Even a simple cake will turn mastic into a confectionery masterpiece. You can create any decoration from it. Everyone can master the basics of working with mastic - it's not difficult. From the article you will learn how easy it is to make mastic with your own hands, how to cover a cake with it, and what is the difference between the types of mastic.

Covering or decorating a cake with mastic is an easy way to turn ordinary baked goods into a confectionery masterpiece. You can buy mastic or make it yourself. You can get basic skills in the art of working with mastic mass using master classes with photos and videos.

Ready-made sugar mastic is always available in the online store Supermarket for confectioners in this section. You can buy online products made in England, the Netherlands, Turkey and other countries. Available in the sale of both "basic" white mastic, and colored. The price of packing colored mastic is about 240 rubles.

This mastic for professionals and novice confectioners has all the necessary properties:

• homogeneous;
• stretches well, does not crumble;
• with neutral sweet taste or with different flavors.

In addition, you can immediately purchase exactly the type of mastic that is best suited for your purposes. There are three categories:

• universal;
• for covering;
• for modeling.

If you want to try to make a plastic mass with your own hands, then this is also possible.

Mastic at home

First, determine for what purpose you need to make mastic. To cover cakes, dairy (based on dry or condensed milk), chocolate and marshmallow mastic are suitable. To create figurines - chocolate, sugar and marshmallows.

Mastic at home from marshmallows is the most popular and simple recipe. If you follow all the steps step by step, then you will get an almost universal mass.

In total, four components are needed - marshmallows (100 gr.), Powdered sugar (250 gr.), A little citric acid and water.

• Put the marshmallow in a bowl, add a pinch of citric acid diluted in a tablespoon of water.
• Microwave the bowl at maximum power. The marshmallow should melt well.
• Begin to mix the icing sugar into the mass. Work like a dough - the mastic should be smooth and elastic.
• Roll the finished lump in powdered sugar, wrap in foil and refrigerate for half an hour. Then you can start the cake decorating process!

This tasty and simple cake paste can be easily dyed with food coloring. There are two ways to add color to the mass:

• add dye while stirring - this is how you get delicate shades;
• paint a ready-made cake or figurine. The color will be brighter, you can combine tones and paint complex decorations. But be sure to let the surface dry!

Another type of mastic designed for sculpting jewelry and figurines is gelatinous. She is snow-white, quickly freezes. It is good to sculpt trees, bridges from it. You will need:

• 0.5 tsp gelatin (2 grams),
• 2 tsp water (10 ml.)
• 100 g icing sugar
• a couple of drops of lemon juice.

It is necessary to let the gelatin swell in water, then melt it in a water bath. After dissolving, add the powder little by little, kneading like a dough. Make sure that the mass does not become too thick - if it begins to crack, add lemon juice.

Working with mastic

Working with mastic is not as difficult a process as it might seem. You just need to consider a few important rules.

• If you are making your own mastic, use good quality icing sugar. It should be without grains - because of the sugar crystals, the mastic layer will break.
• To glue the fondant decoration to the cake, moisten the desired part of the surface. Parts of the assembled figures can be glued together with egg white.
• Large figures need to be made in advance and allowed to dry.
• After drying, complex and voluminous flowers should be stored in the refrigerator, and glued shortly before serving the cake on the table. Otherwise, they will absorb moisture from the air and may lose their shape.
• To make the surface shiny, brush the cake with vodka 10-20 minutes before serving. The alcohol will fade quickly and the cake will be shiny.
• Dry and gel dyes are best suited for staining.
• It is easy to color the mastic at the kneading stage if you roll it into a ball and make a depression in the center. The dye is applied with a toothpick. Then knead.

Do not tackle complex shapes and figures right away: wrap a round cake, make simple flowers or decorations cut using forms.

The nuances of working with mastic for cakes

If you want to cover the cake with mastic, you must first prepare the surface of the product. Chocolate ganache, butter or caramel cream, marzipan are suitable for mastic. Such a "layer" will help the mastic to maintain its shape: it "floats" from moisture, so it cannot be applied to cakes with impregnation or sour cream.

Sometimes it is advised to cover the top cake and sides with apricot jam. But in this case, the mastic "wrapper" of the cake will swell from moisture.

A few more tips:

• Pre-level the surface: apply the cream, smooth it with a spatula, let it harden in the refrigerator, and then check that the layer is even. The mastic will not hide irregularities.
• It is better not to store the finished cake in the refrigerator for a long time. If you pulled out the product, and it is covered with microdroplets of water - do not wash it, let it evaporate by itself. Otherwise, stains will remain on the mastic.
• Do not roll the mass too thin. The ideal thickness is 3-4 mm. Sprinkle the table or board with powder or starch. A silicone mat will also work well.

