A delicious and beautiful cake is the culmination of a festive feast. Decorating cakes with fruits, flowers made from cream or caramel and mastic, live candied petals is a real art.
Mastic recipe
In the world of culinary decor, decorations made of mastic have recently dominated; it is possible to create a floristic composition from it, to copy almost any flower existing in nature. Confectionery mastic is a sweet flexible mass, similar in consistency to plasticine, it differs in composition and density. Some types of mastic are designed to cover the dessert, others - for the manufacture of figures and flowers.
The technique for making mastic is simple, having mastered it, you can create wonderful cake decorations at home. For cooking you will need:
- chewing marshmallows - 200 g;
- lemon juice - 1-2 teaspoons;
- icing sugar - 500-600 g;
- starch - 100 g.
Marshmallow pastilles are spread in a bowl, poured over with lemon juice and placed in a water bath for a few minutes. The degree of readiness is determined by stirring, the marshmallow should turn into a viscous homogeneous mass without lumps.
Powdered sugar is gradually poured into the mass until it becomes difficult to mix. Then spread the "dough" on the table and continue to knead, adding food coloring there. As a result, you should get an elastic lump. To prevent the sweet mass from sticking to the work surface, sprinkle it with starch.
How to make a cake decoration
To make a flower, mastic is rolled out and circles of a given size are cut out. They also make cone-shaped blanks with a height equal to 2/3 of the diameter of the circle. Using a stick with a ball at the end, waves are squeezed out along the edges of the petals. Then the petals are dried and collected in this order - the first petal is wrapped on a cone like a "shirt", the second is put on towards the first, forming a bud. The following petals are glued in a circle with an overlap.
The finished flowers are dried for a couple of days, and you can decorate the cake with them. It is important! Mastic jewelry cannot be used on confectionery products covered with custard, sour cream or butter cream; in contact with moisture, the mastic melts. A base made of similar mastic, chocolate or glaze is suitable for it.
