Fairy-tale characters, delicate flowers, graceful bows, bright cars, trains, men and animals turn a birthday cake into a work of art. Mastic decorations are the best addition to delicious pastries and a real table decoration...

With the help of mastic, confectioners deftly transform a stack of sponge cakes flavored with cream into a sweet masterpiece. If desired, anyone can master the art of decorating holiday baked goods. The ability to skillfully handle plastic paste comes with experience. It will take time, but it will be worth it.

Mastic: make it yourself or buy it in a store?

How to make flower figures from mastic?

You can implement many interesting ideas using mastic. For example, these could be delicate roses - a wonderful decoration for any cake. The process of creating flower figurines from mastic is quite painstaking, but the result exceeds all expectations - the buds turn out realistic, as if they were just plucked from a rose bush.

To work you will need the following tools and consumables:

• mastic in white, pink and green shades;


• scissors;


• pliers;


• brush;


• white wire No. 22;


• green wire No. 28;


• galvanized wire No. 18;


• a set of tools for modeling mastic;


• a set of molds - cutters;


• pearl;


• shine;


• glue;


• green floral ribbon.

Progress:

1. Bend one end of the galvanized wire into a neat hook. It is more convenient to do this with pliers.


2. Roll out an oblong droplet from a piece of mastic. Soak the tip of the wire in glue and secure the base of the droplet to it. This is the base on which the pink bud will form.


3. Using a mold, cut out several circles from the mastic, let them dry a little and begin to form the petals of the future rose. Make the petals thin and smooth using a tool with a ball on the end.


4. The finished petals must be carefully glued with glue to the prepared base. With each petal, the bud should become larger, airier, and more open.


5. The next step is to create the sepals and leaves. To do this you will need green mastic. Cut out the leaves (small and larger) with a mold and level them with a tool, giving them relief. Place the sepals on the wire, and then the leaves themselves. Make the required number of roses of different sizes and fasten them into one beautiful bouquet.


6. Finish the arrangement with simple white five-leaf flowers. Place several flowers on the wire. Add sprigs with flowers to the roses.


7. Decorate the finished bouquets with floral ribbon.


8. Secure the flower arrangements to the top of the cake using glue. Top the flowers with glitter.

How to sculpt children's figures from mastic?

Children are usually delighted with colorful and tasty figurines of their favorite characters from fairy tales and cartoons. You can play with them to your heart's content and then eat them. A cake decorated with sugar mastic figures will delight both kids and adults.

Children's cartoon characters – Smeshariki and Fixiki – are especially popular among children. We'll tell you how to make them. It takes time and skill, but is not very difficult.

First, let's blind the fixer Nolik. To work, you will need white mastic, blue dye, confectionery glue or its substitute, toothpicks, and kandurin.

1. Let's make the head. We form a small ball of light blue mastic and dry it so that it does not deform. Now let's make a hairstyle using mastic of a more saturated blue shade. To do this, you need to cut out a small circle from mastic according to the size of the head, the edges of which need to be made sharp (when this figure is glued to the head, the points will be curls). The hairstyle is glued to the head with glue and consists of several layers (3-4 pieces). The process is as follows: we put the head on a toothpick, glue one layer on it, let it dry, then glue the second, etc.


2. The next step is to create the facial features - nose, mouth and eyes. It is better to attach them to the head before it dries.


3. While the head dries, we work on the body: we sculpt the body itself, legs and arms. We form a figurine of a little man from mastic and attach it to a toothpick. The toothpick should go all the way through one leg (it will be the support leg). We add handles to the body, as well as costume details. Finally, place the head on the upper end of the toothpick protruding from the body. We powder our hair with kandurin to make it shine.

And now we’ll make some more favorites - Smeshariki.

For the cake, you can make all 10 smeshariki or choose a company to suit your taste. Each character is based on a ball with a diameter of 3-4 cm. One character will require about 30 g of mastic for the ball itself + about 20 g for parts. For work, it is most convenient to purchase white mastic and then paint it in the desired colors.

To ensure that the figures are the same size (this way the composition will look more beautiful and neat), it is better to weigh the balls. Once the balls are formed, they should be left to dry for about 12 hours. At the same time, they need to be “rolled” from time to time to avoid deformation. When the mastic has completely dried and will not deform when pressed with your finger, you can continue working - sculpting small parts and attaching them to the ball.

Let's make Krosh

1. For the paws we form small flagella. You will need 4 of them. At one end of each flagellum we make notches that imitate fingers.


2. We make two more flagella thicker than the previous ones. These will be the ears. We give them the desired shape and leave to dry a little so that they do not lose their shape. Glue the ears to the body with pastry glue.


3. Finally, we create the details of the face: nose, mouth, eyes.

Let's sculpt Barash

1. In addition to his legs and arms, Barash needs to have his hair done - funny curls. To do this, we make several small curls and twist them into spirals. We glue the slightly dried curls to the head with glue. Glue pre-prepared horns and ears on top of the curls.


