Mastic is a confectionery mass based on sugar and thickeners used for decorating cakes. There are many recipes for making mastic at home, all of them are quite simple in execution, they can be used for simple decoration or sculpting beautiful figures for decorating a dessert.

Mastic is used to decorate confectionery, it is a sweet mass based on sugar and other ingredients, which is quite simple to prepare yourself. Bright and beautiful homemade cake mastic is made from natural thickeners with sugar.

There are two main types - gelatinous and milk mastic, each of which has its own composition and method of use. Milk masses are very simple; powdered sugar, ordinary, condensed or powdered milk are used for their manufacture. Such a mass is very plastic, it is easy to work with it, mastic can be used to decorate and sculpt figurines.

Homemade gelatinous mastic takes more time to cook, it is very important to take into account the gelatin hardening time so that the mastic turns out to be elastic and not rigid.

On the basis of these confectionery mastics with the addition of other ingredients, marzipan, protein, chocolate and other types of decorations are produced. The recipe for all of them will be different, in addition, you can use natural dyes, which will give the dessert a brighter, more attractive appearance.

There are several recipes on how to make cake mastic at home. In total, there are two main types - dairy and based on marshmallows (white soufflé), easily dyed in the desired shade.

Ingredients such as chocolate, honey or egg white can be added to the mass. In addition, the mastic masses are separated by appointment for such types as:

• sugar for wrapping a dessert, modeling, sculpting simple figures;
• floral with good plasticity, it rolls out easily, dries quickly, which is used for sculpting flowers, decorations;
• modeling, which dries very slowly, which is used to create complex figures (the mastic is dry on the outside, inside it remains soft for a long time).

The manufacture also takes into account what exactly the mass is used for. For covering, mastic is used with a large amount of thickener, this allows you to get thin and plastic layers. They will not tear, allowing you to create smooth and beautiful dessert surfaces.

For modeling, a mass with a small amount of a thickener is used, which allows the material to retain its plasticity and ductility for a long time. This makes it easy to create beautiful figurines without worrying that the mastic will dry quickly or begin to crumble.

By composition, there are 5 main types of mastic:

• from marshmallows;
• from chocolate;
• protein based;
• milk paste;
• gelatinous composition.

Stylish and beautiful jewelry is made of marshmallow mastic. This will require the following components:

• clean water - 60 milliliters;
• marshmallows (preferably white) - 200 grams;
• any pigment;
• finely ground icing sugar.

The sweets must first be heated in a water bath, then mixed with the rest of the ingredients. The mass is thoroughly mixed, when it ceases to stick to your fingers, you can start modeling the figures. When rolling, it is recommended to lightly sprinkle the surface of the table with powder.

To prepare the mixture need to take:

• very fine powdered sugar - 125 grams;
• dark chocolate - 100 grams bar;
• cream (30% suitable) - 50 milliliters;
• butter - a tablespoon;
• cognac - 10 milliliters.

Heat the chocolate over low heat, then add all the other ingredients, stir thoroughly. Before modeling, the mastic cools slightly, for which it must be wrapped in cling film.

For protein mastic are used ingredients such as:

• fresh protein;
• icing sugar - 500 grams;
• glucose syrup - 2 tablespoons.

Additionally, you can use honey or chocolate, the amount of which is regulated during cooking. Chocolate can be white or dark depending on the purpose. You just need to immediately decide what shade the mass is needed before making flowers or decorations from mastic.

After kneading, the mass is wrapped in a film and put into the refrigerator for two hours. Before sculpting it must be mixed again, you can add a little powder if the mastic sticks to your fingers.

For milk mass are used ingredients such as:

• powdered milk - 160 grams;
• dyes of the required shades;
• cognac - a teaspoon;
• condensed milk - 200 grams;
• powder - 160 grams;
• lemon juice - 2 teaspoons.

All ingredients, except for dyes and lemon juice, are mixed, the mass must be elastic. Then juice and colorants are gradually added.

Milk mastic always has a beige tint, you cannot get white. But with the help of pigments, you can achieve other, bright or pastel, shades that correspond to the idea and future design of the cake.

