Make a decoration from mastic with your own hands. Outline applications. What is mastic

Today, almost every person is familiar with the interesting word "mastic". Cakes to order, decorated just for her, have become very popular and in demand. With the help of this substance, wonderful desserts are made, and not simple ones, but real Masters who create this beauty, even the tongue cannot be called simple confectioners. These are artists, these are real geniuses in their field!

What is mastic?

Mastic gained wide popularity about ten years ago, but still remains at the peak of its popularity. She has no equal for one simple reason: with her help you can create almost any figures and flowers, it has a plasticine-like consistency and does not taste bad at all. And our article will tell you about how to make your own jewelry from mastic with your own hands. Step by step, we will reveal to you all the secrets of this beautiful and delicious art.

Types of mastic

Mastic is different. It will be very difficult for a person who is just starting to work with it and who has looked, for example, into a specialized store, to understand all its diversity. And for sure, you will need a detailed consultation of the seller about the purposes for which one or another type of this sweet plasticine is needed. So what is it like?

Marzipan.
Chocolate.
Flower. It is she who is most often used to create very complex works, for example, the thinnest rose petals. The thing is that it is plastic, rolls easily and dries pretty quickly. Such qualities are ideal for these purposes. Therefore, if in the near future you are waiting for decorating a cake with mastic with your own hands, plus your skill already allows you to make complex elements, choose this particular type of mastic.
Honey.
Sugar. This type of mastic is usually used for wrapping cakes.
For modeling. It is good to make figurines and simple decorations from such mastic.
Homemade marshmallow.

What mastic to choose a novice master?

Sculpting jewelry from mastic with your own hands for beginners can be quite a difficult task. Therefore, at first, for an easier and faster improvement of skills, it is worth choosing a purchased rather than home-made mastic. The first one is more expensive. But to create flowers and figures, you need to gain a certain skill, which is much easier to do with purchased mastic.

In stores you can find a wide variety of manufacturers, this will vary the price of the product. Russian brands can be found for 250 rubles/kg, imported ones (Italy, Sweden) - 500 rubles/kg. A novice master would like to advise mastic for modeling. It is universal, suitable for wrapping a cake, and for creating figurines and not very complex colors.

on one's own?

If there are no specialized pastry shops nearby, but you really want to master the art of decorating cakes with fondant, do not despair! You can make it yourself, and the basis for this will be a chewy marshmallow soufflé. The most common brand of this dessert, which can be purchased at almost any grocery store, is Bon Pari.

Yes, yes, it is these viscous sweet candies that we will need. A couple of bags with a total weight of 180 grams can be purchased for 110-120 rubles, and as a result, 900-1000 grams of finished mastic will be obtained from this amount! As you can see, the savings are obvious. But this is not the only plus of homemade mastic. Many consider it tastier than a purchased competitor.

So, do you need to decorate the cake with mastic with your own hands? We will tell you how to make this product yourself using marshmallows. Everything is very simple. It is necessary to put the soufflé in a bowl, melt it to a viscous state in the microwave, add 2 tablespoons of room temperature butter, a couple of teaspoons of natural lemon juice to it and mix it all well. After that, you need to add one tablespoon of powdered sugar to the mass (stock up on it, you will need a total of 500-700 grams of this product) until it acquires the consistency of batter. After that, the future mastic must be kneaded (like a regular dough). Homemade wonderful product is ready! You need to store such a mastic in the same way as the purchased one - always in a cellophane film and in the refrigerator.

What does a beginner need to have?

In order to create figurines and decorations from mastic with your own hands, of course, you need to have the appropriate confectionery equipment. These are special sets, which sometimes come with a brochure describing what this or that tool is for.

To create petals, leaves, cuttings are needed. They can be metal or plastic.

To create a certain texture, for example, the natural natural lines of petals and leaves, so-called viners are used. They are not cheap, but with their help your creations will be perfect and simply irresistible.

For comfortable work, it would be nice to have a silicone mat and a rolling pin. And, of course, a novice cake decorator should always keep an appropriate training book at hand, where it would be shown in great detail what this or that tool or cutting is for, how to create a rose or violet, orchid or lily with their help.

Secrets of working with mastic

Each pastry chef has their own unique and original ways of working. We will tell you about the main and well-known. Knowing these secrets, you can create jewelry from mastic with your own hands with even greater ease.

In order for the pre-cut parts from the mastic not to dry out ahead of time, cover them with polyethylene.
If you want to give color to the mastic, use not dry ones. They already have a liquid texture, so they make it easier to color the product evenly.
After your decoration is ready and dry, to give it a richer color and shine, hold it for 10 seconds over a saucepan of steam.
If you want to give the decoration a glossy shine, arm yourself with a brush and a mixture of vodka and honey in a 1: 1 ratio. Brush over your masterpiece. Do not worry, the smell of vodka will evaporate, and the mastic will look smooth and shiny.
If the mastic is dry, just send it to the microwave for 5-10 seconds, and then knead thoroughly.
In order not to overdo it with the color intensity when coloring the product, use a toothpick. With its help, it is very easy to mix the dye in the smallest doses and control the process.
Mastic can be cut with ordinary scissors. With their help, you can, for example, cut cloves on a rose leaf.

Jewelry from mastic with their own hands. Master class using silicone molds

The easiest way to make any figure out of mastic is with a silicone mold. It makes everything easier and faster. Molds can be large and small. With their help, you can make 2d decorations (in which only the “front” part is created) and 3d figures. In the latter case, a full-fledged product is obtained, beautiful from all sides.

Let's take a step-by-step look at how to make do-it-yourself mastic decorations using Let's create a multi-colored 2-d flower for example.

We will need:

The manufacturing process is very simple.

It's so easy, within 10 minutes and with the help of a silicone mold, you can make a beautiful one yourself

Examples of decorating wedding cakes with mastic

Wedding cakes are one of the most popular ordered desserts in pastry shops. But they are usually not the most difficult. You just need to have the right inventory. And then any housewife will be able to handle decorating the cake for the wedding. Don't believe? See for yourself!

For example, very popular do-it-yourself mastic jewelry is pearls or beads.

They can be quickly and accurately made with the help of such a silicone mold.

Then you won't have to sit all evening sculpting each ball. Smooth, the same size, one to one beads, of course, will delight guests! Such a performance of a wedding dessert will be simple, but very refined!

Decorations from mastic on a cake for a man

Does your significant other have a holiday soon? Birthday or promotion? How would you decorate a cake for your loved one? After all, he is a man! And they do not like butterflies and flowers, "sussi-pusi" is not for them. Strong floor! And that's it! In this case, you can buy the corresponding "male" silicone mold in the shape of a car or phone (a bundle of money will also come in handy). And do-it-yourself mastic decorations for your husband, or rather, for a gift cake, can be done very quickly! You will be able to please and surprise your soulmate not only with the most delicious biscuit, but also with your resourcefulness. Your loved one will definitely say to you: “Thank you, dear!”

Jewelry from mastic with their own hands. There are gifts for boys too!

Boys are the same little men! And they are not far from dads in desires. Cake decorations in the form of cars, pistols and other joys are also perfect for them. You can decorate the dessert with figures in the form of cookies, sweets, lollipops or chocolate. If your son is a fan of some cartoon character, then you can try to find and purchase a mold with a figure of his idol.

Happiness and delight in the eyes of your child are 100% guaranteed!

Decorations from mastic on a cake for a girl

For a daughter or niece, it will be easier to decorate than for a boy. Molds with various colors, and with bows, and figures in the form of sweets already mentioned in the article, and butterflies, and dolls, and much more will help here.

