Christmas Lights- SWEET! by Jen Dontz

 

This  tutorial is a step by step on making the isomalt Christmas lights.  Super easy to do and very, very pretty!  These lights can be strung on a cake or used individually on cupcakes.  Either way, they are sure to please!
 

ISOMALT CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

1.  I'm using our large Christmas lights mold (we also have a tiny one, too).  Also, the small silicone cup and clear isomalt sticks.  We also carry clear isomalt nibs if you prefer. If you click on a picture on our website, it will take you to the information/order page where you will see measurements for the molds.





2.  ALWAYS ALWAYS use protective gloves.  Hot sugar STICKS to skin and will continue to burn.  You can peel a glove off quickly, but not your skin.  We have some wonderful protective gloves by Cake Play.  See here.   We carry these gloves in three sizes, small, medium and large.  

Melt your isomalt in the microwave.  I use 50% power and check it every 30 seconds or so.  This is sugar so it can burn, don't over nuke :-)  I run a stick through it JUST to make sure all is melted.  I should be bubbling. 

 

 I did color this clear mix by adding a drop of Americolor to it.  Gel coloring is recommended, not liquid or powder.  Shake your Americolors up well before using.  Add the color once it comes out of the microwave and is bubbling.  You will hear the color sizzle on top of the bubbling sugar.  Wait until it stops sizzling and the water is burned out of it, then gently stir into the isomalt.

 

  You also can add disco dust at this point if you want a glittery finished piece.  We have a nice variety of discos available. Let the mix sit on the counter a few minutes until most of the bubbles have come to the top and popped. 

 

 Gently pour into your molds.  I take a toothpick and make sure all the sugar is stuck to all the nooks and crevices.  

 

~One helpful tip~

 If you find your sugar is hardening faster than you can get it to all the nooks, you can warm your mold in the microwave at 50% power for about 20 seconds.  Starting with a warm mold will give you a longer "work" time to spread the sugar.  

 

Another thing you can do is put the mold on a heating pad and warm it that way.  That will give you even more work time.  No need to add anything to the mold like a grease.  Leave the mold as is.




3.  Unmold the lights.  You usually can tell when they are ready to be unmolded if the mold is no longer warm to touch on the backside.

4.  Now it's time to torch them if you want them crystal clear.  Any food grade silicone mold will "gas" and create a ever so soft texture on your piece.  By taking a creme brulee type torch and gently torching the surface, it will clarify it.  This is the torch I purchased at Bed Bath and Beyond (don't forget your coupon :-)  You also can use a grill lighting type Aim N Flame but those are harder to use because they can burn the sugar easier.  At least that is my experience. 

 

 Hold the sugar piece with a pair of tweezers and move it closer and closer to the flame until you can see it clarify.  Be careful not to burn it.  Safety is first and foremost here friends...PLEASE read the instructions for your torch!!



5.  Next, I took my sugarcraft gun with the small string disk and piped out two lines of fondant.  I colored this using avocado Americolor.  You also can use gumpaste as well.




6.  Let the strings dry just a little and then twist them together like a real light string would be.


7. I like to paint the socket part with silver hi-liter dust.  Simply mix some dust with vodka, I do this in the lid.  Mix to the consistency of maple syrup.  Then paint the socket part.  Let the dust completely dry in the cap before putting the cap back on your container.  In doing this, no dust is wasted.  You can see the difference of the torched lights, two on left, and the not torched, on right.




8.  Here they are!!  As always when using isomalt, we recommend you place your pieces on the cake the day of the party.  

 

 

You can make them far in advance, but you need to store them in an airtight container with desiccant packets.  These will keep your pieces crystal clear.  Humidity can affect your pieces so that's why we recommend placing the day of the party and using the desiccant packets.

Tutorial by Jennifer Dontz

owner of SugarDelites

all rights reserved 2012

This material may not be reproduced in any form with 

expressed permission from the author.

Sugar Glass Butterflies by Jennifer Dontz

I am SUPER excited to bring you this tutorial. This extremely EASY process, makes the most beautiful crystal look butterflies and leaves I've ever seen.

Let's get started!

1. Using isomalt sticks, melt them in the microwave. You need a container that will take the hot sugar. Be careful not to burn the sugar. Cook it just until melted. Once melted, let it sit on the counter for a couple minutes. This will bring the air bubbles to the surface.