Making cake mastic is easier with a few useful tools. These include:

• perfectly smooth rolling pin;
• leveling iron;
• rotating stand;
• roller for trimming the edges.

All this can be bought in the section "for mastic and marzipan" on the website of the online store Supermarket for pastry chefs.

Decorating a cake with mastic - how to make

There is no need to rush to make a fondant cake - simple or complex. Then even a novice pastry chef will be able to make his own little masterpiece. The algorithm for a simple wrapping cake looks like this:

• roll out a circle of mastic. The diameter of the circle should be about two times the height of the cake plus its diameter. Add to this a couple of centimeters for trimming;
• wind the mass on a rolling pin and transfer to the cake;
• smooth the top with an iron, being careful not to stretch the mass. Then smooth the corners;
• gently flatten the sides, removing wrinkles. Run the iron on the surface;
• cut off the excess with a roller.

On average, a cake with a diameter of 15 cm and a height of 10 will require a pound of mastic. And for large ones with a diameter of 35 cm - two kilograms.

If you have not calculated and there are bubbles left on the surface, then you can get rid of them by lifting the edge of the layer and laying it down again. If you have leveled the top and moved to the sides, you do not need to return to it and smooth it down further, because the mastic will stretch.

Decorating the cake with mastic can be done using prepared circles exactly in the diameter of the cake and ribbons of a contrasting color for the sides.

A textured surface is easy to create with tongs. Pastry tongs, like tweezers, "grab" a piece of mastic and pinch it. This device can be used to make geometric ornaments, leaves, hearts.

Ideas for decorating cakes from mastic

Mastic decorations can be used to decorate cakes of any size. Elements from this mass go well with sugar beads or pearls, sprinkles and other confectionery decor.

An elegant and simple option is to cover the cake with elongated pearlescent triangles. The elements need to be layered on top of each other to get the effect of gathering on the fabric. Several large sugar beads can be placed in the center.

A very effective decoration for mastic cakes is the use of figures cut out with cookie cutters. Snowflakes, hearts, leaves look good on a contrasting background.

Delicate and very romantic decor - multi-colored "skirts" made of mastic on the sides of the cake. You need to cut ribbons, carefully make "assemblies" with a wooden knitting needle or sticks and stick on the cake. For a more secure attachment, you can use needles or pins - when the decoration is dry, they can be easily removed. Additionally, you can cut mastic bows.

Mastic of different colors can be used to make “marble” or “zebra-like” decor: contrasting ribbons, thin ribbons should be placed on a mastic circle, and then rolled out until smooth.

Fondant cake secrets for beginners

The best cakes for a mastic-coated cake are biscuit, but there are recipes that allow you to use both shortbread and even soufflé. However, if you want to make a soufflé cake, there should be biscuit layers on top and bottom. Otherwise, the mastic will flow and the cake will lose its shape.

The basic option for a biscuit is a dough made from eggs, sugar, flour and butter. The proportions vary depending on the recipe. The cake sandwiched with the selected cream must be removed in the refrigerator for impregnation. You can even press it down from above with a press - so that it takes shape.

Then you need to cut the sides to make it easier to cover with mastic. If the cake is composed of several parts, you need to make the desired shape. For convex elements, you can make a mixture of biscuit crumbs and cream for mastic. It is also easy to mask irregularities with it.

A simple recipe for cream - from butter and condensed milk. Beat a pack of butter with a mixer until a white mass is obtained and add half a can of condensed milk. Whisk again. Spread the cream over the cake and put it in the refrigerator. Then smooth out the irregularities with a heated dry spatula.

You can start wrapping the cake with mastic!

On a cake made of mastic for beginners, you can apply any drawing or inscription using a stencil and a special dye or food markers.

Simple flowers are made using cups and other containers of different diameters: circles are cut out, and then the flower is collected.

Simple mastic cake, basic recipe

If you want to make a cake quickly, then the easiest option is to use ready-made cakes. Next, you need to "assemble" the product:

"Internal" cream, which sandwich the cakes, you can take almost any to your taste, for example, creamy, custard, butter.

• To make the cake tastier, layers can be additionally laid with dried fruits, fresh fruits that do not soak, or alternate cream and sour jam;
• The top layer is covered with butter cream.
• An even easier option is to use ready-made chocolate paste. It needs to be slightly heated so that it spreads better, and then cool the cake in the refrigerator.
• You need to cover the finished cake with mastic as usual. If the excess weight was cut unevenly, the bottom edge of the cake can be decorated with bumpers or cut openwork ribbons.

This is the simplest mastic cake, a basic recipe - you can even make it with children who like to sculpt from a pliable mass, like from plasticine.

V Supermarket for pastry chef you can buy felt-tip pens for painting on mastic, tools for creating flowers and figures, ready-made sweet flowers and much more. You can make your little confectionery masterpiece in just a few hours.