A special chic and long-awaited gift is a cake for a girl made in the shape of a doll. We will give an example of making such a mastic decoration with our own hands (with photo) for a girl.

For this, the most ordinary Barbie can be used. In this case, the biscuit is baked in the form of a dome-skirt, the legs of the doll are inserted into it, and then both its upper part and the resulting skirt are decorated with mastic. Mastic in this case is perfect, since it can be easily cut with the most ordinary knife or scissors into ribbons, circles, canvases and (would be fantasy!) Build the most beautiful dress from these pieces!

As you can see, it is not at all necessary to order a mastic cake in special pastry shops. It is quite possible to try to master the simplest techniques of this art by yourself. And the main assistants to the novice master will be silicone molds. There are a huge number of them on sale with a wide variety of ideas - from floral to New Year's, from men's to women's.

Try and create! Making mastic decorations with your own hands for a birthday or any other holiday is a real pleasure. Your family will definitely appreciate your efforts and thank you with admiration from the bottom of their hearts!

Chocolate is loved by those with a sweet tooth for its melting taste and delicate texture, doctors appreciate it for its high content of trace elements, vitamins and antioxidants, and decorators love it for a huge number of techniques that can be used to decorate any cake. Professionals use special tools to create their masterpieces. But even at home, you can make chocolate decorations for the cake, which will be not only tasty, but also spectacular.

What kind of chocolate can decorate a cake at home

Only a product that contains cocoa butter has the right to be called chocolate.. The main components of chocolate also include grated cocoa and sugar. They also produce unsweetened chocolate, which contains 99% cocoa.

When decorating cakes, the following types of chocolate are used:

bitter (dark) - contains at least 40-55% cocoa;
dairy - contains at least 25% cocoa and dairy products;
white - contains at least 20% cocoa butter, but does not contain grated cocoa and powder.

Professional confectioners use chocolate, which is available in blocks and dragees (drops). Chocolate bars can also be used to decorate at home.

Cocoa powder can also be used for decor, but it should be of high quality, bad powder can squeak on your teeth.

Photo gallery: chocolate release forms suitable for decoration

Chocolate in the form of dragees is convenient for melting Chocolate blocks are often used by professional confectioners. Bar chocolate can be used to decorate at home

In addition to real chocolate, confectionery chocolate (glaze) is found in stores, in which cocoa butter is replaced by vegetable fats. It is produced in tiles or in the form of chocolate figurines.

Confectionery chocolate is much inferior to the real one in taste, but, on the other hand, it is less capricious and can be used for applications, patterns, glazes.

What you need to know about chocolate

How to store and melt properly

Chocolate has a long shelf life, but it should be kept tightly closed, away from foods with a strong smell, protected from light and moisture. Storage temperature - 12° C to 20° C.

Before you start decorating the cake, in most cases, the chocolate is crushed and heated. For heating, you can use a microwave oven, a water or steam bath, or an oven heated to 50–100 ° C. In all cases, stir the chocolate frequently.

Attention! When heated, chocolate must be protected from steam and drops of water, otherwise it will curdle.

Tempering

Cocoa butter is very capricious. It contains fats, the crystals of which melt at different temperatures. If the chocolate is not properly melted, it can become coated, melt quickly in your hands, or thicken too much. In tempering (targeted recrystallization), the chocolate is heated, cooled and stirred in succession, resulting in chocolate that melts in the mouth but remains firm and crunchy at room temperature. For tempering, you should take high-quality chocolate.

Confectionery chocolate (glaze) does not need tempering, as it does not contain cocoa butter.

Professional confectioners use a marble board and special thermometers for tempering. The easiest way to temper chocolate at home is to use the microwave:

Chop the chocolate, put in the microwave.
Turn on the oven at maximum power.
Take out and stir the chocolate every 15 seconds until almost completely melted, small lumps should remain.
Remove chocolate and stir until completely combined.

Properly tempered chocolate, applied in a thin layer on parchment, hardens within 3 minutes at 20°C indoors.

If the chocolate thickens too quickly, over-crystallization has occurred. A little melted untempered chocolate is added to such chocolate and mixed.

A simple do-it-yourself cornet

Pastry bags are used to deposit chocolate patterns, disposable polyethylene options are especially convenient. If they are not there, you can roll the paper cornets yourself. To do this, a square is cut out of parchment, divided into 2 triangles diagonally. The resulting right triangle is folded into a cone, combining sharp corners with a right one. The corner is folded outward to secure the cornet. A corner is cut off at the bottom only when the cornet is already filled with chocolate.

The bag or cornet is filled with melted chocolate. It is convenient to fill the cornet if you put it in a tall glass.

You can also replace pastry bags with a transparent paper file or a dense plastic milk bag.

Express design options

m&m's and KitKat

This is a very simple and effective way to decorate a cake. Bright chocolate dragees in sugar glaze will perfectly fit into a children's holiday.

You will need:

m&m's;
kitkat.

The cake will look good if the height of the chocolate bars exceeds the height of the cake itself by 1.5–2 cm.

Procedure:

Attach chocolate sticks to the sides of the cake. If the sticks are interconnected, it is better to separate them.
Fill the top of the cake with m&m's.
Additionally, the cake can be tied with a ribbon.

You can also decorate the cake with others: Kinder chocolate, chocolate balls.

Photo gallery: how to decorate a cake with finished chocolate products

The square cake is lined with bricks of slab chocolate and decorated with towers of cookies glued together with chocolate From white and milk dragees you can lay out flowers In such a candy platter, any sweet tooth will choose a piece to your taste. Chocolate candies are laid out in a circle, and two-color chocolate tubes complement the composition, which can be replaced with wafer tubes

chocolate chips

You can sprinkle chocolate chips on the top and sides of the cake. Making it at home is very simple: bar chocolate is rubbed on a grater or cut with a vegetable peeler. In the latter case, curly curls of chocolate are obtained.

Depending on the chosen grater, you can get different chocolate chips - small or larger. The heat from your hands softens the chocolate quickly, so it's best to rub small pieces of chocolate. It is impossible to cool chocolate in the refrigerator beforehand or during operation, too cold chocolate will crumble and break.

Drawing with cocoa and stencil

The famous tiramisu is simply sprinkled with cocoa on top. You can decorate other cakes in the same way. The top of the cake should be even, then it will look neat. And with the help of cocoa and a stencil, you can create a pattern on the cake.

You will need:

cocoa;
sieve;
stencil.

Procedure:

Put the stencil on the cake.
Sprinkle cocoa on top through a sieve.
Carefully remove the stencil.

You can use a ready-made stencil or make your own by cutting out a pattern from paper. As a stencil, you can also use an openwork cake napkin, a fork, and more.

If the surface of the cake is covered with a soft or delicate cream (whipped cream, custard, sour cream), then it is better to keep the stencil at a small distance from the cake so that it does not stick to the surface and spoil it.

Covering the cake with icing

Chocolate icing is very appetizing, especially when combined with fruits or fresh berries. You can also add colored sugar sprinkles or beads to the icing. Cool the cake well before icing it. But the glaze should be warm.

Read more about chocolate icing in our article:.

The cake can be glazed entirely or just the top, leaving mouth-watering smudges on the sides. Icing is poured into the center of the cake in a circular motion, then helping it to spread with a knife or spatula. If you need to make more uniform smudges, then first apply liquid icing in a circular motion to the edges of the cake using a cornet or bag, and only then pour the top.

