Fondant Masquerade Masks

                   green with envy fondant masquerade mask

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You are invited to the ball, the Masquerade ball... 

Special post today on getting more use out of your silicone moulds. Hmmm, doesn't sound that "special" does it? But what you make will be!!

Don't you love those cake decorating silicone moulds, press in a bit of fondant or modelling paste and hey presto you have a modelled shape in no time. But, but, but, what happens when you have used your mould a few times and you're bored with the shape? Does it end up in the draw with all those other moulds that you just "had to have"? Why don't you try extending the shape, you'll have the time saving aspect of using a mould combined with your own decorating ideas. 

measuring a tiny 4.5 cm (less that two inches) across the  jewel mask uses the same mould as the green with envy mask in cake one.

The masquerade masks on cake one and two today are make with the same mould. Cake three adds a mask to the mask mould and cake four gets it's pizzazz from a side extension. All cakes displayed in fondant covered mini cupcakes today.

For the gold and diamond mask I've added a "mask onto the mask"

Pretty in pink mask has a simple side extension added.

Extensions to your masks can as simple as rolling a thin snake of fondant, from there you twist, twirl and roll to create trims and ribbon.

Create extension pieces by matching the base with mask depth, thinning out from there as required. I use small pieces of plastic wrap to create shapes in the fondant before and after they have been attached to figures. When adding fondant feathers and the like, make sure they are rolled as thinly as possible as you don't want to add too much weight to your pieces.

Use a tootpick/cocktail stick to create twirls.

I used Americolour food spray paint sheen colours undiluted to paint the masks. Try mixing two colours together for a unique finish. A small brush like the type used to paint toy models is ideal for painting trims and details.

 first of two coats on mask, orange food pen circles eyes before painting to change colour of painted finish.

All bits and bobs attached with water with the exception of the isomalt gems I attached those with a dab of melted isomalt. Some of the fondant I marbled by twisting several colours of fondant together, I like how that adds a textured element to the feathers. Americolor gel paste was used to colour fondant. Ummm, what else... oh, ok if you want to put your masks on toothpicks make sure you make a hole with toothpick in the unmoulded piece before it hardens.

Have fun getting more from moulds and happy baking :)

Stockists: Full face mask moulds from Cakes Around Town (Australia) Masquerade Masks mould from Baking Pleasures (Australia) and Windsor Cake Crafts (UK)

Baking Pleasures has the airbrush sheen colours in Australia (*note we are paying a lot more than the US price)

Amazon (US)  

Want more fondant? How about Eric the Valentine Emu

or go gold with a fondant gold fish

Gold Fish Cupcake

fondant goldfish cupcake pick tops a fondant covered jasmine tea cupcake

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I loved my goldfish, I truly did. I lugged around my fish tank, filters, pumps and paraphernalia from apartment to apartment when I was young. Then the inevitable happened the fish tank sprung a leak and my father said to me "don't worry I'll come over and get your fish and put the fish in my pond" and so he did... where his giant fish proceeded to gobble up my fish in 39.9 seconds! 

Today we are making a fondant goldfish, mine is flat backed but you can make it 3D the same way. I've added a toothpick to turn it into a cupcake pick.

Okay let's get started.

You'll need:

Fondant (with some *CMC added) or modelling paste in colours of choice

lustre or petal dusts in colours of choice

toothpicks painted with food colour of choice

cake/flower glue (optional)

leaf glaze (optional)

Start by making an egg shape with your fondant and shape it into a "fish" shape.

Add scale indents with the tip of piping nozzle or similar. I wanted lots of texture on my fish, but if you want a more realistic fish make your indents further apart.

Role out some of the fondant laced with CMC as thinly as you can. Cut fins and tail with a small knife or small scissors, adhere to your fish body with water. Shape slightly to give add the illusion of movement.

Use plastic wrap or small pieces of foam to support shaped tail and fins.

Add a ring for the eye socket, add a small piece of thin fondant for the gills, cover the join of the tail with another piece of thin fondant and blend in. Check whether you need to add more scales or any finishing touches. Make a hole in the underneath of the fish with a toothpick. Allow to dry, 6 hours to overnight.

Once dry take a small dry paintbrush and dust with colours of choice, starting with the back of the fish. I used white lustre dust and red petal dust. Blend, blend, blend with your paintbrush until you have desired finish. You can let the base colour show through like I did or fully cover with the dusts. 

Dip you toothpick into cake/flower glue or dampen with water and insert into the base of the fish. Add the eyeball to your fish with a little black fondant, glaze with leaf glaze if desired. That's it! You have your self a fish cupcake pick.

Happy Baking :)

*CMC powder, modelling paste, leaf glaze, cake/flower glue, lustre dust and petal dust are available from cake decorating suppliers/shops. 

or how about going a little Japanese with a chocolate goldfish covered in gold leaf

Then there is roses made from Starburst fruit chews.