Confectionery mastic is a sweet mass that is used to cover pastries, cakes and other confectionery products. Its main task is to make the dessert beautiful, appetizing and even unique. For young housewives, a recipe for even the most unpretentious pastry mastic will allow you to hide cooking oversights: not too fluffy cakes, or cream of the wrong color as originally intended.

From this sticky mass, the most diverse types of jewelry are obtained, starting with classic roses and leaves, and ending with cartoon characters and full-fledged pictures from life.

Chewing marshmallow mastic

This is the most common way to make plastic and pliable confectionery mastic at home.

It will require the following grocery kit:

• 250 g chewable marshmallows;
• 50 ml of purified water;
• powdered sugar - to taste;
• food coloring.

Please note that when swelling, marshmallows are able to increase their primary volume a couple of times. Because of this, the process of its preparation must take place in an appropriate container. Purified water is added to it, and everything is placed in the microwave for a maximum of half an hour.

Dye and sugar powder are added to the dissolved marshmallow, after which the mass is kneaded for a long time with a wooden spatula until it acquires the desired consistency. Do not overdo it with sweets, otherwise the mastic will become hard and cloying.

The finished product is divided into balls, which are cooled in a refrigerator for half an hour. Then they are rolled out in thin layers, and they tighten the surface or tops of the cakes, sculpt decorations, and so on.

Remember that hand-made pastry mastic does not fit well on a jelly or sour cream base, as well as on whipped cream. But for or a fruit surface, it is ideal.

Marshmallow mastic

The recipe for making such a pastry mastic requires the following ingredients:

1. for syrup:

• 350 g sugar;
• 2 g lemons;
• 2 g of baking soda;
• half a glass of water.

1. for the marshmallow itself:

• a couple of glasses of sugar;
• glass of water;
• salt (pinch);
• 25 g of instant gelatin.

Initially, you need to make a syrup, for which all its ingredients (except for soda) are sent to a saucepan and boiled under a covered lid for 45 minutes.

All this time, the sweet liquid must be stirred. At the end, the mixture is cooled, soda is added to it and wait another quarter of an hour.

The marshmallow recipe looks like this:

• Gelatin is poured into 125 ml of purified water, after which it must be allowed to swell;
• Sugar is poured another 125 ml of water, 150 g of the finished syrup is added there. The composition is boiled over low heat for 7 minutes;
• Gelatin is poured into a deep container and whipped. It is advisable to do this with a mixer. Then sugar-syrup liquid is poured into the same place, and everything is whipped again until the final mass acquires a given density and becomes completely white;
• If the product is used immediately, powdered sugar is immediately added to it. As a result, a plastic mass should come out.

Milk mastic

The recipe for soft and milk confectionery mastic for decorating cakes implies the presence of the following products:

• 250 g of condensed milk;
• tsp cognac;
• lemon juice, in the amount of 2 tsp
• 150 g powdered sugar;
• 150 g milk powder.

At home, all this is combined and prepared as follows:

• The powder is mixed with milk powder;
• Condensed milk is added to the dry mixture, and everything is kneaded until smooth;
• During kneading, lemon juice and alcohol are added.

Everything, the mass for modeling is ready, and in the conditions of the house it can be applied literally immediately. If you need it later, just wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator. You can give the mastic the desired color as follows: divide it into balls, add food coloring to each, and mix everything one by one.

Gelatin based mastic

With your inexperienced hands, you can really make the following decoration for homemade confectionery and baking:

• kg of powdered sugar;
• 55 g of gelatin;
• 100 g corn syrup;
• 3 tbsp purified water;
• 1.5 tbsp. l. edible glycerin;
• vanilla (pinch);
• dye;
• half a cup of corn starch.

To cover the cake with gelatin-based mastic, you must follow the following algorithm of actions:

• Pour gelatin with purified and slightly warmed water, mix well and send to a water bath until completely dissolved;
• The lukewarm gelatinous mass is filled with corn syrup, vanilla and glycerin;
• Then half of the total volume of powdered sugar is poured there, and the workpiece is mixed with a mixer;
• As soon as the composition is well mixed, it should be laid out on the table, sprinkled with the remaining powdered sugar, and kneaded again to the required state;
• The mass is divided into balls, each of which is wrapped in food grade polyethylene and sent to the refrigerator for 8-9 hours.

Only after all these actions, the final product can be painted and used for its intended purpose.

Before figuring out how to make cake mastic, you need to remember what it is all about. Mastic is used to decorate cakes; different figures are made from it. The composition of the mastic for the cake necessarily includes powdered sugar, and depending on the recipe, the remaining ingredients are added. So there is a recipe for making mastic for a cake with gelatin, milk, and even marshmallow. Interested in how to make cake mastic with these ingredients? Let's tell you now.