Chocolate and heavy cream ganache

Ingredients:

100 ml heavy cream (30–35%);
100 g dark, 150 g milk, or 250 g white chocolate.

Cooking:

Chop chocolate.
Heat cream until boiling.
Add chopped chocolate to cream, mix thoroughly with a whisk.

You can adjust the thickness of the glaze by increasing or decreasing the amount of cream or chocolate.

Chilling the ganache in the refrigerator for a few hours, then letting it warm to room temperature and whipping it, you get a chocolate cream that can be used for cream decorations and layers of cakes.

Made from chocolate and milk

Ingredients:

100 g milk chocolate;
3–4 tbsp. l. milk.

Cooking:

Chop chocolate, add milk.
Heat in the microwave or in a water bath, stirring constantly.

Made from chocolate and vegetable oil

Ingredients:

100 g of chocolate;
2–4 tbsp. l. odorless vegetable oil.

Cooking:

Chop chocolate, melt.
Add vegetable oil, stirring constantly.

You can make glaze from different types of chocolate. Less is added to white oils, more to bitter ones.

From cocoa powder

Ingredients:

1 cup of sugar;
1/2 cup cocoa powder;
1/4 cup milk;
50 g butter.

Cooking:

Put all ingredients in a bowl.
Put in a boiling water bath. Stirring constantly, heat for about a minute.
Remove from the bath, beat with a mixer until smooth.

Mirror glaze with gelatin

Cake for coating with such icing should be even (mousse cakes filled in silicone molds are ideal). Before coating with a mirror glaze, it is necessary to keep it in the freezer for several hours.

Ingredients:

Cooking:

Soak leaf gelatin in cold boiled water. Let the gelatin swell for 10 minutes. When using gelatin powder, pour 50 g of cold water into it, mix thoroughly and also allow to swell.
Mix sugar, water, cocoa powder and heavy cream, bring to a boil while stirring constantly. After boiling, add chopped chocolate and stir until completely dissolved.
Squeeze out excess water from leaf gelatin.
Pour the swollen gelatin into the glaze and stir until completely dissolved.
To get rid of bubbles and for smoothness, the mixture is passed through a fine sieve or whipped with an immersion blender, and then poured into a jar and cover the surface with cling film. Frosting should be left in the refrigerator overnight before use..
Before coating the cake, you need to heat the chocolate icing to a temperature of 35–45 ° C. To get smudges, you can reduce the temperature to 30 ° C, then it will harden faster. If there are a lot of bubbles in the glaze, it should be filtered again through a sieve with small holes. To cover the whole cake, place it on a wire rack and a baking sheet or other suitable surface lined with cling film. Pour warm glaze from the center in a spiral to the edges. The excess glaze on the baking sheet is collected to be used further.

Photo gallery: cake design options with flowing and mirror glaze

Dripping icing looks great on a cake with a contrasting color Using fruits and mirror glaze, you can create a bright composition on the cake. Glaze can be made white

Video: how to make beautiful smudges on the cake

Drawing on glaze with liquid white chocolate

Glaze drawings with a toothpick or a bamboo stick have already become classics. On a dark chocolate icing, a pattern is applied with melted white chocolate, on a light icing - with bitter or milk chocolate. You need to apply chocolate while the icing is still liquid..

You can also apply a drawing on a cake covered with cream, if the cream has a soft consistency.

Options:

Gossamer. Chocolate is applied to the icing in a spiral from the center. Draw lines from the center to the edges.
Chevrons. Chocolate is applied to the icing in parallel strips. Draw lines perpendicular to the stripes in both directions.
Hearts. Chocolate is applied to the icing in small circles in a straight line or in a spiral. Draw a line through all the circles in the same direction.
Marble. Chocolate of different colors is applied to the icing with chaotic movements. Mix the glaze in a circular motion, creating a marble effect.

Photo gallery: options for applying patterns to glaze

To draw a cobweb, the wand moves from the center to the edges Drawing a pattern in the form of chevrons involves moving the stick in turn from left to right and from left to right. Hearts are obtained by passing the wand over the center of round drops of melted chocolate. Marble effect is formed by the free, chaotic movement of the wand

Cake side decoration

The sides of the cake can be wrapped with chocolate ribbon, lined with chocolate teeth, tiles or tubes.. The most difficult way to decorate is tubes. They will need not only a lot of chocolate, but also a lot of patience.

Lace (chocolate)

Delicate chocolate swirls or a simple geometric pattern are not difficult to make from chocolate, but they look very impressive. A dark or milk chocolate bar looks great on a white background, and a white pattern will accentuate a dark background.

You can also use confectionery chocolate. It is less capricious, but significantly inferior in taste to natural.

You will need:

chocolate;
pencil, scissors.

Procedure:

Melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a water bath.
From baking paper, cut a rectangular strip with a length equal to the circumference of the cake plus 2–3 cm, and a width equal to the height of the cake plus 2–3 cm. Draw a pattern with a pencil and turn the drawn side over to the table. You can print the pattern on the printer and just put it under the baking paper.
For a wide cake, it is more convenient to make a chocolate ribbon from 2 halves.
Place the chocolate in a cornet or bag, cut a corner.
If the chocolate flows out too quickly, it should be allowed to cool slightly.
Gently squeeze the chocolate onto the paper strip in a pattern.
Attach the paper ribbon with the chocolate to the sides of the cake.
Place the cake in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Take out the cake, carefully remove the paper.

After that, you can decorate the cake with a cream border, berries, fruits or fresh flowers.

Video: how to make chocolate

Panels or teeth

For this spectacular decoration, you will need at least 400–500 g of chocolate, depending on the size of the cake.. You can use bitter, milk, white chocolate, and also combine them, creating marble patterns.

You will need:

chocolate;
knife or spatula;
parchment or baking paper.

Procedure:

Melt chocolate.
Spread the chocolate on parchment or baking paper, spread evenly with a knife or pastry spatula.
Let the chocolate harden.
Cut with a knife or break with your hands into pieces of arbitrary shape. The height of the panels must be higher than the cake.
Attach to the sides of the cake so that the panels slightly overlap each other.

For an embossed texture, you can crumple the parchment before applying chocolate to it. To create a pattern, a drawing is first applied to the parchment with white or dark chocolate, and then poured with a contrasting color on top.

Photo gallery: options for decorating a cake with chocolate panels

Cake with chocolate panels can be supplemented with fresh flowers Chocolate panels can be made in an unusual shape The combination of white and dark chocolate gives an interesting marble pattern. The embossed texture and irregular shape of the teeth give the cake a special charm.

Video: how to make chocolate teeth with nuts and dried fruits

tubules

Ready-made chocolate tubes are sold in specialized confectionery stores. However, you can make them yourself, including white chocolate or mix white and dark chocolate.

You will need:

chocolate;
acetate film;
thin tape;
knife, scissors.

Instead of acetate film, you can use transparent folders-corners for papers.

Procedure:

"Cigars"

You will need:

chocolate;
marble board or metal sheet for baking;
scapula;
metal scraper or spatula.

If you don't have a special metal pastry scraper, a new stainless steel construction spatula will do.

Procedure:

Temper chocolate.
Cool the marble board or metal sheet, put it on the table.
Spread the chocolate in a thin layer on the sheet using a spatula.
With a knife, mark rectangles on the chocolate layer.
Let the chocolate thicken a little, but do not harden..
With a metal scraper or spatula at an angle of 45 degrees, remove the layer of chocolate along the marked lines, it will roll into a tube.