2. Lastly, add small details - nose, mouth, eyes.

You can make the rest of the Smeshariki figures yourself, based on cartoons or pictures.

How long do mastic figures last?

There is nothing in confectionery mastic that spoils quickly, so it can be stored for a long time. The main thing is to protect the figures from moisture and sunlight. High humidity makes the figures very fragile, and in the light the dyes quickly fade.

A sweet dessert like a pillow cake is essentially a versatile culinary product.

And all because it can be adapted to any occasion and style of celebration: decorated with a shoe or a crown for a girl, placed on top or for a boy.

In any of the design options, the Pillow cake will look solemn and quite festive. Moreover, try to start working with mastic with this particular dessert format if you don’t have much skill in culinary decorations.

The Japanese have always been distinguished by extraordinary inventions and extravagant inventions. It’s the same story with pillows, when they were touched by the “hands” of Japan. The very first extravagant request and its recreation was a pillow in the shape of a male torso, of course, without a head, but with one arm. This fiction has made single people a little happier and calmer, as they can sleep more comfortably.

If the masters of pillow making satisfied women who love to sleep on a man’s shoulder, they also created an exclusive for men: a pillow in the shape of a female part of the body, covered with a skirt.

For sleepyheads - people who find it very difficult and painful to wake up in the morning, technologists have invented an alarm clock pillow. Believe me, such a pillow will not let you sleep until it “feels” that you have gotten up from it.

Ingredients

biscuit or other cakes

cream for cake layer

powdered sugar

cream for leveling the surface of the cake

Inventory

parchment

knife with raised teeth or grater

cake stand or plate for assembly

Smooth surface

figured print

curly wheel

elevated stand

student ruler

How to assemble a pillow cake

So, first, let’s stock up on shortcakes or biscuits to assemble the sweet delicacy.

We will use sponge cakes, since they will be the easiest to assemble and cut into the shape of a fluffy pillow.

It is permissible to adjust the outlines of the layers of the future pillow by eye, but it is better to use a template.

You can make a simple template from ordinary baking paper or other paper.

Cut out the shortcakes according to the template. We collect them, coating them with our favorite cream.

We save the biscuit scraps - we will also need them to give fluffiness to the pillow.

At this stage, we have a fold with angular outlines, which from a distance resembles the outlines of a pillow.

We need to smooth out the corners. To do this, we use an ordinary kitchen knife, cutting off the protruding excess.

We remove not only the corners, but also bevel the top crust to make it round.

We give roundness to the “pillow”

This is what the partially cut top will look like.

Now we would use sandpaper if we were working with wood. For the biscuit, we find our favorite knife for slicing baked goods (with a textured blade), and, as it were, “lick” all the angular parts with the tool.

As you can see, this cleaning of the corners and sides of the cake gives it even more splendor and roundness.

This is how the cushion blank looks from above.

We should do the same manipulations to smooth out the corners and surface on the reverse side.

We carefully turn the cake upside down and begin to process the dessert from all sides: first we cut off the angularities with a knife, and then we clean the surface with a relief blade of a kitchen appliance.

This is such a cute little cake preparation.

Now we can actually see the real outlines of the future dessert.

How to make a Cake Pillow with fondant

We have a sponge cake in the shape of a pillow ready. We should coat the surface with either mastic in order to “envelop” the dessert neatly and without jams.

If your cream is successful, then immediately place it on a biscuit pad and level the surface.

If the leveling cream turns out to be runny, use crumbs made from sponge cake scraps. Just mix the biscuit crushed in a blender into the cream.

Sponge cushion covered with smoothing cream

For now, you can not turn the cake over, but carefully align the barrels.

Roll out our mastic dough. We cut its sides approximately according to the silhouette of the pillow. We just take into account that we need to wrap the sides up to half the thickness of the dessert, so the size of the rolled out mastic should be almost twice the size of the cake.

We carefully smooth out surface unevenness, and cut off excess mastic on the sides.

It is permissible not to adjust the size of the mastic dough immediately, but to place the biscuit base on a stand, for example, on a jar, and “cover” it with a mastic pancake of a random size after rolling out. Trim excess by weight.

This side of the cake will be our bottom part.

Additionally, for decoration, you can make an imprint using a figured board.

And draw the lines with a curly wheel, which can be seen in the example of making the Pillow cake in a different color.

The impression itself is made under a ruler. We get something like this.

Let's return to our preparation.

Now we would need to turn the biscuit product over to cover it with mastic on the other side as well. Or rather, the second side will already be the front side - elegant.

But we will need more effort to prevent the cake from falling onto its side. You can secure the base of the dessert using a homemade backing, which we stick to the back side.

We can fix the substrate using invert syrup, honey or other sticky edible substance.

Glue the base directly onto the mastic coating.

We turn over the biscuit product, which is now permanently installed without the risk of falling onto its side.