Cupcake Cases, Liners, Papers & Wrappers

                          

                              Pleated brown leaf cupcake cases

Cupcake liners can match your theme, just be pretty or act as an inspiration like the printed gold leaves on these cupcake cases featured today. 

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It's Spring in Australia, but I couldn't resist these autumnal themed cases!! These are special cases occasion cases, "special" because they are more expensive than usual, but you can bake mini yeasted breads, cupcakes, mini fruit cakes or muffins and they will keep their shape. The colour of the cases darkens on baking and I think it makes them look even more lovely. They are also a design that suits "men", in fact my step son and husband were briefly distracted from eating cupcakes when they were admiring the cases... they don't usually find "pink butterfly cases" as pretty as I do ;)

The cases are free standing and strong; resin coated on the outside and unlined craft card on the interior.

SIZE: H= 5cm (2 inches) W= 5.8cm (2.3 inches) Package of approximately 36 cups for $15.00 (US) Your in luck in you are located in America, the cases are from Fancy Flours (US).  If you really have your heart set on these and your not in the US, Fancy Flours do deliver internationally, though postage costs are high... perhaps you could split an order with a friend or ask a US friend to ship them to you?

Happy Baking :)

you might also be interested in folded cases

Amore Frangelico Truffles

                                    amore frangelico truffle

Golden truffles laced with Frangelico are a decadent ending for a sumptuous Italian banquet or that bowl of spag bol that you plan to zap in the microwave. 

Pile them high on a collared full sized cake, use single truffles as cupcake toppers, eat them as they are with an accompanying expresso or better still a glass of Frangelico. 

Frangelico the Italian Hazelnut liqueur with it's hints of cocoa and vanilla is like liquid Nutella for grownups. Best bit, Frangelico is produced in miniatures so you don't have to buy a giant bottle; I do, buy the giant bottle particularly for the Christmas season when I use it for cakes, puddings and the like.Frangelico with it's distinctive friar in his habit shaped bottle

Gold Lustre Dust is metallic edible food decorating powder, available from cake decorating suppliers.

various metallic gold lustre dusts

Amore Frangelico Truffles

makes 20 to 24 truffles

Ingredients

250g (8.8 oz) dark eating chocolate

2 tsp Frangelico liqueur 

125 grams (4.4 oz) mascarpone cheese

cocoa powder to coat

gold lustre dust

Method

In a heat proof bowl over saucepan quarter filled with simmering water, melt the chocolate. Stir in the liqueur. Remove from heat, allow to cool until just warm. Stir in the mascarpone.

Refrigerate 20 minutes or until firm enough to roll into truffle sized balls. Roll balls and toss them in cocoa powder to coat. Once all the balls are coated, dust top half with gold lustre dust. Refrigerate until needed, let them come to room temperature before serving. 

Variations; swap the liqueur... chocolate and coffee liqueurs work well, but don't forget orange or even mint.

Gold Chinese Dragon Cupcake and Gold cupcake wrappers

 

                                            Enter the Dragon cupcake

Chinese Dragon; this mythological symbol dates back to 3000 BC and stands for happiness, immortality, procreation, fertility and activity. Chinese Dragons were believed to ward off evil spirits. Take a look at a Chinese city and you will see dragons decorating ancient monuments and buildings, sometimes playing with a pearl or thunder-ball.

Boy, the old Mac computer doesn't like the heat & has been constantly crashing today... I'm a bit behind schedule because of it, but I just had to show you my new cupcake cases!

Love these free standing gold crown cupcake wrappers that come with removable white cupcake liners to bake in. Fabulous for potted plant cupcakes, Christmas tree pots or do as I did and swap the white case for another colour. The cakes sit at a slight angle in the square wrappers, but are still stable enough to transport.

Available in square or round, I got mine from Bake it pretty (US)

The Chinese dragon hand modelled from leftover white/grey modelling paste I had on hand. 

Partially made dragon, cornflour (corn starch) dusted cardboard supports are in place for the drying process.

After leaving to dry overnight I gave the dragon a coat of antique gold food paint & finished it off with a dusting of red & antique gold dust. 

Happy Baking :) 

Dresden Cupcake Picks

golden cupcake, chocolate mousse topped with golden moose dresden

Ok, I couldn't resist making mousse topped cupcakes for my moose dresdens. Dresdens are German die-cut and embossed paper trims, often with a metallic finish. These lovely scraps popular in Victorian times are beloved by scrapbookers and crafters alike, they also make for unique cupcake picks by just adding a toothpick the to back.

Paint your tooth picks with matching or contrasting food colour/food paint, allow to dry. Attach toothpick to the rear of your dresdens with non-toxic craft glue or clear sticky tape.

valentines day mixed pack of dresdens

metallic or embossed die-cut colour butterfly scraps make beautiful cupcake toppers for spring luncheons to garden weddings.

vintage Easter sheet, my husband thinks these bunnies are "scary" 

Halloween dresden assortment

Dresdens & paper scraps are available in sheets, mixed packs and singularly; designs include Easter, Halloween and Christmas, along with birds, animals, flowers etc. 

