flowers - Saracino

TWISTED CHAIN PATTERN CAKE

Oct 2, 2020 | Cakes, Modelling

Skill level: BEGINNERS

You will need:

Saracino white sugarpaste – Pasta Top
Saracino white flower paste – Pasta Bouquet
Saracino gold spray powder
Saracino Airbrush mother of pearl liquid colour
Edible glue
Lemon extract or few drops of clear alcohol
Chain mould
Cutting wheel
Ruler
Tailor’s measuring tape or piece of ribbon
Rolling pin with spacers
Exacto knife
Clean brushes
Fondant smoother
18 gauge wire
Airbrush

Step 1

Cover your cakes using the white Pasta Top.

Tip : Pasta Top is Vegan, Gluten free and has NO hydrogenated fats. It’s very stretchy and can be rolled very thin.

Step 2

Stack the cake and measure the diameter of your bottom tier with a piece of ribbon or tailor’s measure.

Step 3

Now you can calculate how long each piece will be in order to finish the design seamless. For example: If the circumference of the cake is 60cm, one section will be 6cm and you will have 10 sections.

Step 4

Using a chain mould make a few lengths of chain. Bear in mind you cannot finish the design all at once because the pieces of fondant will dry out too much and it is possible they could break or tear. You can make 25-30 pieces each time, place them on the cake and repeat until the design is finished.

Step 5

Roll some Saracino pasta top and cut some strips.

Step 6

Leave them for about 30 min to dry a little bit.

Step 7

For this cake we need to cut the strips to 6cm length. We already have calculated that one section of our design will be 6cm long. You should cut your strips to the length you require.

Step 8

Leave your strips of fondant aside while you paint the chains in gold.

Step 9

Use Saracino pump powder gold dust and mix it with some lemon extract or a few drops of vodka.

Step 10

Paint the chains with the mixture. For a more metallic colour, paint again after the alcohol evaporates. This time you can use the pump powder gold directly onto the chains.

Step 11

We cut the gold chains to 6cm long pieces. You cut them to your required length.

Step 12

Brush a little bit of edible glue on the white fondant strips and place the fondant chain in the middle of the strip.

Step 13

Finish all the pieces you have prepared. If you have some longer parts of chain, trim the excess.

Step 14

Chain must be exactly the length of the fondant strip.

Step 15

Use a fondant smoother and press each piece slightly over the chain.

Step 16

Now you have flattened your strips for easier twisting.

Step 17

Take one piece, approximately find the middle and put your left thumb on top (forefinger at the back) and right forefinger on top (thumb at the back).

Step 18

Twist in opposite directions until your strip is half chain, half plain.

Step 19

Each piece should look like this

Step 20

Continue to twist until you finish all parts you have cut. Remember you may need to prepare more later as we don’t want to make too many just in case they dry out.

Step 21

Start attaching the pieces to the cake. Take one piece and brush the back with edible glue (half plain, half chain) and attach to the cake. Repeat until you finish the first row.

Step 22

Then start the second row by adding another piece making sure the chains line up from the row below.

Step 23

Continue until all pieces are placed on the cake.

Step 24

When you finish all the pieces you have prepared, repeat steps 5 to 20 until you finish the design.

Step 25

Your finished bottom tier should look like this.

Step 26

Bend 18-gauge wire to create the chain branches.

Step 27

Roll some 50:50 mixture of Pasta bouquet and Pasta top or just Pasta top mixed with a little bit of tylo powder.

Step 28

Brush the wire with some water or edible glue and place it onto the rolled fondant. Fold the fondant over the wire as shown.

Step 29

Roll over with the rolling pin.

Step 30

Use your exacto knife and cut along the length of the wire to a width of 1cm.

Step 31

Now we have one branch.

Step 32

For the second branch using 18 gauge flower wire bend to the shape shown, this part will be shorter than the previous branch. Roll a mixture of pasta top and pasta bouquet or just pasta top mixed with tylo powder.

Step 33

Brush the wire with some edible glue or water and place it onto the fondant. Fold the fondant over the wire.

Step 34

Roll over the fondant with the rolling pin.

Step 35

Using your exacto knife cut along the length of the wire again to give yourself a 1cm strip. Now we have the back for our branches.

Step 36

Again, using the chain mould and the Gold pump powder paint two pieces of chain in gold.

Step 37

Brush the branches with some edible glue and place the chain over the wired strip of fondant. Leave to dry overnight.

Step 38

Prepare your airbrush and Saracino liquid airbrush mother of pearl food colour to add some shimmer to your cake.

Step 39

Try to avoid overspray onto the gold chain as the gold colour may change.

Step 40

Place the chain branches and arrange some flowers of your choice.