We cover the second (already front) side of the sponge cake with leveling cream and mastic dough.

In fact, the dessert is ready, it just requires aesthetic decoration.

To make the joints aesthetically pleasing, it is permissible to use edible sugar beads (beads) and tassels. You can make them yourself with your own hands from mastic and paint them with food coloring in the desired shade.

In the new book by the famous Israeli animator and popularizer of plasticine modeling, Roni Oren, the figures are sculpted in the same way as in, but now they are made from sugar mastic and decorate homemade cakes. If you have been looking at how custom cakes are made and decorated for a long time - wedding, birthday, children's - it's time to master decorating cakes using sugar mastic. We offer a detailed master class for beginners.

How to work with sugar mastic?

Sugar mastic is a product from which you can sculpt, just like plasticine. But unlike plasticine, mastic tends to dry quickly in the open air, so it must be stored in a closed container, first placed in a sealed bag, or wrapped in cling film. When you work with mastic, separate the part you need and put the rest back in the bag.

Storage. It is advisable not to put the mastic in the refrigerator, as it absorbs moisture and becomes sticky. A dry, cool and dark place is ideal for storing sugar mastic. The shelf life of store-bought mastic is indicated on the packaging.

When working with mastic, you must be careful of water. Upon contact with water, the mastic dissolves and leaves stains and marks on the coating and on the figures.

How to paint sugar mastic? Using dyes that have a paste or gel consistency. Do not use liquid dyes!

1. Knead the mastic thoroughly until it has a soft, elastic texture and make a small well in the center.
2. Using a toothpick, take a small amount of dye and apply it to the hole.

Important! You cannot use the same toothpick twice. It is necessary to change the toothpick every time, even when working with one color, this will preserve the quality of the dye for a long time.

1. Close the hole and begin kneading in the following way. For uniform color: Roll into a ball and knead until the color is uniform.

The birth of a child is one of the happiest moments that many people experience in their lives. You can do something nice during this joyful period, as well as on your child’s birthday, with an original cake decorated with appropriate attributes and memorable numbers.

In this article I will describe how to decorate a cake for the birth of a boy. All decorative elements are made simply. True, in order for the cake to be decorated with a baby figurine, it is advisable to purchase a special silicone mold of a sleeping baby, or try to mold it yourself.

First you need to bake the cake according to the chosen recipe. I have a sponge cake, spread between the layers and on top of them. We put the cake in the refrigerator to cool and harden, and we begin to sculpt the figures. I used .

Mastic cradle

It is very easy to make a cradle from mastic. I chose two light colors that were in harmony with each other.

First, let's sculpt the top of the cradle. We roll out a layer of mastic about 3 mm thick. I work on oilcloth so that the mastic does not stick to the work surface. We take a suitable spherical object - for me it’s a lid from a glass with toothpicks. We cover it with cellophane, and on top of the cellophane with a rolled out layer of mastic, after which we cut off the excess. Let the part dry and harden.

Next, we sculpt an oval about 1 cm thick - this will be the bottom of the cradle made of mastic of the same color as the top. The circumference of the oval should correspond to the inner diameter of the top.

We fit the top to the bottom.

Next, cut out a ribbon from rolled out mastic of a different color. I cut it out using a shaped pizza cutter. but you can use a special one. The width of the tape should be this. so that it creates a side of the cradle, while covering the lower part.

We wrap the ribbon around the bottom of the cradle. You need to connect the ribbon behind the top of the cradle - the junction can be decorated with flowers later.

The edge of the top is also decorated with a ribbon.

We decorate the joints with flowers cut out of mastic using suitable cuttings.

We put a mastic baby in the cradle, putting panties with flowers on him.

Clock made of mastic

For this cake, I made the simplest clock from mastic, similar to Soviet alarm clocks. It is also made from two colors. The lower part is 1 cm thick. The time of birth of the baby will be written on the alarm clock.

Mastic calendar

A mastic calendar is also very easy to make - this can be seen in the photo. For the effect, I made an upper, slightly bent leaf from a thin layer, and the design was made from mastic of a different color. My calendar itself is also about 1 cm thick. The baby’s date of birth will be written on the mastic calendar.

Weight made from mastic

A mastic weight is made from a ball onto which a handle is attached. To ensure that the weight matches the overall composition, we decorate it with a circle of a different color. The baby's weight will be indicated on the weight.

Mastic measuring tape

A mastic measuring tape is made in the form of a tape cut from rolled out mastic, which is twisted at one end.

When all the attributes are ready, we begin assembling the cake.

Roll out the mastic into a layer about 3 mm thick. we pass over it with a special embossed rolling pin, leaving a beautiful pattern on the surface. Cut out a circle and place it on the cake.

Next, cut out a crescent from mastic of a different color and apply it to the circle. We place the finished figures on the cake in random order. Later I thought that the cradle could have been placed half a turn towards the center of the overall composition, so that the baby could be seen looking directly at the cake.