Sugar craft is a phrase that is utilised in describing the ornamental and regularly three dimensionalsugar decorations you see on party cakes and the superb, lifelike,sugar flowers which make the cakes so special are known assugar craft flowers.
There are several thousands of different types of sugar flowers and the great majority of them can be reproduced in sugar. Makers have produced cutters for the commonest types of flowers but the others can be manufactured by moulding and shaping gum by hand to reproduce what you can see.
The paste, used for making the flowers, is formed by adding a few different ingredients to confectioner's sugar, the most important being gum tragacanth which is a natural gum made from the sap of a few species of tropical plants.
Because gum tragacanth is added to sugar and the other ingredients, to make gum paste, it makes the paste really pliable and the user can get an exceedingly fine finish on the sugar and when the finished flower is exposed to the air it becomes very hard when dry.
The flowers can be made ahead of the time you need to employ them but although they are really hard when they're dry, they are made of sugar, so if they are exposed to moisture they can break down. When they're totally dry keep them in an airtight container but don't put it in the refrigerator as condensation will liquify the finished flowers.
I often wrap a sachet of silica gel in a paper tissue (silica gel is toxic so it needs to be kept away from the flowers) and put it into the box with the flowers just to be sure they stay dry and store them at 70 degrees and they're going to last indefinitely. I found a box of sugar flowers I made when I initially began making them, over 27 years back, and they are as perfect now as they were when I put them in there, in fact I used them on a cake.
From experience I know people like to keep party flowers and over time I have placed countless arrangements from celebration cakes into glass cases. Again, if the dome is formed airtight, a packet of silica compound is put in with the flowers and they are placed out of bright sunlight (daylight will fade the colors) there isn't a reason why they shouldn't be as perfect on the 25th wedding anniversary as the day they were put there.
There are several thousands of different types of sugar flowers and the great majority of them can be reproduced in sugar. Makers have produced cutters for the commonest types of flowers but the others can be manufactured by moulding and shaping gum by hand to reproduce what you can see.
The paste, used for making the flowers, is formed by adding a few different ingredients to confectioner's sugar, the most important being gum tragacanth which is a natural gum made from the sap of a few species of tropical plants.
Because gum tragacanth is added to sugar and the other ingredients, to make gum paste, it makes the paste really pliable and the user can get an exceedingly fine finish on the sugar and when the finished flower is exposed to the air it becomes very hard when dry.
The flowers can be made ahead of the time you need to employ them but although they are really hard when they're dry, they are made of sugar, so if they are exposed to moisture they can break down. When they're totally dry keep them in an airtight container but don't put it in the refrigerator as condensation will liquify the finished flowers.
I often wrap a sachet of silica gel in a paper tissue (silica gel is toxic so it needs to be kept away from the flowers) and put it into the box with the flowers just to be sure they stay dry and store them at 70 degrees and they're going to last indefinitely. I found a box of sugar flowers I made when I initially began making them, over 27 years back, and they are as perfect now as they were when I put them in there, in fact I used them on a cake.
From experience I know people like to keep party flowers and over time I have placed countless arrangements from celebration cakes into glass cases. Again, if the dome is formed airtight, a packet of silica compound is put in with the flowers and they are placed out of bright sunlight (daylight will fade the colors) there isn't a reason why they shouldn't be as perfect on the 25th wedding anniversary as the day they were put there.
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Knowing how to form the flowers is only the first part, you must know cake baking that will be strong enough to support these amazing flowers along with a selection of great fruit cake recipes for you to win over your guests...
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