TIP – If you are inserting flower wires into your cake you should always use a flower pick or something similar.

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BEAUTIFUL WEDDING CAKE TUTORIAL

Sep 18, 2020 | Cakes, Flowers, Royal Icing

Author: Carmen Montero

FB: De un bocado

Skill level: INTERMEDIATE

TIP – You can cover your two tiers with Saracino Pasta Top. To learn how to cover your cakes and create sharp edges follow the link

HERE – for picture tutorial

HERE – for video tutorial

You will need:

Saracino Royal Icing
Saracino white flower paste – Pasta Bouquet
Saracino sugar paste/fondant – Pasta Top
2 dummies of 15 and 20cm or a cake of 2 tiers
Rotating base
Scraper
Floral ribbon
Pliers
Brushes
Spatula
Water
Bowl and whisk
Cornstarch
Vegetable fat
18 or 20 gauge floral wire
30 gauge floral wire
Edible glue
Clear alcohol
Powder colours: gold, yellow, green and dark pink
Dogwood cutters set
Set of dogwood veiners
Set of rose cutters
Rose texturizer
Foam pad
Porexpam to puncture the flowers
Ball tool
Rolling pin
Cake stencil with a pattern of your choice

Step 1

To make the roses, start by rolling a piece of Pasta Bouquet to cover the center we are going to use. It does not need to be too thin.

Step 2

Insert a 18 or 20 gauge floral wire into a center for roses (a porexpam cone can be used) and coat it with a little edible glue.

Step 3

Cover the rose centre with the rolled out Pasta Bouquet as shown

Step 4

Cut off the excess and adjust well.

Step 5

We will need 3 centres.

Step 6

Roll a little Pasta Bouquet with a rolling pin until it is very thin (it needs to be as thin as possible so that the petals turn out to be realistic). We will need to cut out 9 small petals.

Step 7

Place the petals on your foam pad and using a ball tool thin the edges

Step 8

Add texture to the petals using a veining mould. Sprinkle a little cornflour on the veiner’s before use to stop the petals sticking.

Step 9

Cover the rose bud with edible glue

Step 10

Place the first petal, leaving a little height over the center.

Step 11

Wrap the petal around the bud so it is tightly closed like the centre in the picture

Step 12

Apply a little glue to the lower half of 2 petals.

Step 13

Place the first of those 2 petals over the fold of the centre petal and at the same height.

Step 14

Fix the second petal directly opposite

Step 15

Pull one edge away from the bud. Insert the opposite petal below and fix to the bud.

Step 16

Turn the flower around and repeat so the two petals are overlapping and look as shown

Step 17

Adjust the sides well so that it is closed.

Step 18

Now we start fixing the next row of petals. We take the first one and place it over the joint of the previous 2 and at the same height as these.

Step 19

From the middle of the petal fix another petal perpendicular to it, then fix the third petal.

Step 20

Put a little edible glue on the side that remains free.

Step 21

Adjust to close over the center but without squeezing too much, so that it gets volume.

Step 22

Cut 3 petals of the largest size and perform the same operation as with the previous ones. We texture and thin the edges with a ball tool as previous petals.

Step 23

Fix this layer of petals as with the previous layer

Step 24

Apply a little glue on the free side and tighten over the center, closing each petal less and less. Curl the top using the handle of a brush to give it movement.

Step 25

Make as many rounds of petals as you want, depending on whether you want a more open or more closed flower.

Step 26

Using a brush put a little cornflour in the dogwood mould so that the Pasta Bouquet does not stick and we can remove it easily.

Step 27

Press a small ball of Pasta Bouquet into the moulds

Step 28

Dip the end of a 26 gauge floral wire into edible glue.

Step 29

Insert the wire into the center of the dogwood.

Step 30

Press the base of the wire so that the center is well attached before removing it from the mould.

Step 31

Carefully, we extract the center. Let’s do about 10 centers to have 10 flowers.

Step 32

Roll out some Pasta Bouquet and cut 2 wide and 2 narrow petals for our dogwood flower.

Step 33

We now need to wire the petals. Place a petal in the veiner, dip the end of a 30 gauge floral wire in edible glue and cover it with a small piece of pasta bouquet to fix it to the petal.

Step 34

Press with the other side of the veiner

Step 35

Press well on the base to fix the petal to the wire and secure it well.

Step 36

Perform the same operation with all the petals.

Step 37

Using a soft brush dust the flower centre with yellow powder. Then using the same brush dust with green powder

Step 38

Attach the first 2 petals of the same size to the centre using floral tape. The petals should be directly opposite each other.

Step 39

Attach the other 2 petals so they are directly opposite each other.

Step 40

Dust the upper end of each petal with dark pink powder colour and then with a little green.