Video: how to make chocolate "cigars"

Decorative elements made of chocolate

Curls, numbers, inscriptions and patterns

Various decorative elements, figures, figures are drawn with melted chocolate. Butterflies and various curlicues are very popular. These elements can decorate both the top and sides of the cake..

You will need:

chocolate;
pastry bag or paper bag;
parchment or baking paper;
patterned stencil.

Procedure:

Melt chocolate. Fill a cornet or bag with melted chocolate, cut a corner.
Print or draw on paper the desired pattern (curls, numbers, inscriptions). Put a sheet of parchment on a sheet with a pattern, you can fix it with paper clips along the edges. Gently squeeze chocolate onto parchment paper.
Let the elements dry.
Remove chocolate blanks from parchment.

If parchment is put on a rolling pin during chocolate hardening, wrapped around a glass, or other suitable items are used, the blanks will turn out to be voluminous. In this way, you can create chocolate spirals, flowers, butterflies.

Photo gallery: options for decorating a cake with decorative chocolate elements and examples of stencils

Openwork triangles are laid in a circle based on cream rosettes or berries The cake can be decorated with a chocolate inscription or numbers. Graceful decorative elements are usually fixed in cream rosettes. You can put one large or several small butterflies on the cake. Openwork butterflies can be flat or consist of two halves located at an angle to each other. Openwork decorative elements will decorate the top or sides of the cake From small decorative elements, a border is usually made along the edge of the cake.

Video: creating a chocolate flower

Outline Appliques

Unlike lace, such decorative elements have a background and a contrasting stroke along the contour.

You will need:

white and dark chocolate (bitter or milk);
pastry bag or paper bag;
parchment or baking paper;
patterned paper.

Procedure:

Lay a sheet of parchment on top of the drawing.
Melt dark chocolate. Squeeze it onto the parchment along the contour of the drawing placed under it and let it harden.
Melt white chocolate. Complete the rest of the application. Let cool completely and then turn over.

By mixing white and dark chocolate, or by adding dyes to white chocolate, you can achieve different shades and make the application colorful. Color applications require special dyes for chocolate. Do not use fruit juices for this, as the chocolate may curdle.

Simple cutouts

Even a child can handle the manufacture of these parts, so feel free to call your son or daughter to help you.

You will need:

chocolate;
parchment or baking paper;
spatula or knife;
punches, cookie cutters.

Procedure:

Melt chocolate.
Using a knife or spatula, spread the chocolate in an even layer of 2-3 mm on the parchment.
When the chocolate begins to harden, cut out the elements using molds or cuttings.

If the chocolate sticks to the mold, it hasn't cooled down enough. If the chocolate breaks, it has already hardened too much and needs to be reheated.

chocolate leaves

This is a very simple idea with excellent results. You can fantasize and use a variety of leaves as a basis.

You will need:

chocolate;
tassel;
leaves, such as roses.

Procedure:

Wash the leaves and dry well. Melt chocolate.
You need to apply chocolate - attention! - on the reverse side of the leaves. Then, using a brush, distribute it from the middle of the sheet to the edges and transfer it to a clean surface for solidification.
Leave the leaves with chocolate until completely solidified.
Carefully remove the base leaves from the hardened chocolate. Such chocolate leaves will be good on an autumn cake, for example, on a cake in honor of September 1st. You can decorate both the top and sides of the cake with chocolate leaves.

Photo gallery: chocolate leaf cake design options

Making figurines with molds

Molds are silicone molds designed specifically for molding chocolate. With their help, you can easily and quickly get a lot of decorative elements to decorate one or even several cakes.

You will need:

chocolate;
silicone or plastic molds for chocolate.

Molds must be clean and completely dry before pouring chocolate.

Procedure:

Melt chocolate.
Pour the chocolate into the molds, remove the excess chocolate from the top, let it harden.
Get chocolate figurines. For this, the silicone mold can be turned out, and the plastic one turned over and lightly tapped on the table.

Chocolate molds are sold in specialized confectionery stores, craft stores, and housekeeping departments with utensils. Molds for making soap or ice are also suitable.

chocolate bow

This cake would make the perfect gift. In addition, he will practically not need any other decorations: a huge bow will make an amazing impression on its own, rest assured.

You will need:

chocolate;
parchment;
scissors, ruler, pencil.

Procedure:

Draw on parchment rectangles about 3 * 18 cm in size, cut. For 1 bow you will need about 15 of these blank strips.
Melt chocolate.
Apply chocolate to strips. Each strip must be completely covered.
Remove the strip with chocolate and transfer to a clean place.
When the chocolate begins to set, connect the ends of the strip, put the resulting loops on one side. Let it freeze.
Remove the parchment from the chocolate once it has cooled.
On a sheet of parchment, use melted chocolate to connect the bottom row of 6 loops. Let it freeze.
Similarly, make the second and next row, gluing the loops in the center with melted chocolate.
After hardening, transfer the bow to the cake.

Chocolate molding

Chocolate mastic allows you to create quite complex figures, flowers, it can also completely cover cakes, create draperies, bows, ruffles. Fresh mastic is plastic, reminiscent of soft plasticine, but when it dries, it becomes hard. Plastic chocolate is similar to mastic, but is more used specifically for modeling.

Store the mastic in the refrigerator, wrapping it tightly in several layers with cling film.

plastic chocolate

Modeling chocolate is prepared from bitter, milk and white chocolate and glucose syrup. At home, glucose syrup can be replaced with light liquid honey or invert syrup..

Ingredients:

200 g of white, milk or dark chocolate;
respectively 50 g, 80 g or 100 g of invert syrup.
For syrup:
- 350 g of sugar;
- 150 ml of water;
- 2 g citric acid;
- 1.5 g of soda.

First you need to cook the invert syrup:

Boil water with sugar, stir until sugar dissolves.
Add citric acid, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Cool down to 50–60°C.
Add soda, stir. The syrup will start to foam.
Cool down. The foam will go away as it cools.
Pour into a closed container and leave at room temperature.

We proceed to the preparation of mastic:

Chop chocolate and melt.
Heat the syrup until warm.
Thoroughly mix the syrup with chocolate so that no lumps remain.
The resulting mass may seem rather liquid at first, but after cooling it becomes thicker and harder.
Carefully wrap the mastic with cling film so that there is no contact with air.
After a few hours, you can sculpt figures. Before sculpting, take chocolate in small pieces, knead thoroughly with your hands. Large pieces of mastic are heated for several seconds in the microwave.

The proportions given are approximate, as they depend on the thickness of the syrup and the percentage of cocoa in the chocolate.

Video: making chocolate for modeling and decorating a cake with ruffles and roses

Chocolate marshmallow mastic

Marshmallows are air marshmallows, which are produced in the form of pillows or braids. By combining chocolate with marshmallows, you get a mastic that can be used both for modeling and for covering the cake.

Ingredients:

180 g marshmallows;
200 g of dark chocolate;
150 g of powdered sugar;
1–3 tbsp. l. water;
1 st. l. butter.

Cooking:

Sift the powdered sugar.
Powdered sugar is better to put a little less than more.
Melt the chocolate.
Add water to the marshmallows, melt in the microwave at maximum power, stirring every 20 seconds.
Mix marshmallows with chocolate and butter.
Add the chocolate-marshmallow mass to the sifted powder, knead until smooth.
Wrap tightly in cling film to avoid contact with air.
After a few hours, you can use it for sculpting figures and for covering the cake. At first, the mastic seems very soft, but after it has matured, it hardens.