ALWAYS wear some sort of glove when working with hot sugar. You can easily whip that glove off, but not your skin, if you get some on it :-) I like to use the Wilton measuring cups. They work well for me, but I am not endorsing them. Use at your own risk. 

Pour one of each side of the butterfly wings. You can use Americolors to color your sugar. Drop color into hot sugar, wait for it to stop sizzling and then gently stir it in.

Here's a link to the isomalt sticks.    
Isomalt Sticks
(This link is to the clear ones but we also handle some very pretty colors as well.)

2. Taking a Show Peel mat, pour some of the hot sugar on to the surface and quickly spread it to all the out edges of the mold, using a toothpick.

If it hardens to fast, you can quickly take a small torch like a cream brulee torch, and heat it back up. You shouldn't hurt the mold if you do it quickly. Let it dry.

Here's a link to the mini bugs Show Peel:

3. Peel the mold off and you now have two butterfly wings.

4. Taking the two wings, dip each one just a bit down at the center of each wing where it would touch the body, into the hot sugar. I would say dip it around 1/8" into the hot sugar. Taking the two wings press them together in the middle and the sugar will compress and make a body. Do this directly on the Show Peel mat or a silpat mat if you have one. At this stage you could add some stamens if you wanted. We just got in some super fine stamens from overseas. They are very hard to find and would be perfect for this.

Here's a link to the stamens:

Isn't it simply GORGEOUS!!! I put the vein side down but you can put them together however you wish. Here's one on a cake (you just attach it with a small amount of hot sugar):

We also have another Show Peel mat that has gorgeous leaves on it.

You could make beautiful crystal leaves for your wedding cakes.

It's the same process as above. If you take the piece off of the mat while it's still a little warm, you can gently bend and conform it they way you want the shape to be. Or you can hit it with the torch as well.

You can do this with the butterflies as well if you don't want the wings perfectly straight.

Here's a link to the beautiful assorted leaf Show Peel

Keep in mind, both of these mats have several shapes/forms on them. If you click on the picture on our site, it will give you an idea of size. Each mat is about the size of a normal piece of paper. Here's the mini bugs mats up close:

And the assorted leaves: (I think the leaves with the bubble in them would look great on seaside cakes)

Also, some tips when working with sugar:

1. You shouldn't take a container that has hot sugar in it and then add cold sticks to remelt in the microwave. 
2. All sugar in the container needs to be the same temperature. You can burn the sugar that is already hot by doing this. 
3. In order to keep the nice shine to these, you need to do one of the following. Either spray with with edible lacquer or brush clear confectioners glaze on it or mix a 50/50 mix of baking soda and vodka and apply.   I have not tried any of the above, but will be trying all of them :-) 
4. Also, isomalt is diabetic candy. So if someone wishes to eat it, they should only eat a small amount. Consuming a bunch can give one a stomach ache.

Have fun with this!

What a wonderful, EASY method for creating hot sugar pieces without the hassle of cooking to temperature. 

I'm am quite sure you will WOW your customers with these!

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial.

*************************************

This tutorial was published with permission of Jennifer Dontz / SugarDelites Copyright 2011

The material and photos contained in this post may not be copied and republished in any form without permission from the author.

Easy Buttercream Border by Jennifer Dontz

This week I decided to show you the "Jen" border. I do this border on most of my sheet cakes, as it's kind of become my signature.

I love it because it is easy to do and makes the cake look larger and gives it such a nice finish. It also hides most of the foil.

Step 1. Using a rose tip.... this one is #104, hold your bag/tip at a slight angle (see pic). The fat end of the rose tip should be closest to the cake.

Starting at the cake and moving outward, make one side of a swag, then move back towards the cake, completing a swag. Just do this all the way around your cake.

 I love using this easy border....

Check out Jen's Website- Sugar Delites

 

 

Tutorial and Photography by Jennifer Dontz

Copyright 2010- All rights reserved

This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

Pretty Piped Pansies

This week's tutorial is on making a piped pansy. 
These are really easy to make and will surely enhance those spring/summer cakes.

1.  Add a square of wax or freezer paper to a flower nail using a dab of icing.  Using a rose tip #104 and holding the tip quite flat,
fat side of the tip inward, pipe two small petals. 
Starting and ending each petal at the same point.