To obtain a gelatinous mass, you will need ingredients such as:

• gelatin - 10 grams;
• dyes;
• lemon juice - 2 teaspoons;
• powder - 200 grams;
• water - 60 milliliters.

The gelatin is soaked. After it dissolves in water, you need to add the rest of the components, except for the dyes, stir the mass until elastic. Pigments are added to the ready-made mastic. If it is not elastic enough, the amount of lemon juice can be increased.

Features of coloring mastic on a cake

The made mastic can be painted in any color, for which natural dry food and gel dyes are used. In order to give the mass the required shade, a small amount of dye is enough, after which the mass is intensively mixed to give it a uniform, beautiful color.

When using dry compositions, you must first mix the pigment with water (a couple of drops are enough), then stir the resulting paint. It should be added to the mastic drop by drop in different places to ensure uniform coloration.

There is no natural black dye, usually artificial pigments have to be used to obtain the required color.

Rules for working with mastic on a cake

Before making mastic at home and using it to decorate a cake, you need to take into account the peculiarities of working with the mass. This will allow not only to exactly implement all your ideas, but also to make the confection really beautiful, to preserve the beautiful appearance of the dessert for the required period of time.

The main rules for using mastic are the following principles.

1. When using powdered sugar, you must make sure that it is very finely ground, otherwise the mass will begin to break when rolling.
2. Mastic should not be applied to damp surfaces, including cream, as it will dissolve, and the dessert itself will lose its attractive appearance. It is recommended to do this only on marzipan layers or on butter cream, after keeping the dessert in the refrigerator until it solidifies.
3. When sculpting figures, you often have to glue the individual parts together. To do this, slightly moisten the surface, and then fasten the mastic figures together.
4. In the air, the mastic dries up, which is used when sculpting various figures and decorations. But voluminous flowers are best done and placed on the cake at the very end, so that they do not have time to collect moisture from the surrounding air. If this simple rule is not followed, then flowers and petals from mastic can fall off and lose their attractive appearance.
5. Sometimes it happens that condensation emerges from the refrigerator on the surface of the mastic mass. It is very easy to remove it, you need to use a regular cloth or dry the surface with a light stream from a fan.
6. Sometimes the mass loses its plasticity, which can be easily corrected. To do this, it must be heated in the microwave.
7. It is necessary to store the finished mass in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped in cling film. Storage time in the refrigerator compartment is up to two weeks, in the freezer - up to two months.
8. Ready-made mastic figures can be stored for a long time, for this they must be placed in a dry, tightly closed container. Storage time is several months.
9. Mastic can be dyed with food coloring, most often it is used for marshmallow mass.

Mother of two children. I have been running a household for over 7 years - this is my main job. I love to experiment, I constantly try various means, methods, techniques that can make our life easier, more modern, richer. I love my family.

A variety of techniques and materials are used to decorate and decorate cakes. One of the most common is mastic. Various figures, compositions, inscriptions are made from it. What is mastic? If you come across this definition for the first time and saw it on the cake, then it is difficult to imagine how it was done. Mastic is an edible mass with astringent and adhesive properties used for making decorations and decorating baked goods. In this article, you will learn how to make it for a cake with your own hands at home.

Culinary mastic is a pleasant material that helps to make a real masterpiece out of a cake. Cooking it at home with your own hands has several secrets:

• The icing sugar should be finely ground. If sugar crystals come across, the mastic will break when rolling.
• The mastic is very sensitive to moisture. Therefore, so that it does not shine through, it is necessary to take care of the cake. Use dry biscuits or butter cakes as a base. The product should not be too saturated with syrup or liquor. Fondant cake should be stored in sealed boxes or plastic bags.
• If the mastic is cold, it is difficult to roll out, then heat it up a little in the microwave to give plasticity.

What dishes do you need

To make do-it-yourself cake mastic at home, you need to prepare the dishes. To do this, you will need a container for mixing the components, which can be enameled, plastic, ceramic, glass. To heat the mass in a microwave oven or oven, prepare a form of porcelain or glass that is resistant to temperature. In addition, you will need a rolling pin, a microwave oven, a mixer, and a clean work surface.