Mastic cakes are the pinnacle of confectionery craftsmanship. To please the sophisticated consumer, the cake must be not only tasty, but also beautiful. A few years ago, cakes decorated with mastic appeared on the market. The fashion for such culinary decor came from America and instantly spread, since cakes covered with mastic, decorated with sugar figurines and flowers cannot but cause delight.

Following the confectioners, ordinary housewives also mastered the skill of decorating cakes with sugar dough. After reading this article, you will have no questions left on how to make mastic for a cake with your own hands, no doubt that everyone can do it. There are a huge number of recipes for making cakes, but there are basic popular recipes that we will consider in this article.

Types of mastic

Mastic It is a thick plastic paste based on powdered sugar. She can cover cakes and confectionery (gingerbread, cookies), make inscriptions, sculpt various figures. There is white and colored mastic. If the jewelry is not supposed to be used for food, it is permissible to add ordinary gouache as a dye. Otherwise, special food colorings are used.

Mastic prepared at home is conventionally divided into three types:

Dairy- a plastic, pliable mass based on condensed and powdered milk, rolls out well and thinly, does not tear, so this mastic is well suited to the recipe for wrapping cakes, creating sugar ribbons, lace, frills.

Sugar-gelatin (pastilage)- used for modeling, plastic, dries quickly, solid in a thickened state, therefore it is not used for wrapping tori.

Marshmallow mastic- prepared from airy marshmallow marshmallows, can be used for any purpose, depending on the additional ingredients, convenient for housewives who bake and decorate cakes infrequently.

Before you prepare the mastic for the cake, you need to clearly understand what kind of decor you will create. The choice of mastic depends on this.

Mastic is completely harmless. It does not contain complex or expensive components, so every housewife can try to make mastic cake decorations with their own hands and gradually achieve mastery.

In order for the mastic to turn out to be of high quality, plastic, which is a pleasure to work with, you must follow simple rules:

Use fine powdered sugar, otherwise the sugar dough will tear

When kneading the mastic, watch its density, adding a little more powdered sugar, you will also get a mass that will tear

So that the finished mass does not stick to your hands, periodically send it to the refrigerator.

Ready-made mastic can be stored in the freezer for up to 4 months

Dry dye before adding to the mastic is recommended to be mixed with a few drops of water or lemon juice

Before telling how to decorate a cake with mastic at home, it is worthwhile to dwell on whether all cakes and cream are combined with sweet dough decorations.

Experienced cooks advise the following:

There are no special requirements for cakes. You can use biscuit, sour cream, shortbread dough, prepare a traditional honey cake.

If it is necessary to decorate a soufflé cake with fondant, the cake needs to be given additional rigidity, for example, to make a cake edging from thin biscuit dough. Otherwise, the cake may lose its shape.

The soufflé should not come into contact with the mastic, as it will begin to melt.

Cream for a layer of cakes can also be any - butter, sour cream, custard, cottage cheese. But the cream directly under the mastic for the cake can be protein-oil, oil with condensed milk, ganache (chocolate + whipped cream). It should be thick so that the sugar dough does not get wet, losing its appearance.

For biscuit cakes, you can prepare a delicious filling for a cake of fruit, pieces of bizet, soufflé. Biscuit cakes will give the cake the necessary rigidity.

You can not coat the cake under tight with sour cream, cream based on whipped cream or yogurt.

To make the product look beautiful and neat, the surface of the cake must be leveled before covering with mastic. This is done with a cream.

Before covering the finished cake with mastic, it must be leveled. If a cream is used to make the cake, on which the mastic will not flow, level the cake with this cream. Otherwise, you need to prepare a special cream.

You will need a knife with a wide, even blade or a special tool - a spatula, as well as a turntable (for decorating round cakes). You can do without a table, but it greatly simplifies the process.

It is better to align the cake in three stages. First you need to coat the cake with a thin layer of cream and let it harden. At this stage, the crumbs are smoothed out. Next, the product is smeared with a thicker layer, irregularities are removed and again the cream is allowed to harden. At the finish, to give the surface a perfect smoothness, the knife is heated and the cream is leveled with a hot knife. Take out to the cold again.

You can also see how mastic cakes are made in the video

Step-by-step recipe for milk mastic for cakes

Milky mastic is suitable for covering thorites, making flower petals, leaves, small parts. Mastic roses work especially well. It is not suitable for figurines, because it dries for a very long time. Milk mastic is not as cloying as pastilage, it has a pleasant creamy taste.

Ingredients for the recipe:

powdered milk 1 cup
powdered sugar 1 cup
condensed milk 150 g.
lemon juice 1 teaspoon

Cooking method:

Mix powdered sugar and milk powder. Sift through a fine sieve.
Gradually add condensed milk and lemon juice. Knead until the dough is smooth, elastic and sticky to your hands. Lemon juice can be omitted, but in this case, the mastic dries longer.
Wrap the mastic in cling film and place in the refrigerator.

Advice: Roll out the fondant on starch, not powdered sugar. In this case, the mastic does not stiffen, it becomes supple and tender. To get a beautiful mastic cake as in the photo with a glitter effect, you need to apply cognac on top of the mastic with a brush.

See how the process of making milk mastic looks like in the video

Do-it-yourself sugar jelly mastic for a cake

If you want to sculpt figurines from mastic with your own hands for a children's cake, prepare sugar-gelatin mastic. This mastic cake recipe is suitable for sculpting figures. It is plastic and pliable, like plasticine, dries quickly, and is prepared from affordable, inexpensive ingredients. And the cake, decorated with figurines, looks chic.

Ingredients for the recipe:

powdered sugar 1 kg.
glucose 2 tbsp. spoons
butter 1 tbsp. spoon
boiled water 80 ml.
gelatin 7 g.

Cooking method:

Pour gelatin with warm water and leave to swell for 30-40 minutes.
On low heat or in a water bath, dissolve the gelatin so that there are no lumps, then strain.
Add glucose to gelatin and mix well until smooth. Let cool.
Gradually add powdered sugar to the cooled mass. When the mass becomes thick, continue kneading on the table until the sugar dough stops sticking to your hands. You may need more powder than indicated in the recipe, so always have powder in reserve.

Important! Glucose for making cakes is sold in specialized stores, and not in pharmacies, despite the same names. The same applies to glycerin, which is used to lubricate hands while working with mastic. This is not the glycerin that is sold in pharmacies for external use.

Advice: You can paint over the mastic with dyes from ordinary products: orange - carrot juice, yellow - saffron, turmeric, pink - beet juice, raspberries, cherries, blue - red cabbage, brown - cocoa powder, melted chocolate.

For the preparation of another variety of sugar-gelatin mastic, see the video

Marshmallow mastic

The easiest way to make a mastic cake with your own hands for beginners is from marshmallow chewing marshmallows. This type of mastic is considered universal, suitable for covering cakes and modeling. If you use colored marshmallows, you do not need to look for dyes, you immediately get a colored mass.

Ingredients for the recipe:

marshmallow 100 g
powdered sugar 250 g.
lemon juice 2 tbsp. spoons

Cooking method:

Place marshmallows of the same color in a microwave-safe bowl, drizzle with lemon juice, and microwave for 1 minute. If you don't have a microwave oven, melt the marshmallows in a water bath.
Knead the mass, resembling chewing gum, with a spatula.
Sift powdered sugar onto a work surface. Put the mass and knead like dough. Remember that hot mass can absorb more powdered sugar. After kneading the rate indicated in the recipe, let the mastic cool. If the cooled mastic will stick to your hands. Add more powder.