2.  Overpipe two more petals on top of those
making them slightly smaller in size.

3.  Add three more petals to the bottom. 
(Sorry for the holes in my icing...
it was sitting in a bag for awhile and I was in a hurry :-) 
 I normally pipe all of these out of royal icing only. 
 I let them dry before placing but for this demo, I used some buttercream. 

I ADORE the Chefmaster meringue powder. 
 Believe me, if you have never tried this brand, it's the BOMB! 
 It mixes up to a slightly stiffened buttercream consistency,
doesn't melt back down and rebeats wonderfully. 

 I've tried MANY brands and this is the very best around in my opinion.
Chefmaster Meringue Powder

 You add enough sugar until it JUST loses it's shine in the mixer bowl. 
Good stuff :-)  Tastes GREAT, too!

4.  Taking straight Americolor and a teeny tiny brush,
paint a few lines on them. 
You also could dust some petal dust on if you want. 
The Americolor will dry. 

Then, taking a small writing tip,
make the little circle center in the middle of each flower. 

Aren't they cute?

Here's a whole tray of different color combinations:

Here's some shots of a cake with them on: 
 (Those are frill cutters on the edge)

Tutorial and Photography by Jennifer Dontz
2010 All Rights Reserved
This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

How to Use Frill Cutters By Jennifer Dontz

This week's tutorial is on frill cutters. 

These are such versatile cutters...the sky really is the limit with what you can do with them.  There are so many combinations of layering and using cutouts, that can give you so many beautiful looks.  I do show some these techniques on my


FUN WITH FONDANT FRILLS DVD

How to use frill cutters:

Step 1:  (Sorry about the not so clear picture above). 

I roll my paste through the pasta roller.  If you don't have a pasta roller, I highly recommend getting one.  They make sugar art so much easier.  I especially love the attachment that goes on my Kitchen Aid mixer.  

I love using the multi-ribbon cutter when I use these cutters.  This little wonder will adjust easily to make a number of different width bands.  Then you have a quick, straight line to work from when placing your cutters.  Roll the tool along your paste to make the desired band width. 

I also use this tool to make all my side ribbons for cakes, works great!  
Here's a link to this tool:
MULTI-RIBBON CUTTER

Step 2:  Take your frill cutter and match a straight edge of it against the straight edge of your paste.  Be sure to dust the bottom of the paste and I usually lightly dust the top as well. 

 Just go along the whole length of the paste, after cutting one of the cutters, just match up the end and continue going down the paste.  Now you can either disgard the bottom part or choose to use it to layer one design on top of the other. 

( See the BloomNet picture below, that has some nice examples of layering.)

Step 3:  Paste is all cut.  Now you can apply to your cake like this, or if you choose, you can make some little cutouts in it.  You can get so many different looks to these simply by applying them in layers and using different things to make cutouts. 

 See below the drastic difference in the same piece when you make some cutouts in it.

Step 4:  I used some round tips to cutout holes and the PME eyelet cutters worked great for the pretty little teardrop shape.  

 Here's a link to that set: 
PME EYELET CUTTERS 

Here's a pretty spring cake I applied those frill cutter strips to.  The birds are hand modeled and the pansies are piped. 
 They really are easy to pipe and so pretty on a cake. 

Thinking spring .....  :-)

 

Aren't these little mini cakes pretty? 

All done with frill cutters. 

We carry three sets on our site....here are some links to them. 
They run $7.00 per set. 

The above cakes were created by me for the BloomNet Floral book.  It was such an honor to be a part of that!

Click to order:
FRILL CUTTERS SET 1

 FRILL CUTTERS SET 2 
FRILL CUTTERS SET 3




This tutorial was written by Jennifer Dontz. All Rights Reserved 2010
This material may not be reproduced without permission from the author.

Gumpaste Blossoms by Jennifer Dontz

This Week's tutorial is on one of my very favorite cake toys, the blossom cutter / veines set. I LUV LUV this set! I think everyone should have it, so if you do not, you might want to put it on your wish list. I make out of fondant These Because first and foremost, I Always think of taste with my cakes. Sure you Can Make them out of Gump, But fondant is more palatable.