Step-by-step recipes for making homemade mastic for decorating a cake

How to make mastic at home? The composition can be very different, but icing sugar remains the same and the main component remains. There are many methods of making this material for a cake with your own hands at home, but the simplest is marshmallow paste. The finished mass is stored in the refrigerator, wrapped hermetically with cling film. Before sculpting, it is slightly warmed up in the microwave or oven. The finished figures must be given time to dry.

Milk mastic

Milk cake paste is one of the most famous and popular types. Its color turns out to be a little yellowish. Dairy mass at home is easy to manufacture and convenient to use. Suitable for the base of the cake, creating small flowers and other figurines. Required components:

• 350 g infant formula;
• 1 can of condensed milk;
• 350 g icing sugar.

Step-by-step making of milk mastic for a cake with your own hands at home:

• Add all the ingredients to the pan, mix.
• Knead until smooth and elastic.
• We form a ball, sprinkle with powder.
• We wrap the mastic with plastic wrap, leave for 30 minutes.

How to make marshmallow mastic? Preparing this type of plastic mass is not difficult. The number of components given in the recipe is enough to cover the product completely and sculpt several figures. It is better to choose monochromatic marshmallows. Required Ingredients:

• marshmallows - 200 g;
• icing sugar - 500 g.

Step-by-step master class of mass based on marshmallows for a cake with your own hands at home:

• Put the marshmallows inside the container for heating in the microwave. If there is no such device, then heat it in a water bath. Add a piece of butter. Set for 40 seconds or more to double the base volume.
• Sift the icing sugar in portions, knead the mastic with a spoon. If you want to make a color, add the dye right away.
• When mixing with a spoon becomes difficult, sprinkle the table with powder, knead with your hands. This process takes a long time, since there should be no air bubbles in the mass.
• When the mastic has stopped sticking, we wrap it with cling film, leave it for half an hour. After that, you need to knead it by rolling it with a rolling pin.
• You can store the mass in the refrigerator for up to three months. Before use, it must be warmed up in a microwave oven, kneaded with the addition of powdered sugar.

Chocolate mastic recipe

The consistency of chocolate mastic resembles plasticine. It allows you to make different figurines that will have a pleasant brown color and taste. Choice of chocolate for mastic is milk, white, bitter, depending on the result you want to get. Required Ingredients:

• water - 3 tsp;
• icing sugar - 200 g;
• chocolate - 100 g;
• marshmallows - 150 g;
• butter;
• potato starch.

Step-by-step recipe for chocolate mass for a cake with your own hands at home:

• We shift the marshmallows inside the container, add two teaspoons of water. Mix chocolate with a teaspoon of butter and tsp. water.
• We heat the marshmallows in the microwave to increase its volume. We melt the chocolate in the same place and grind it so that there are no pieces.
• Mix marshmallows with sifted powdered sugar, add chocolate. Knead the mass until smooth. Beat with a mixer with spiral attachments.
• Sprinkle with starch and knead until soft elastic mass.
• We wrap the mastic with foil, let it brew for half an hour.

Powdered sugar and gelatin mastic recipe

One of the most successful ways to make do-it-yourself mastic for a cake at home is this recipe. The mass turns out to be white, soft, easily rolling in a thin layer, universal (suitable for sculpting flowers, figures, covering). You can store the mastic at room temperature, but it must be warmed up in the microwave before use. Required components:

• gelatin - 25 g;
• cold water - 1 glass;
• sugar - 2 cups;
• invert syrup - 170 ml;
• icing sugar - 1.2 kg;
• starch - 300 g;
• salt - 0.25 tsp.

A step-by-step recipe for making cake mastic with your own hands at home:

• First, we will deal with invert syrup. It replaces molasses, maple syrup, liquid honey, pastry glucose. To cook it, put a saucepan with 700 g of sugar and 300 ml of hot water on a quiet fire. