (7") drum using a little buttercream.
2Spread a thin layer of buttercream over the top and side of the cake using a palette knife to crumb coat it. Once crumb-coated, refrigerate for 15 minutes before covering.
3Knead a little Bluegrass paste food colour into 800g (1lb 12oz) of Bridal White sugarpaste to make a pale teal shade.
4Roll out 800g (1lb 12oz) of the pale teal sugarpaste to a 4mm (3/16") thickness and lay it centrally over the top of the cake. Smooth the paste over the top and side of the cake using your hands and a smoother, then trim away any excess from around the base.
5While the paste is still soft, hold the rounded Flexi Smoother on top of the cake and the rectangular Flexi Smoother against the side. Applying medium pressure, run the smoothers around the top edge of the cake until a crisp line appears. Continue working around the top of the cake until you are happy with the finish.
6Use a little buttercream to secure the cake centrally to the covered 28cm (11") drum, within the empty area inside the cloud perimeter.
7Insert three dowels into the centre of your cake. Mark level with the top of the cake, remove and trim to size, before reinserting back into their original holes. Cover the dowelled area with some buttercream and place the 12.5cm (5") drum centrally on top.
CREATING THE LETTERING
1Roll out 40g (11/2oz) of White modelling paste to a 3mm (1/8") thickness on your non-stick board.
2Using a no. 2 paintbrush, mix up a gold paint using some Antique Gold dust and a little clear alcohol.
3Write out your calligraphy message over the paste using the gold paint – I wrote “Oh Baby” but you can write whatever you like. When brushing downwards, remember to use the side of the paintbrush and push down to create a thicker line. When you are going in an upwards motion, use the tip of your brush gently for a thinner line.
4Using a craft knife, cut out a cloud around your writing and neaten all the edges with the knife tool and your fingers. 5 Secure the lettering cloud to the the side of the cake in the middle using some white vegetable fat. Touch up any areas of the gold paint, if necessary (B).
MOON AND STARS TOPPER
1Mix a little Yellow paste food colour into 270g (91/2oz) of Beige modelling paste to create a butter-like yellow shade.
2Roll 250g (83/4oz) of the pale yellow modelling paste into a roughly 30cm (113/4") long sausage with tapered ends. Bend into a half moon shape on your worktop and leave to rest for a few hours (C).
3Using the rest of the pale yellow paste, roll out to a 3mm (1/8") thickness and cut out one 2.5cm (1") star and one 3.5cm (13/8") star using the respective cutters.
4Burn the end of a 3cm (11/8") long piece of 26-gauge white floral wire and carefully push the end into one of the points of the small star until the wire reaches the middle.
5Mix up some more gold paint using clear alcohol and Antique Gold dust. Paint the entire moon and each star using the no. 10 paintbrush. Once finished, leave to set for a few hours until firm.
6Push a skewer vertically up into the thick base of the moon, making sure you keep the moon’s shape, and insert it into the sugarpaste clouds on top of the cake. You will need to trim the skewer to size so it doesn’t protrude out the top of the moon.
7Dip your no. 4 paintbrush in edible glue and wipe off the excess. Glue the larger star to the side of the clouds on top of the cake, standing it up over one of the grooves next to the moon.
8Push the wire of the hanging star into the top pointed end of the moon so it hangs down (D, E). B
C
D
E
MAKING THE BABY’S BODY
1Mix some Purple paste food colour and a touch of Pink paste food colour into 25g (7/8oz) of White modelling paste. You’ll be using this purple paste to make a number of baby parts, so make sure you keep it wrapped up as you work to stop it from drying out.
2Roll out 15g (1/2oz) of the purple paste into a smooth ball. Place your index finger on one side of the ball and roll back and forth, elongating to create a torso and a round belly.
3Run a stitching tool centrally up the length of the body to create a baby grow (F).
MAKING THE BABY’S LEGS
1Roll out 3.5g (1/8oz) of the purple paste into a smooth ball. Place your little finger in the centre of the ball and roll back and forth, elongating the paste until it’s around 3.5cm (13/8") in length. Make sure one end is slightly thicker and larger than the other (G).