Step 41

Fix the flowers to each other using florist tape

Step 42

Prepare the royal icing (follow the instructions on the package)

Step 43

You will need a consistency that is slightly runnier than the texture of toothpaste.

Step 44

Fix the chosen stencil on the cake and spread the royal icing with a spatula

Step 45

Remove the excess with a scraper.

Step 46

Carefully remove the stencil. Let the royal icing dry

Step 47

Prepare a small amount of gold paint by mixing the gold powder colour with a few drops of clear alcohol.

Step 48

Paint only a few parts to give a worn effect.

Step 49

Put the flowers on the cake. Use your pliers to bend the wires so they curve around the cake without the need to insert a flower pick.

Step 50

Your cake is ready

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UNICORN PARTY CAKE

Sep 9, 2020 | Cakes, Modelling

Author: La Belle Aurore

FB: LA BELLE AURORE

Skill level: INTERMEDIATE

You will need:

White Saracino pasta model
Saracino pink and gold powder colour
Saracino white gel colour
Cake or dummy circular about 20cm high
Circle cutter
Knife
Large cocktail stick
Clear alcohol
Pink, light blue and blue Saracino pasta model
Work base
Thin brush
Ball tool
Silicone brush
Modelling tools
Black and brown food marker pen

Step 1

Cover your cake with sugarpaste. For best results use Saracino Pasta Top.

Tip : Pasta Top is Vegan, Gluten free and has NO hydrogenated fats.

Step 2

Using a soft brush gently blend from the base upwards with the pink powder colour, be careful not to use too much colour and you can tap the brush onto a sheet of kitchen paper to remove excess. Do the same from the top of the cake downwards.

Step 3

Using your circle cutter cut out two circles. Using the same cutter cut out two crescent shapes.

Step 4

Using your fingers shape the crescent into an eyebrow.

Step 5

Repeat so we have two eyebrows.

Step 6

Mix your gold dust colour with the clear alcohol and paint both eyebrows. Fix where required on the side of the cake.

Step 7

Using your circle cutters cut out two large and two small circles. Use a sharp knife to cut the top of each circle into a triangle shape.

Step 8

Using the gold paint, colour the two smaller circles.

Step 9

Fix the smaller painted pieces into the larger shapes to form the ears.

Step 10

Now for the Unicorn horn. Roll out two thin cone shapes from your white modelling paste.

Step 11

Twist the two together to give the spiral effect.

Step 12

Roll it tightly and then insert a cocktail stick or skewer into the base to provide support.

Step 13

Using your gold colour paint the horn. Fix the horn and the ears to the top of the cake.

Step 14

For the flowers cut out circles of different colours.

Tip : You can choose any colour scheme to match your occasion.

Step 15

For each flower create a central bud by rolling paste into an egg shape. Then start applying the petals around each bud.

Step 16

Cut the larger petals in half to give the effect you need for each flower.

Step 17

Keep fixing the petals working around the buds.

Step 18

Tuck each petal inside the one previously applied and fix.

Step 19

Make as many roses as you want to give the look you need. Fix to the top of the cake to give the unicorns hair look. We will go onto the filler flowers next.

Step 20

For the filler flowers use your fingers to roll out cone shapes as shown.

Step 21

We cut the largest part of the cone in half and then half again in the other direction to give four petals.

Step 22

We spread the cut parts to form a four-petal flower. Use finger pressure or a ball tool to spread them and give form to make look realistic.

Step 23

Now dust your filler flowers using pink Saracino powder colour. Place the filler flowers among the roses to fill in any gaps.

Step 24

Use as many roses and filler flowers to give the effect you would like to see on your cake.

Step 25

For the babies head roll a ball and with your fingers press to create the eye sockets. Use a silicone tool to form the nose.

Step 26

We create the nostrils and shape the nose with the silicone tool.

Step 27

Use a ball tool to create the eyebrow arches.

Step 28

Use your ball tool to create the eye sockets. Then roll two small balls of modelling paste to create the eyes.

Step 29

Insert the balls inside the holes to create the eyes.

Step 30

Make two smaller circles of brown paste and fix to each each ball.

Step 31

Roll out some of your brown paste very thinly and attach a strip above each eye for the eyebrows.

Step 32

Use your Dresden tool or similar to form the lips. The use a small ball tool to create the sides of the mouth.

Step 33

Create the pupil with a black food marker.

Step 34

Blend the iris with the brown food marker.

Step 35

Use your small ball tool to shape the mouth into the expression you require. Using white Saracino gel colour apply tiny dots to each eye.

Step 36

Your modelled face should look similar to this.

Step 37

Roll out an oval shape of your white paste for the body.