Creative decoration of cakes

As soon as you learn everything about mastic for cakes and what it is, an endless field for creativity will open before you. There are countless options for decorating cakes with mastic. The cake can be decorated with bows, ribbons, a do-it-yourself children's cake for a boy can be made in the form of a typewriter, decorated with figures of your favorite cartoon characters, for a girl - with animals, dolls, fairy-tale characters. Men and women will be interested in getting a cake related to their activity - a suitcase with money, a stack of shirts, a car wheel.

A good idea for a birthday is a cake with the signs of the zodiac, for example, a scorpion from mastic or fish.

Endless possibilities for decorating with flowers. How to make flowers for a mastic cake with your own hands step by step - see the video recipe

Homemade cakes have a special energy: they convey the warmth of the hands of the mistress of the house, the special mood of the holiday for which they are prepared. It is ideal when this dessert is original, masterfully decorated. It will be very useful for a hospitable hostess to learn about the varieties of mastic and learn how to make mastic for a cake at home, and also make holiday decorations from it, surprise your family and guests. Let's look into the variety of recipes and find out if it is so difficult to create such a sweet beauty.

Mastic is an elastic confectionery mass, reminiscent of plasticine in its properties. The most ornate confectionery decorations are made from it, but working with this confectionery requires a certain skill and skill that will be honed with experience. From the very beginning, you need to know some culinary tricks, how to work with mastic.

The basis of mastic is powdered sugar, which is better to sift through a fine sieve before cooking. If unground grains of sugar get into the mass, it will tear when rolling. After cooking, the mastic must be wrapped in polyethylene and put in the refrigerator for 20 minutes - this time is needed for the mass to become more plastic. The finished mass, tightly wrapped in polyethylene, can be stored for 2 weeks in the refrigerator or 2 months in the freezer.

Dyes are added in the process of kneading sugar dough. If you need mastic of different colors, first knead the uncolored dough and separate a piece of the required size, and place the rest of the mass in polyethylene to prevent drying. A piece of dough is formed by hand into a circle with a recess in the middle and, adding a few drops of dye there, knead until a uniform color is obtained.

At first, culinary equipment, which is in every kitchen, will come in handy for work. The mastic is rolled out with a wooden rolling pin on the table, the edges of the cake are cut with a round pizza cutter after the cake is covered, some figures are squeezed out with the help of cookie cutters. Skillful housewives use spoons of different sizes to make flower petals: they fill the recess with rolled dough, pick up the leftovers along the edges, and connect the finished petals.

When the passion for decorating cakes develops into a favorite hobby, it is worth purchasing special tools. The first purchases can be a smooth plastic rolling pin for rolling out the mastic, silicone mats with markings (larger size - to conveniently roll out the covering for the cake, smaller - for rolling out the elements of the figures). Stacks for modeling, cutting for a variety of flowers, leaves, butterflies, silicone molds will help in the work in order to form the same type of small shapes - letters, buttons, beads.

It is very important that the base of the cake, which will be covered with mastic, is not wet: first it must be covered with oil cream and put in the refrigerator until completely solidified, because the mastic will dissolve upon any contact with the wet cream. Crafts from mastic must be made in advance, preferably two weeks before the preparation of the cake, so that they have time to dry in the air. Finished jewelry is stored for several months in a tightly closed container.

Recipes for making homemade mastic for decorating cakes

First you need to figure out how to decorate, what idea you want to realize: for example, cover the cake with a patterned bedspread, sculpt a sophisticated rose flower, or make a model of a sports car. Then you need to choose which mastic is best suited for these purposes. For many housewives, it is important that the composition of homemade mastic includes affordable simple ingredients, and that it has universal use.

Honey

This mass is softer than sugar, does not crumble, does not crumble, so it is very convenient to use it for covering the cake, forming decoration details. Cooking Ingredients:

powdered sugar - 900 g;
honey - 175 g (in volume this corresponds to 125 ml);
water - 45 ml;
gelatin - 15 g.

We do this:

Soak gelatin in water for 30 minutes.
Heat a mixture of honey and gelatin in a water bath.
Set aside a glass of powdered sugar, pour the honey mixture into the rest, knead the sugar dough, gradually mixing in the remaining powder.
The mastic is ready if, when pressed, an indentation from the finger remains on it.

Sugar

Good for sculpting figurines, flowers. We will need:

powdered sugar - 500 g;
water - 60 ml;
gelatin - 1 teaspoon;
lemon juice - 1 teaspoon;
vanillin.

The process is step by step:

Soak gelatin for half an hour, then heat in a water bath.
Addition of lemon juice, vanillin. Adding a little powdered sugar, knead the mass to a state of elastic dough.
The mass must not be allowed to become too hard, because then it will crumble during operation.

Dairy

This mastic is made with the addition of powdered milk, sometimes baby milk formulas or powdered cream are used instead. For cooking, you will need 160 g of powdered milk and other ingredients:

powdered sugar - 160 g;
condensed milk - 170 g;
lemon juice - 1 tsp.

Cooking method:

Mix dry milk and powder in a container.
Add lemon juice, condensed milk.
Knead plastic dough.

Chocolate

For its preparation, dark chocolate is used - milk or bitter, but mastic is also made with a bar of white chocolate. One of the recipes:

Melt 100 g of dark chocolate in the microwave, add 1 tbsp. lies. honey and stir.
How to check readiness: tear off a piece of dough, roll into a ball and flatten with your fingers - the edges of the finished mastic should not be torn. Chocolate roses from such a mass look very impressive.

This is how chocolate mass is prepared according to a different recipe. You will need:

dark chocolate - 100 g;
cream 30% - 40 ml;
marshmallow sweets - 90 g;
powdered sugar - 2 tbsp. false;
cognac - 2 tbsp. false;
butter - 1 tbsp. lies.

Recipe step by step:

Melt the chocolate completely in a water bath.
Without removing from heat, add marshmallows, stirring constantly.
When the marshmallow is half dissolved, add cream, butter, cognac and mix until the mass becomes homogeneous.
Remove from heat, add powdered sugar.
Knead until the mastic becomes like an elastic dough.

From condensed milk

A commonly used type of mastic, because due to its oily, soft structure it is convenient to use it for wrapping cakes of various shapes, sculpting medium-sized figures. The mass with condensed milk is tasty and eaten with pleasure. In addition to 200 g of condensed milk, you will need:

powdered sugar - 160 g;
dry milk - 160 g;
lemon juice - 2 teaspoons;
cognac - 1 tsp.

Mix the powder and milk powder, gradually pour in the condensed milk. Add cognac, lemon juice, knead the mass well. Such mastic will not be white, it always has a yellowish tint.

From marshmallow

Marshmallow marshmallow mastic is very popular, for its preparation it is better to buy plain marshmallow candies or divide them by color before cooking. You will need:

200 g marshmallow marshmallows,
500 g of powdered sugar,
1 tsp. butter.

Step by step preparation:

Put marshmallows and butter in a container and heat in the microwave for a few seconds so that the marshmallows begin to melt.
Stir the mixture with a spoon until a homogeneous mass is obtained, add powdered sugar in small portions.
The finished dough should feel like plasticine.

From gelatin

This type of mastic is called pastilage: it is indispensable when you need to make strong details to decorate a cake, for example, handles for a basket, but it is practically inedible because it is very hard. When dried, pastilage retains its shape very well, which is why it is sometimes used to make templates for sculpting figurines with fine details. Cooking Ingredients:

powdered sugar - 240 g;
starch - 120 g;
gelatin - 1 tbsp. lies. with a slide;
cold water - 60 ml;
citric acid - 1 teaspoon;
honey, preferably artificial - 2 tsp.