How to make milk cake paste?

We make milk paste for the cake from condensed milk, add cognac as desired. Figurines made of milk paste will be soft and edible.

Ingredients:

• powdered milk - 160 g;
• condensed milk - 200 g;
• icing sugar - 160 g;
• lemon juice - 2 tsp;
• cognac - 1 tsp;
• food colorings.

Preparation

Sift the icing sugar and powdered milk and pour it on the table in a slide. Slowly pour condensed milk into the middle, kneading the mastic. Knead it until the mastic becomes homogeneous and elastic. If the mastic sticks to your hands, add a little more powdered sugar. If the mastic begins to crumble, then add a little lemon juice to the mass. If desired, the mastic can be tinted with food coloring. To do this, add a few drops of food coloring to the required volume of mastic. It is better to use the finished mastic immediately, but if there is a need to use it the next day, then we wrap it in plastic and put it in the refrigerator.

How to make gelatin cake mastic?

The gelatinous mastic turns out to be tough, it will be problematic to eat it, but the figures will turn out to be very clear.

Ingredients:

• water - 55 ml;
• gelatin - 10 g;
• icing sugar - 600 g;
• lemon juice - 2 tsp;
• food colorings.

Preparation

Soak gelatin in cold water to swell. Then we put it on the stove so that the gelatin dissolves. We do not allow boiling, otherwise the mastic will not work - the gelatin will lose its properties, burn and acquire an unpleasant odor. Sift the powdered sugar and pour it on the table with a slide, if the portion of the mastic is large, then it is better to knead in a bowl. We make a depression in the middle of the slide and pour gelatin there. Knead the mastic and add lemon juice if it crumbles or powdered sugar if the mastic is sticky. Having painted in different colors with the help of food dyes, cover the cake with mastic or wrap it in plastic and put it in the refrigerator.

How to make marshmallow cake mastic?

Ingredients:

• icing sugar - 350 g;
• marshmallow - 170 g;
• dry cream - 80 g;
• lemon juice - 1 tbsp spoon;
• vanillin - on the tip of a knife.

Preparation

If you want to get a colored mastic, then you can take a multi-colored marshmallow and make mastic alternately with marshmallows of each color. Although you can tint the finished mastic with food coloring.

Crumble the marshmallows and heat them in the microwave for 30 seconds (you can do this in a water bath, but it will take longer). Knead the warmed marshmallow with a spoon. We mix dry cream, icing sugar and vanillin. Pour this mixture in small portions to the mashed marshmallow and knead the mastic. Pour in the mixture until the mastic becomes elastic and does not stop sticking to your hands.

How to make mastic for the cake is now clear, it remains to figure out how to cover this very cake with mastic.

1. First you need to roll out the mastic. To do this, sprinkle the table with corn flour or powdered sugar. We roll out the mastic with a rolling pin, pouring powder on the table so that the mastic does not stick.
2. How much mastic do you need for a cake? We take into account that the mastic will cover not only the top of the cake, but also its sides. Make a circle of mastic a little more than necessary - then you can cut it off too much later. For example, for a cake 6 cm high and 25 cm in diameter, you will need a mastic cake with a diameter of about 40 cm.
3. Gently press the mastic to the surface of the cake with our palms, trying not to touch it with your fingers - the prints will remain. Mastic cannot be applied to freshly impregnated cakes - it will melt. There should be some kind of layer between the water and the mastic, dry cake or butter cream.
4. Cut off the excess mastic with a knife.

One recipe for a dish can be passed down from generation to generation ad infinitum. For example, cakes and how to decorate them. The hostesses strive not only to amaze guests with the excellent taste of baked goods, but also want to give them an aesthetic look.

They are no longer interested in simply sprinkling cakes with chocolate or coconut chips, or making inscriptions with icing. At home, they manage to prepare a decoration - cake mastic. Thanks to the plasticity of the pasta, the hostesses manage to make the dessert a true work of culinary art.

Mastic is a paste used for modeling confectionery. It is easy to use, as from plasticine you can mold various figures, flowers, inscriptions from it. A variety of color shades allow you to turn an ordinary dessert into a fabulous sight at home.

Not a single person will refuse such a cake. The result of working with mastic can come as a surprise even for the hostess herself, because it is not so easy to restrain the creative impulse and imagination.

Mastic - features of choice

There are three types of mastic: sugar, Mexican and floral. The first one is the most popular among pastry chefs; it is covered with cakes, cakes and gingerbread. Sugar mastic is also used to form the figurines that decorate the cakes.

Another type is flower mastic. As the name implies, it is used for special decorations. The consistency of the paste is perfect for sculpting thin petals.

The plasticity of such a mastic is due to the content of a special thickener in it, in addition, the figured ornaments from it dry quickly and perfectly keep the originally created shape.