Here's a link to the set on Our Site: Sugar Delites

1. I roll my paste to # 2 on the Kitchen Aid pasta attachment. (Luv That BTW, if You Do not have one, get one! I had a manual for years and this Allows an extra hand in the kitchen :-) Cut out the blossom shape using the cutter in the set. We Also sell September 5 petal blossom Which makes for really cute little apple blossoms and cherry blossoms as well. That tiny little pinches in September has in it, Which Gives them a really cute edging.

2. Place the paste Vein Between the 2 piece, matching up the notches on the sides of the veiners. Press Gently, You Really Do Not Have to put much pressure at all. If You are not getting your subtle lines in the paste, press a bit harder. If you are cutting the paste, you are pressing too hard.

3. Then I open up the veines and with quick flicks of my fingers, Loos Each petal. If You Have Problems with sticking, just dust the paste a bit better. Then I pop the small kiss Into These formers. This little shapes in September Former them beautifully. http://jenniferdontz.com/viewproduct.php?itemid=for006

To finish, add a little dust or petal Simply airbrush them .... Adding to piped or dragee dot in the center. They are so cute and so easy to make! Here's a couple cakes I did using the blossoms: (On the cake Below, I Used petal dusts to add the pink color) See what I mean HAVING about "stock" flowers. You can do them in white color and add whatever you Need to the centers at the time. A real time saver When you are busy.

And, They last for months stored in boxes.

Below on the cake, I airbrushed the flowers. I Also Used frill cutters to do the chocolate lace around the top and the baby bootie booties in September for the sugar. If You Have Any Questions, you know I'm here to try and help.

I make them up ahead and keep them in little bowls .... I call them "stock" flowers. I can dust them or airbrush Any Color When needed.

Tutorial and Photography by Jennifer Sugar Delites Dontz-2010-all rights reserved

This tutorial Was Used with permission by Jen Dontz.

This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

Ooooh Baby! Easy sugarpaste booties by Jen Dontz

This week's tutorial is on the adorable and VERY EASY baby bootie.  It's lifesize, so much fun to make and will really impress your customers!

Step 1 - Roll out your paste about 1/4" thick.  You can use fondant or gumpaste.  I'm using gumpaste on these.  The set comes with three cutters.  Taking the sole cutter, cut one of the thick pieces for each shoe you want to make. 

 You can let these dry, but really don't have to.  I started working right away on them.  Since the paste is so thick you will not be able to totally cut through it with the cutter so just make an impression on top, then use the scissors to cut it out.

  By cutting the paste thick, I feel it's easier to put this together.  I'm sure there are many ways to make these, but this is my way.  :-)

 

Step 2 - I use my tiny little scissors and cut off about 1/4" from each end of the sole.  If you don't do this step, the final result looks more like a moccasin than a bootie.

Disgard the end scraps.

Step 3 - Cut out one of each of the other two pieces for each shoe you want to make.  You can use any thickness of paste, I cut mine on #4 on the Kitchen Aid pasta machine.  The next part we will apply is the part that looks like a little helmet.

Step 4 - Take the sole and moisten the edge with gumglue or water and wrap the "helmet" part around the sole, making sure the paste edge goes right to the bottom of the sole edge.

Step 5 - Take the longer piece and moisten the edge shown by the brush, just this straight edge.

Step 6 - Wrap this back part of the shoe around the back part of the sole.

Step 7 - Using a clay gun, make some tiny strings for the ties of the bootie.

Step 8 - You can make whatever little tie like finish you want.  You can make a bow or just leave the untied strings.  You also can use your imagination to decorate these in numerous ways.  I used the little daisy punch and the snowflake cutters to embelish the ones below.  You might have to stuff some plastic wrap or a cotton ball in the shoe until it's competely dry.  I guarantee your customers will LOVE these, especially when they find out they are made of sugar :-)  If you have any questions at all, please contact me, cakebabe1@aol.com  All of these cake toys are available through Sugar Delites, I'll make a list of just what I used and post it below.  Aren't these just to cute for words?  I LOVE using them on my baby cakes.

Equipment used to make the booties:

Click on item to order:

Jem baby bootie cutter  -

Daisy punch cutter -  

(I used a tip #7 to cut out the center of the daisy)

PME snowflake plunger cutters -

Rainbow disco dust (brilliant) -

Sugarcraft clay gun -

Tiny scissors -

Tutorial courtesy of Jennifer Dontz
2010
All Rights Reserved

This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.