Pour gelatin with water for 30 minutes, then melt in a water bath, add citric acid, honey.
Separately, mix the starch with the powder and gradually add to the gelatin mixture until a homogeneous smooth consistency is obtained.
Line a bowl with cling film, pour the mastic into it, wrap it with cling film and refrigerate until the mass stops spreading.
Before use, the pastilage should be kneaded well, if it is very cold and cannot be molded, it should be put in the microwave for 5 seconds.

Floral

The ability to work with flower mastic is a testament to the skill in the confectionery business, because it is used to sculpt delicate, realistic buds. This mixture is the leader in decorating wedding cakes. Cooking Ingredients:

powdered sugar - 550 g;
gelatin - 10 g;
water - 50 ml;
lemon juice - 20 ml;
corn syrup - 60 ml;
cooking oil (shortening) - 20 g;
carboxymethylcellulose - 10 g;
egg white - 2 pcs.;
icing bleach - optional, to give a snow-white color.

Cooking technology:

Add water to gelatin and leave to swell.
In a mixing bowl, place powdered sugar, cellulose, bleach (if any), lemon juice.
Warm the soaked gelatin in a water bath, stirring, add confectionery fat, then corn syrup.
Remove from heat, turn food processor on medium speed, add liquid in a thin stream to powdered sugar.
Then switch the combine to high speed, add protein, lemon juice.
As soon as the mass turns white and becomes homogeneous, immediately stop mixing.
Put the mastic on a greased work surface, form a sausage and pack tightly in cling film.

The mass is left to rest at room temperature for about 20 hours before starting to use it in culinary creativity. Such mastic is stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 months, in the freezer - up to 6 months. Before you make a cake, you need to defrost it without using a microwave.

How to make colored or shiny mastic

Before you make colored mastic for, you need to determine exactly what colors will be needed and what dyes will be used: special purchased or natural dyes made from fruits and vegetables. If natural dyes are preferred, they are made a few days in advance and can be refrigerated.

To get a vegetable dye, the berries are crushed, the vegetables are rubbed on a fine grater, the resulting juice is squeezed through gauze. When adding vegetable dyes, you need to be aware that they give a less saturated color compared to store-bought food dyes. If more natural dye is added to enhance the color, the mastic may turn out with a bright aftertaste of the added juice and will be more liquid, therefore, it will be necessary to add more powdered sugar to achieve the desired consistency.

Herbal ingredients give these colors:

shades of red- juice of cranberries, strawberries, raspberries, red currants, various red syrups or red wine;
rich pink color- beet;
yellow- infusion of saffron or lemon peel;
green color- spinach;
Orange color- carrot juice or orange zest;
blue and purple dye- juice of grapes, blueberries, red cabbage;
Brown color- cocoa powder, strong coffee or sugar burned in a pan (in proportion with water 5: 1).

Purchased food colors are divided into the following types:

dry- have a powdery appearance, before adding to the mastic, it must be diluted in water (take paints on the tip of a knife for 1 tablespoon of water);
liquid- it is better to add them to the mastic instead of water;
gel- thicker and more concentrated dyes than liquid ones, and more economical.

By mixing dyes, mastic of various colors is obtained. For example, yellow, green, and red dyes mixed together create a black dye, which is added to the paste to give the dough shades from light gray to deep black. The choice depends both on the product and on the occasion: wedding cakes abound in white, pink, golden hues, and children's cakes in all colors of the rainbow.

After sticking figures to decorate cakes, they often leave traces of starch or powdered sugar, which were used to roll out the mass. To make the mastic mass shine, you need to dissolve 1 tbsp. lies. honey in 1 tbsp. lies. vodka, apply the resulting mixture at the last stage of preparing the cake with a soft brush. The vodka will evaporate, leaving no taste or smell, and the jewelry will have a glossy finish.

Video

Forming a variety of decorations for cakes is a confectionery art that even a novice hostess can learn. After watching our selection of videos, you will notice for yourself all the important nuances of making different types of mastic, you will see practical techniques on how to cover a cake, patterns, glue pieces of mastic and beautifully process seams.

Photo of beautiful cake decoration

On a birthday, a cake is the main decoration of the table; it can already be a gift to a birthday person in itself and often reflects his interests and hobbies. For men, they often make cakes with decor on the theme of fishing, sports, cakes in the form of a book, a case with money. When the hero of the occasion is a woman, she will be pleasantly surprised by a cake with decorations in the form of a bouquet of her favorite flowers, a luxurious bow or weightless butterflies. If the occasion for the celebration is an anniversary, it is appropriate to decorate the cake with numbers according to the number of years of the hero of the day, using food coloring with gold or silver glitter.

There is where fantasy can roam when decorating a cake with mastic for a children's birthday. Desserts for the little ones are decorated with figures of angels, they make inscriptions, how old the baby is. Older children will be surprised by the figures of their favorite cartoon characters, cakes in the form of toys or cars, covered with multi-colored mastic. Such decorations are sometimes combined with marshmallow cake decoration. Pastila can be bought or also cooked at home. Cakes with themed decorations are appropriate on the occasion of significant events, for example, when a child goes to school.

Those housewives who have good practice in working with mastic can even bake a wedding cake at home. Tiered wedding cakes are popular right now. To blend in with the theme of the wedding, they can be upholstered in colored mastic in a specific color and include matching decor. The primacy in decorating these cakes is occupied by flower mastic, which is used to sculpt graceful figurines of doves or many flowers that cannot be distinguished from real ones.

Mastic will turn even a simple cake into a confectionery masterpiece. From it you can create any decoration. Everyone can master the basics of working with mastic - it's not difficult. From the article you will learn how easy it is to make mastic with your own hands, how to cover a cake with it, and what is the difference between types of mastic.

Covering a cake with fondant or creating decorations from it is an easy way to turn ordinary pastries into a pastry masterpiece. You can buy mastic or make your own. You can get basic skills in the art of working with mastic using master classes with photos and videos.

Ready-made sugar mastic is always in stock in the online store Supermarket for confectioners in this section. You can buy online products made in England, the Netherlands, Turkey and other countries. Available for sale as a "basic" white mastic, and color. The price of a package of colored mastic is about 240 rubles.

This mastic for professionals and novice confectioners has all the necessary properties:

homogeneous;
stretches well, does not crumble;
with a neutral sweet taste or with different flavors.

In addition, you can immediately purchase exactly the kind of mastic that is best suited for your purposes. There are three categories:

universal;
for covering;
for modeling.

If you want to try to make a plastic mass with your own hands, then this is also possible.

Mastic at home

First, determine for what purposes you need to make mastic. To cover the cakes, dairy (based on powdered or condensed milk), chocolate and marshmallow mastic are suitable. To create figurines - chocolate, sugar and marshmallow.

Marshmallow mastic at home is the most popular and simple recipe. If you follow all the points step by step, then you will get an almost universal mass.

In total, four components are needed - marshmallow (100 gr.), Powdered sugar (250 gr.), A little citric acid and water.

Put the marshmallow in a bowl, add a pinch of citric acid diluted in a tablespoon of water.
Put the bowl in the microwave at maximum power. The marshmallow should melt well.
Start mixing in the powdered sugar. Work as with dough - the mastic should become smooth and elastic.
Roll the finished lump in powdered sugar, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for half an hour. After that, you can begin the process of decorating the cake!