Mexican mastic is used to sculpt small jewelry. It contains quite a bit of thickener so that you can slowly create any subtle details.

Homemade cake mastic can be either white or any other color. If you want to save money, stop at the first option, and only then add food coloring and get a multi-colored paste.

It is important not to overdo it with the amount of dyes, otherwise the mastic will become unsuitable for further use, because it will tear and crumble when it hardens.

Homemade mastic recipe for cake modeling

The basic rules for making pasta for decorating a cake are most likely unknown to you. Therefore, I want to dwell on them in more detail:

1. To prevent the mastic from tearing, use powdered sugar in your work. When grinding sugar in a coffee grinder, you need to sift the resulting product through a very fine sieve.
2. Pay attention to the consistency when mixing the paste. Do not allow excesses a large number of dye or powdered sugar will rupture the mastic.
3. If the mastic sticks to your hands during mixing, give it time to rest in a cold place.
4. The cake decorating paste lasts for about four months in the freezer.

And now we will learn how to form some types of mastics at home. Difficulties in the process of work should not arise. If you read each recipe carefully, you will get the job done very quickly.

It is used for sculpting flower buds, leaves, figurines. Ingredients:

half a kilo of powdered sugar; a teaspoon of lemon juice and granulated gelatin; 4 tbsp. spoons of water and vanilla extract

Cooking steps:

1. Pour gelatin with cool water and let it swell for a quarter of an hour.
2. Place the dishes in a water bath and wait for the gelatin to completely dissolve.
3. Add lemon juice with vanilla, then add powdered sugar.

When kneading the paste, be careful not to get too tight. Otherwise, you will get a problem in the form of constant crumbling of the paste.

Homemade Milk Flavored Mastic Recipe

Homemade mastic has a pleasant smell of condensed milk; it is often used to cover dessert flour products.

Take:

170 g condensed milk; 160 g icing sugar; 160 g of powdered milk (it is allowed to replace with dry infant formula); a teaspoon of fresh lemon juice

Combine loose ingredients in a bowl, add lemon juice and condensed milk. Stir until you get the mass ready to use.

This homemade mastic is great for sculpting small figures and wrapping cakes.

You need products:

160 g each of milk powder and powdered sugar; 10 ml fresh lemon and 200 g condensed milk

The preparation of the pasta is reduced to mixing all the components in one bowl. First, pour milk powder and powder into a bowl, and then lemon juice and condensed milk. Stir until the mass is sufficiently elastic.

Unlike sugar mastic, honey mastic is more plastic. You can easily sculpt small details of decoration from it and make a covering of the whole cake (see photo).

To make pasta you will need:

0.9 kg of powdered sugar; 3 tbsp. spoons of water; 175 g honey and 15 g gelatin

• First, soak the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.
• Then add honey and place the mixture in a water bath.
• As soon as it (mixture) becomes liquid, remove it from heat and pour in 800 g of powdered sugar.
• Stir in the paste, gradually adding the rest of the powder.

As a result, you have a plastic mass that does not stick to your hands. The recipe for checking the readiness of the mastic: press your finger on its surface and make sure that the trail does not disappear after a few seconds.

Chocolate mastic recipe for decorating a cake

The preparation of the mastic is based on the use of dark dark chocolate. But there are times when a bar of milk or white chocolate is taken instead.

So attention, required ingredients:

40 ml heavy cream; 90 g marshmallows; 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar; one spoonful of butter and 100 g of dark chocolate

• Another recipe for chocolate mastic involves mixing a hundred-gram bar of dark chocolate and a tablespoon of honey.
• The mass is kneaded for several minutes and then checked for readiness.
• To do this, flatten a small ball between your fingers.
• If the edges remain intact and not torn, then the mastic for the cake is considered ready to use.

You need to purchase:

200 g marshmallows of one shade and half a kilo of powdered sugar

Pour one tablespoon of butter over the candies and microwave. Once the marshmallows have melted, remove the mass and mix well. Gradually add the icing sugar, kneading the mastic until smooth and plastic.

This recipe will come in handy if you need to mold any large durable jewelry elements, for example, a basket handle. This mastic is too tough to eat, but the advantage is that it retains its shape well.

Pastillage, as they call gelatinous mastic, prepared from:

120 g starch; 240 g icing sugar; 60 ml of cold water; a tablespoon with a slide of gelatin; 5 ml fresh lemon and 2 teaspoons of honey

At home, the decoration is prepared as follows:

1. Pour gelatin with cool water and leave to swell for half an hour.
2. Melt the mixture over a fire until liquid and add lemon juice and honey.
3. Mix the powdered sugar and starch and add to the liquid mixture. Knead the mass until plastic.
4. Line the mold with foil and fill with paste.
5. Send the pastilage to the refrigerator and wait a couple of hours until it hardens.