Good sources for dresdens on line are.....

Dresden Paper Crafts 

Blumchen (one of Martha Stewarts favourites)

SilverCrow Creations (where I got the moose from)

Happy Baking & crafting! :)

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                     Bubble Wrap Chocolate

Golden Apple

apple & raspberry cupcake, raspberry pink glacé icing and golden apple topper

The myth of the golden apple...

Zeus held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Left off the guest list was Eris (goddess of discord), and upon turning up uninvited, she threw or rolled a golden apple into the ceremony, with an inscription that read: καλλίστῃ or, "to the fairest." Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite.

Zeus deemed Paris as the judge as he knew that Paris would be a fair and equal judge. He gave the apple to Hermes and told him to deliver it to Paris and tell him that the goddesses would accept his decision without argument, and so the goddesses appeared. Each of the goddesess offered Paris a gift as a bribe in return for the apple. First approached Hera who offered to make him a famous, powerful king; next came Athena, who offered to make him wise, above even some of the gods; and last of all came Aphrodite, who said she would give him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife, Helen at that time, of Sparta (later to be titled Helen of Troy). Paris chose Aphrodite, which would ultimately lead to the start of the Trojan war. Paris soon went to celebrate the marriage of Helen and Menelaus with his brother. They spent the night there, and Menelaus was called to Agamemnon, and thus Helen and Paris were left alone. In this time they made love, and Helen left Menelaus and sailed to Troy with Paris, thus initiating the Trojan War.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter break with family & friends, back to cupcaking today with beautiful Golden Apple toppers. I've always thought of the Zeus myth when creating these apples, but when I went to get the story from the net today the first Google results showed 'Golden Apple' as being a brothel in Sydney. That gave me something else to think about ;)

I've made these apples (& pears) in the past to surround a large Christmas cake, they work equally well topping a cupcake. Super easy to make, start with by rolling balls of white fondant or modelling paste to create your apples in a size appropriate for your cupcakes, set aside for 30 minutes and get your stalks ready. I used the dry parts of mint stalk pieces from an unsprayed mint plant, and insert pieces into the centre of the balls to create a stalk. Set aside to dry for 24 hours.

The leaves; I used tiny sprouting mint leaves to create an imprint on modelling paste. Pick your leaves, lay them out with the rear side facing upwards. Press and shape a small piece of modelling paste onto the leaves. Set aside for 30 to 60 minutes (don't leave it on any longer or the moisture from the leaf will dissolve the modelling paste), gently peel away the leaf. There will be a slight discolouration from the leaf, but that will be covered by the edible paint. Set aside to dry.

 

finished dried and painted leaves can be stored long term in a sealed airtight container

cake decorators edible paint available in nail-polish like bottles in metallic shades from cake decorating stores

Next day, paint your apples and leaves with edible food paint, I use light gold. Set aside to dry.

Attach your leaves to the stalks with a tiny pieces of modelling paste, this is a bit fiddly but not difficult. 

Set aside to dry, paint the seam where you have joined the leaves to the stalks. Next... you guessed it... set aside to dry!

All finished and ready to use as cupcake toppers.

*Any edible unsprayed leaf can be used as a template. Make sure your 'stalks' are from the dried woody part of the herb/flower plant.

golden apple myth wikipedia 

You might also be interested in...how to make glacé icing

Cupcake Cases, Liners, Papers & Wrappers

Cupcake liners can match your theme, act as an inspiration, or just be pretty like these cupcake cases with a touch of gold.

These sweet pretty pink & yellow medium weight cases with a swirl of gold are what I would describe as "fairy cake" size with a 2.5cm (1") wall & a 4.4cm (1.75") base. 

Multi packs of four colours containing 135 cups from Fancy Flours

A traditional pattern in gold adorns white cases. Available in packs of 25, they are made from greaseproof Swedish paper, 3.1cm (1.25") tall and 5cm (2") across the base. Also available as mini's from Fancy Flours 

Both types bake extremely well, with little or no staining; they do look better with light coloured cake, think sponge cake or vanilla buttercake.

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Cupcake Cases, Liners, Papers & Wrappers

Cupcake liners can just be pretty, act as an inspiration or match your theme.

I do like a design to carry through to the base of a liner like this fabulous swirl pattern does on these bold solid colour liners. Imagine a spring time yellow theme, blue cries out for piles of white frosting and green is just so minty!

These cases have straight sides, are of medium size and are made from quality greaseproof Swedish paper. 

Available in six different colours: Yellow, Blue, Green, Red, Purple & Gold

The cases cup in packs of 40 from Fancy Flours