This delicious and easy cake fondant is easy to color with food coloring. There are two ways to color the mass:

add dye when kneading - so you get delicate shades;
color an already finished cake or figurine. The color will be brighter, you can combine tones and color complex decorations. But be sure to let the surface dry!

Another type of mastic designed for sculpting jewelry and figurines is gelatin. It is white and dries quickly. It is good to sculpt trees, bridges from it. You will need:

0.5 tsp gelatin (2 grams),
2 tsp water (10 ml.)
100 gr. powdered sugar
a couple of drops of lemon juice.

It is necessary to let the gelatin swell in water, then melt it in a water bath. After dissolving, gradually add the powder, kneading like a dough. Make sure that the mass does not become too thick - if it starts to crack, add lemon juice.

Work with mastic

Working with mastic is not as difficult a process as it might seem. You just need to consider a few important rules.

If you are making your own mastic, use high quality powdered sugar. It should be without grains - because of the sugar crystals, the layer of mastic will tear.
To stick the fondant decoration on the cake, moisten the desired part of the surface. Parts of the assembled figures can be glued together with egg white.
Large figures must be made in advance and allowed to dry.
Complex and voluminous flowers after drying should be stored in the refrigerator, and glued shortly before serving the cake on the table. Otherwise, they will absorb moisture from the air and may lose their shape.
To make the surface shine, grease the cake with vodka 10-20 minutes before serving. The alcohol will quickly evaporate and the cake will be shiny.
Dry and gel dyes are best suited for coloring.
It is easy to color the mastic at the kneading stage if you roll it into a ball and make a depression in the center. The dye is applied with a toothpick. Then knead.

Do not immediately take on complex shapes and figures: cover a round cake, make simple flowers or decorations cut out using shapes.

The nuances of working with mastic for cakes

If you want to cover the cake with mastic, you must first prepare the surface of the product. Suitable for mastic chocolate ganache, butter or caramel cream, marzipan. Such a “layer” will help the mastic to keep its shape: it “floats” from moisture, so it cannot be applied to impregnated cakes or sour cream.

Sometimes it is advised to cover the top cake and sides with apricot jam. But in this case, the mastic "wrapper" of the cake will swell from moisture.

A few more tips:

Pre-level the surface: apply the cream, smooth it with a spatula, let it harden in the refrigerator, and then check that the layer is even. Mastic will not hide irregularities.
Ready cake is better not to store for a long time in the refrigerator. If you pulled out the product, and it was covered with microdroplets of water, do not wash it, let it evaporate on its own. Otherwise, spots will remain on the mastic.
Do not roll out the mass too thin. The ideal thickness is 3-4 mm. The table or board should be sprinkled with powder or starch. A silicone mat works well too.

Working with fondant for cakes is easier if you use a few useful tools. These include:

perfectly smooth rolling pin;
leveling iron;
rotating stand;
edge trimming roller.

All this can be bought in the section "for mastic and marzipan" on the website of the online store Supermarket for confectioners.

Decorating a cake with fondant - how to make

To make a cake with mastic - simple or complex, you do not need to rush. Then even a novice confectioner will be able to make his own little masterpiece. The algorithm for a simple cake wrap looks like this:

roll out a circle of mastic. The diameter of the circle should be about twice the height of the cake plus its diameter. Add to this a couple of centimeters "for trimming";
wind the mass on a rolling pin and transfer it to the cake;
smooth the top with an iron, being careful not to stretch the mass. Then smooth the corners;
Carefully smooth the sides, removing the wrinkles. Walk the iron over the surface;
cut off the excess with a roller.

On average, for a cake with a diameter of 15 cm and a height of 10, you will need a pound of mastic. And for large ones, with a diameter of 35 cm - two kilograms.

If you did not calculate and bubbles remained on the surface, then you can get rid of them by lifting the edge of the layer and laying it again. If you have leveled the top and moved to the sides - you do not need to return to it and smooth further, because the mastic will stretch.

Cake decoration with mastic can be done using prepared circles exactly the same diameter as the cake and contrasting color ribbons for the sides.

The textured surface is easy to create with tongs. With confectionery tongs, like tweezers, a piece of mastic is “captured” and pinched. With this device, you can make geometric ornaments, leaves, hearts.

Ideas for decorating mastic cakes

Mastic decorations can decorate cakes of any size. Elements from this mass go well with sugar beads or pearls, sprinkles and other confectionery decor.

An elegant and simple option is to cover the cake with elongated mother-of-pearl mastic triangles. Elements need to be layered on top of each other to get the effect of gathers on the fabric. Several large sugar beads can be placed in the center.

A very effective decoration of mastic cakes is the use of figures cut out with cookie cutters. Snowflakes, hearts, leaves look good against a contrasting background.

Delicate and very romantic decor - multi-colored "skirts" made of mastic on the sides of the cake. You need to cut out the ribbons, carefully make "assemblies" with a wooden knitting needle or stick and stick it on the cake. For a more secure fastening, you can use needles or pins - when the decoration dries, they are easy to remove. Additionally, you can cut mastic bows.

From mastic of different colors, you can make a "marble" decor or "zebra": contrasting ribbons thin ribbons should be placed on a mastic circle, and then rolled out until smooth.

Secrets of mastic cake for beginners

The best cake layers for a buttercream cake are biscuit, but there are recipes that allow you to use sand and even soufflé. However, if you want to make a soufflé cake, there should be biscuit layers on top and bottom. Otherwise, the mastic will flow, and the cake will lose its shape.

The basic option for a biscuit is a dough made from eggs, sugar, flour and butter. The proportions vary depending on the recipe. The cake layered with the selected cream must be removed in the refrigerator for impregnation. You can even press it on top with a press so that it takes shape.

Then you need to trim the sides to make it easier to cover with mastic. If the cake is made up of several parts, you need to make the desired shape. For convex elements, you can make a mixture of biscuit crumbs and mastic cream. It is also easy to mask irregularities.

A simple cream recipe - from butter and condensed milk. Beat a pack of butter with a mixer until a white mass is obtained and add half a can of condensed milk. Whisk again. Coat the cake with cream and put it in the refrigerator. Then, with a heated dry spatula, smooth out the bumps.

You can start covering the cake with mastic!

On a mastic cake for beginners, you can apply any drawing or inscription using a stencil and a special dye or food markers.

Simple flowers are made using cups and other containers of different diameters: circles are cut out, and then a flower is collected.

Simple mastic cake, basic recipe

If you want to make a cake quickly, then the easiest option is to use ready-made cakes. Next, you need to "assemble" the product:

"Internal" cream, which layers the cakes, you can take almost any one to your taste, for example, creamy, custard, oily.

To make the cake tastier, layers can be additionally laid with dried fruits, fresh fruits that do not soak, or alternate cream and sour jam;
The top layer is covered with oil cream.
An even easier option is to use ready-made chocolate paste. It needs to be slightly heated so that it is better spread, and then cool the cake in the refrigerator.
You need to cover the finished cake with mastic as usual. If the excess mass was cut off unevenly, the bottom edge of the cake can be decorated with sides or cut-out openwork ribbons.

This is the easiest mastic cake, a basic recipe - you can even cook it with children who like to sculpt from a pliable mass, like from plasticine.

IN Supermarket for confectioner you can buy felt-tip pens for drawing on mastic, supplies for creating flowers and figurines, ready-made sweet flowers and much more. You can make your little confectionery masterpiece in just a few hours.