If the mass does not obey you before sculpting, hold it in the microwave for a few seconds.

By learning how to work with flower mastic, you can create delicate flower buds. They will look so much like real flowers that no one among the guests will even realize that you had a hand in this.

To knead a plastic paste at home, you will need:

50 ml of water; 2 dessert spoons of lemon juice; 550 g icing sugar; 10 g gelatin; 10 g carboxymethyl cellulose; 20 g shortening (cooking oil) 4 tbsp. tablespoons of corn syrup; 2 egg whites

Optionally add icing bleach, this will make your mastic super snow white, like in the photo.

Cooking in stages:

1. Pour gelatin with water and let stand for a few minutes.
2. Mix the powdered sugar with bleach and cellulose.
3. Melt the gelatin on the stove, add the cooking oil and corn syrup.
4. Pour the mixture of liquid components into the icing sugar and, using a food processor, turned on at medium speed, mix thoroughly.
5. Turn up the rpm and add the egg whites and lemon juice to the mixture. As soon as the mixture turns white and becomes homogeneous, turn off the machine and remove the mastic from the bowl.
6. Before use, it must be wrapped in foil and kept for 24 hours at room temperature.

The mastic has a limited shelf life of 3 months, provided it is kept in a refrigerator. In the freezer, the pasta can lie longer - up to six months.

If you prudently purchase ready-made biscuit cakes, then it will not take you so much time to prepare a treat.

You will need:

250 g of chocolate paste; 3 large spoons of semolina; 400 ml of milk; a teaspoon of lemon zest; 250 g white sugar; 250 g butter; any fruit

So let's get started:

1. Cook porridge from semolina and milk, cool naturally.
2. Whisk in soft butter with granulated sugar, add lemon zest.
3. By combining the porridge with the creamy mixture, the cream can be considered ready to use.
4. Cut bananas, kiwi or other soft-fleshed fruits into slices or slices.

We collect the cake:

1. Put a sponge cake on a dish and grease it liberally with cream.
2. Make another layer of the banana (as in the photo) and cover with a biscuit.
3. Alternate layers until all ingredients are gone.
4. Do not grease the top layer with cream. Carefully remove the cream that has leaked from the sides with a spoon.
5. Spread the chocolate paste over the entire surface of the cake immediately. First you need to melt it slightly by placing it in the microwave.
6. Apply the paste with a wide-bladed knife, smooth the surface at the end and let it freeze in the refrigerator.
7. Now dip the knife in hot water and make the surface perfectly smooth. The cake is now completely ready to be coated with mastic.

When starting a cake for a children's party, choose the appropriate decorations. Boys will love the dessert with colorful cars, girls will be delighted with the cake with flowers sculpted from mastic.

Now that you already know how mastic for a beautiful decoration is prepared with your own hands, I hope it will not be difficult for you to put your knowledge into practice.

Powdered sugar dough became known in Russia relatively recently. Smooth, shiny, elastic, colored, white, cream - all this is about her, about mastic. It is used both as a base coating for a cake and for sculpting sweet decorative elements of confectionery products - delicious, light and beautiful decorations.

Graceful lilies, roses, tulips, garlands of leaves, bunches of grapes, and handmade figurines of animals and people help to turn an ordinary homemade sweet treat into a unique piece of culinary art.

Confectionery, decorated with elements sculpted from sugar clay, look solemn, amaze with the purity and grace of lines. This is especially true for wedding, anniversary cakes, sweet gifts for birthdays.

How to make mastic at home?

Anyone can make sugar dough, even a person who has no culinary education. Easy homemade recipes for novice pastry chefs will give you the same good results as professionals. Accurate adherence to the recipe and the correct implementation of step-by-step instructions in this case is imperative.

Correctly prepared mastic is very similar to plasticine in consistency and properties.

It can be of two main types: light, soft, elastic or more dense, elastic. The choice of option depends on what it will be used for.

Elastic mastic mass is well suited for covering a cake, it is denser, hardens quickly, can be used to make sweet figurines, flowers, beads. It is only necessary to remember that the end result is directly related to the quantitative ratio of the two basic ingredients that are the basis of the sweet mass - powdered sugar and liquid (water, milk).

Before you start preparing the dough, you need to sift the powder very carefully. The resulting confectionery mass should be free of large, solid particles, since when rolling or at the time of stretching the mastic cloth over the surface of the cake, they can lead to the appearance of irregularities, roughness or rupture of the dough.

At the last stage, the sweet confectionery mass is kneaded by hand. By how sticky the mixture is, you can judge the readiness of the mastic dough. If everything is done correctly, then its consistency will not be liquid, the confectionery mass should not stick to the hands and be well processed.