2Tap the base of the smaller end on your non-stick board to flatten the bottom of the foot (H).
3Place the foot in between your finger and thumb and gently pinch out where the toe would be (I). Repeat steps 1–3 to create a second foot.
TO P T I P
When creating legs and arms, it’s a good idea to create the left and right side at the same time. It just means you can match them together at each stage, making sure you end up with two identical arms or legs.
MAKING THE BABY’S ARMS
1Roll out 3.5g (1/8oz) of the purple paste into a smooth ball. Run the flat part of your little finger along the centre to elongate the arm until it reaches 4cm (11/2"), ensuring one end is slightly more tapered than the other.
2Gently pinch the bulbous end of the arm to flatten and create the hand. Repeat steps 1–2 to create a second hand (J).
3Lightly pinch and thin out the paste at the very top of the arms and legs. Wet the ends with a little cooled, boiled water and rub your finger over the joining areas until the paste becomes tacky.
4One at a time, attach the limbs to the body. When doing this, use a water brush pen to paint a small amount of water over the crease and use the tip of a silicone sculpting tool blend the paste joins together.
MAKING THE BABY’S HEAD
1Mix a little Chocolate and Brown paste food colours into 25g (7/8oz) of Beige modelling paste until you get your desired skin tone.
2Roll 24g (<7/8oz) of your skin tone paste into a ball. Keep the remaining paste wrapped up to prevent it from drying out.
3Pinch the base of the ball slightly to create the chin. Next, use the side of your little finger to create an indentation across the face, approximately one third of the way up from the chin (K). The bigger side of the dip is the forehead. For this, pinch the side to create an egg-shaped head (L).
4Take a small piece of the skin tone paste you set aside earlier and roll it into a ball. Press it down on the board to create a perfect circle. Cut through the middle with a craft knife to give you two equal semicircles (M).
5Paint a little water over the groove on the head and attach the semicircles inside the dip of the face on either side, making sure the eyes are much lower than the middle of the face (N). Press down on the paste gently to adhere, before running a small amount of water over the creases and blending the joins together using the tip of the silicone sculpting tool (O).
6For the nose, take a tiny pinch of the leftover skin tone paste and roll into a ball. Secure in place underneath and in between the eyes using a little water. When attaching, press your finger lightly into the base of the nose to form a sloped tip (P).
7Create the mouth by pushing the scriber tool into the face underneath the nose, circling and pulling the tool downwards to open the mouth (Q). Use the silicone sculpting tool the shape the paste underneath the mouth to create a lip (R, S).
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Image taken from Bellissimo Wedding Cakes
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T U
8Using a no. 00 paintbrush, mix a little Brown paste food colour with some clear alcohol to form a paint. Paint along the eyelid and delicately add some eyelashes (T).
9Using a no. 10 paintbrush, lightly blush the cheeks, jaw and hairline with a little Rose dust (U). You want to match the skin tone as closely as possible, so make sure you use the correct dust colour. For example, for a white skin tone you should use peachy or pale pink colours. For brown skin tones use dark pinks, and for black skin tones use red dusts.
10 For the ears, roll two small balls from the leftover skin tone paste and flatten slightly into short teardrop shapes. Push the scriber tool into the head on both sides, between the tops of the eyes and the base of the nose (V).
11 Using a little water, insert the ears into each hole on the side of the head. Make sure the pointed end of the ears is the part you insert (W). Repeat to attach the second ear to the other side of the head.
12 Push a small ball tool into the centre of the round ears, angling it towards the head, to create the ear shape (X).
13 To finish, use the leftover brown paint you made earlier to paint on the eyebrows.
V
TO P T I P
To create a very cute baby face, all features should be squashed to the bottom of the face with a huge forehead.
MAKING THE BABY’S HAIR
1Mix a little Black and Brown paste food colours into 10g (1/4oz) of Beige
W