Step 38

Using your fingers raise one end of the oval shape.

Step 39

Use your ball tool to press the neck and sockets for each leg.

Step 40

For the neck roll out a tube of your pink paste. Cut short and fix into the socket made for the neck.

Step 41

Use a cocktail stick to attach the head to the neck in the angle you would like. For the hair roll out yellow paste into thin strands. Start applying to the head to build up the hair style. Use your ball tool to form shoulder sockets. Roll two strands to create the unicorn horn for the little girls head. Twist them together.

Step 42

Press down the hair strands with your silicone tool.

Step 43

Form the arm with pink paste and create the palm of the hand with the thumb.

Step 44

Form the four fingers. Now repeat for the left arm and hand.

Step 45

Place the girl in front of the cake and attach her arm and the unicorn horn to her head.

Step 46

Roll a sausage shape of pink paste and cut diagonally in the centre for the legs.

Step 47

Use your fingers to roll out the foot and ankle from the thinner part of the paste.

Step 48

Roll gently on your mat to create the form of the leg and knee.

Step 49

Make four small cuts on the back of the foot to form five toes.

Step 50

Fix the legs and the arms to the little girl. Model them into the shape you would like.

Your model is now finished and ready to WOW your friends.

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SUGAR SUCCULENT TUTORIAL

Aug 18, 2020 | Flowers

FB: CALLI CREATIONS

Skill level: BEGINNERS

FROM CALLI:

Succulents are quick and fun to do and this one does not require any cutters or veiners, so limited use of tools, with your hands doing all the work.

I do hope you enjoy making this pretty little succulent as it sits well with most cake designs. Have fun!!!

You will need:

Saracino Pasta Bouquet
Saracino Colour dusts (Green, Yellow, Red, Purple, White)
Saracino Green gel colour
Foam Cel Pad
Cel Board
Non-stick rolling pin (approx 9” is sufficient)
24 gauge, white or green wires
Nile green tape (¼ inch)
Edible glue (can make your own mixing a little tylose powder with water)
Corn flour (in case you need to dust board and hands)
Wire Cutters
Balling Tool
Kitchen Roll sheets
Dusting brushes (Appox size 2 or 3. I prefer the soft flat ones)

Step 1

On your cel board, knead some flower paste with Saracino Green gel colour

Step 2

Then divide into lots of little small balls, roughly the size of a pea, make some bigger and some smaller as the succulent has various size leaves.

Step 3

Gently squeeze and flatten each ball with your fingers

Step 4

Insert a 24 gauge wire into each petal.

Tip : Use a little Saracino edible glue on the end of each wire to secure in place.

Step 5

Keeping the centre thicker use your fingers to flatten the edges of each petal.

Step 6

Using a balling tool. Further thin the very edge, on your cel pad

Step 7

Shape each leaf between your thumb and forefinger to form a gentle curve to give a natural look

Step 8

Or use your cel pad base to simply push and give each petal definition

Step 9

Repeat this around 20 times (up to you how many leaves you want in your succulent). Leave to dry for a few hours or ideally overnight.

Step 10

Use a piece of kitchen towel and sprinkle some green and yellow colour dust and loosely mix it

Step 11

Gently dust the green mix over front and back of each petal

Step 12

Sprinkle red and a little purple onto your kitchen roll and loosely mix

Step 13

Dust around the edges of leaves, then drag some of the colour inwards in places to blend it.

Step 14

Using white dust, over dust each petal in the centre mainly, front and back

Step 15

Here is what it looks like from start of colour to finish

Step 16

Here are all the leaves fully dusted and various sizes. Don’t worry about the white on the leaves, as later you will see how that all blends in

Step 17

Take one of the smaller leaves and start taping the wire from base of leaf downwards for a short length

Step 18

Take two different sized petals and add them and fit them close together

Step 19

Add more petals to build up your succulent.

Step 20

Add more petals, fitting them close as close you can

Tip : Nature is not exact so random creates a more natural look

Step 21

Keep going till all the leaves are assembled in a roughly circular way

Step 22

And here is your succulent completed

Step 23

Then you need to steam the succulent. I did this over the spout of a boiling kettle, being very careful not to get burnt from the steam, so don’t get too close as it could also melt your sugarpaste. This not only blends all the colours together, but gives it the succulent a waxy sheen too.

Tip : You can use a cake steamer if you have one.

Step 24

To give you a better view, I’ve taken a picture from a different angle.

Step 25

I’ve added an African themed cake ( Ref: Sugar Art 4 Autism for more details) I created a few months ago, to show how the succulent sits with the theme. As an aside, the whole floral display was made using Saracino Pasta Bouquet and the colours as well as hand painted using Saracino cocoa butter and Saracino colour dusts.

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