Some housewives, in order to prevent the confectionery mass from sticking to the work surfaces, do not wipe them big amount vegetable or butter. For the same purpose, food glycerin, potato or corn starch dusting, powder can be used.

A homogeneous, elastic mixture that does not stick to hands, ideal for creating a glossy coating on the biscuit base of cakes, biscuits.

If you want to get the perfect appearance of sweet pastries by pouring the product, you just need to reduce the amount of sugar in the selected recipe.

As a result, the mastic mass will be liquid, capable of spreading over the surface of the sweet treat. To sculpt high-quality decorations, the finished dough must be quite dense, keep its shape well, and dry quickly.

To do this, select and use such recipes, which include gelatin, or add more powder to the dough during the preparation process.

In the course of making the mastic base, you can use traditional culinary tools: a whisk, a fine sieve, a rolling pin, cutting boards, cookie cutters, a mixer, and a food processor. If culinary clay is one of the main materials for creating jewelry, decorating confectionery and is used regularly, it is recommended to purchase a plastic rolling pin, silicone rugs with markings applied to them. Tools for sculpting figures, flowers, silicone molds and stencils will be useful in the work.

A few secrets for working with mastic in the video:

Colored and shiny

Sweet, elastic dough from natural, basic elements turns out to be white, light beige, cream.

Decorations on desserts with the help of natural or artificial dyes will become bright, multi-colored, similar to real animals, like natural flowers, mother-of-pearls, shiny water droplets.

Both have advantages and disadvantages. Natural dyes are obtained by squeezing juice from mashed beets, carrots, cherries, cranberries, raspberries, blackberries.

A wide variety of vegetables and fruits can be used. When using natural, natural dyes, you should definitely remember that the taste of the prepared mastic mass will change from neutral sweet or vanilla to that which will bring a vegetable or fruit into the product, from the juice of which the coloring pigment was obtained.

The advantage of artificial dyes is that they impart a richer, more durable color to the finished product compared to natural dyes. The resulting decorative elements can compete with the original real objects in brightness of colors.

You should also pay attention to the fact that all natural dyes are juices, that is, an additional liquid to the volume that must be taken according to the recipe. This fact must be taken into account, since the dough can turn out to be liquid.

To avoid this, to achieve sufficient elasticity and density, it is necessary after staining to add a certain amount of powder or reduce the initial volume of water or milk.

Natural dyes table:

If you want sweet dough or decorative figures made of mastic to acquire a mirror gloss, shine, confectioners use honey diluted with vodka. The mixing ratio should be 1: 1.

A layer stretched over the surface of the dessert or sculpted figures must be carefully greased with the resulting mixture using a soft brush. A few minutes later, the alcohol will evaporate, and the product will acquire the desired gloss.

Decorations will also become shiny from the use of solutions of sugar syrup and food glycerin mixed in equal proportions.

How to make a cake cover?

Before you start working with plastic pastry dough, the finished mastic mass must be left in the refrigerator for an hour and a half.

To prevent the dough from drying out, it should be wrapped in a thin plastic wrap or placed in an airtight container. The ready-to-use mass is rolled out with a rolling pin.

To use sweet dough as a cake coating, the finished layer should be about five millimeters thick. You can use a rolling pin to cover the cake with a mastic layer. The elastic mass is distributed over the surface, dropping to the edges. The excess dough is cut in a circle (see photo). For convenience, you can use a round pizza knife.

It should be remembered that the mastic coating should be applied only after preliminary preparation of the cake surface.

First of all, it shouldn't be warm. It is advisable to bake cake cakes, cookies or muffins in advance, to level the surface.

If necessary, cover it with a cream, marzipan or some other base, then leave to set in the refrigerator. Only then can the coating be used. If this is not done, the sugar layer may begin to melt and blur when it touches the damp or warm surface of the dessert.

Figures from mastic

Sweet pastry clay is an ideal material from which you can create both flat figures and volumetric decorative ornaments. Figures can be made using special molds, or you can remember your childhood, rely on your creativity and imagination.

Figures for pastry baking, cupcakes, cookies can be sculpted, or can be made from individual elements. Flowers with rounded, elongated and carved petals are created by connecting elements to each other using whipped protein, or by wetting their surfaces with water.

It is recommended to prepare all elements for decoration in advance, as they need some time to harden. To speed up this process, you can use a mastic on gelatin. To prepare it, pour one teaspoon of gelatin with forty grams of water. After the gelatin swells, heat the solution without boiling. Then add a little lemon juice (0.5 teaspoon) and the necessary coloring. Sprinkle the sifted powder (100 g) in small portions. You need to knead the mastic until the consistency of plasticine. After a few hours in the refrigerator, the mastic clay is ready and you can start creating.

Ready-made jewelry in sealed packaging can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two months.

Video tutorial with step-by-step instructions for creating roses:

Photo collection with ideas for jewelry from figurines:

Homemade recipes for decorating cakes

To create a decor, you can choose such a recipe, using which the taste and color of the finished decorations will be most harmoniously combined with the base of the cake and its fillings. The basis of any mastic dough is powdered sugar and the base component, according to which the recipe gets its name.

Sugar

Correctly prepared according to this recipe, mastic can be used to sculpt figures, flowers and other decorative ornaments.

To prepare it you need:

• powdered sugar - 500 g;
• water - 60 ml.;
• gelatin - 1 tsp;
• lemon juice - 1 tsp;
• vanillin.

Dissolve gelatin in water, then heat in a water bath, not bringing to the boiling point. Add lemon juice, vanillin to the solution. Sprinkle the powder in small portions, knead the dough. The kneading process must be continued until the mastic becomes elastic and begins to peel off from the hands.

Video recipe:

Honey

Ingredients:

• powdered sugar - 900 g;
• honey - 175 g;
• water - 45 ml.;
• gelatin - 15 g.

Pour gelatin powder with water and leave until it swells completely. Add honey to gelatin. Heat the resulting mixture without boiling. Divide the sugar into two equal parts. Pour a mixture of gelatin and honey into one of them. To stir thoroughly. Gradually adding the remaining powder, knead the dough. At the exit, in consistency, it should resemble a marshmallow, be resilient and elastic.

Honey mastic mass is very well suited for wrapping a cake, making decorative elements such as braids, plaits and other types of weaving.

Video recipe:

Dairy

Ingredients:

• powdered sugar - 2 glasses;
• powdered milk - 1 glass;
• condensed milk - 150 g;
• lemon juice - 1 tsp.

Divide the sugar into two parts. Combine one glass with milk powder. While stirring, add condensed milk and lemon juice to the dry mixture. When the mass becomes homogeneous, gradually add the remaining glass of sugar. In consistency, it should turn out to be soft, stick well from the hands. You don't have to strive to use all the powder. The decisive factor here will be the type of mastic and its structure. Cover the mastic with cling film, leave in the refrigerator for one hour.

Video recipe:

Chocolate

Chocolate confectionery clay can be made in two ways:

1. Made from chocolate with the addition of marshmallow and cream.
2. Made from chocolate with honey.

To prepare the chocolate-marshmallow version, you will need the following:

• dark chocolate - 100 g;
• marshmallows (marshmallows) - 100 g;
• icing sugar - 200 g;
• cream (30-40%) - 2 tbsp. l .;
• butter - 1 tbsp l.

Cooking recipe: add marshmallows to melted chocolate. Mix everything thoroughly. Heat in a water bath or microwave until the marshmallow doubles in volume. Into the resulting mass, add cream, butter melted in a microwave oven. The resulting mass should be smooth, shiny, and have a uniform consistency. Next, knead the dough, adding powder in portions. It is necessary to knead until the mass begins to peel off from the hands.

For the manufacture of decorative elements, the pastry dough must be denser. This can be achieved by adding a small amount of additional sugar. Place the workpiece in the refrigerator, having previously wrapped it in a film.

Chocolate mastic option:

It is easier to prepare honey-chocolate mastic.

Two ingredients are required:

• dark chocolate - 200 g;
• honey - 100 g.

In this recipe, keeping the proportions is one of the fundamental points. The ratio of chocolate to honey is strictly observed: 2: 1.

Step by step instructions for preparation: melt into chocolate in a water bath. Stir gently and add honey. Continue to knead, removing from the water bath, until the resulting chocolate-honey dough begins to peel off the walls of the dish. Wrap the confectionery mass in foil, place in the refrigerator for a day. This recipe is perfect for a chocolate cake topping. The sugar mass is very elastic, smooth, shiny.

Marshmallow or marshmallow

The marshmallow base is interesting because it allows you to create a colored cake coating without the addition of dyes. You just need to pick up the marshmallow of the right shade. Interesting to use is this kind of marshmallow, like marshmallows. It is notable for its small size and pleases with a variety of colors.

For cooking you will need:

• marshmallow - 200 g;
• powdered sugar - 500 g;
• butter - 1 tsp.

Detailed instructions: heat the marshmallow with butter in the microwave until the marshmallow is almost completely melted. Stir the mixture. Then sugar is introduced in portions. For kneading at the initial stage, use a silicone spoon, a spatula. The final kneading of the dough is carried out by hand in order to accurately determine the moment when the mastic mass is ready. A good elastic, smooth dough should come off your hands.

Video recipe for marshmallow mastic:

There are other recipes for sugar dough. Which of them to use is up to the master himself. Desire, diligence and strict adherence to the recipe will allow you to achieve success and bring the most daring ideas to life.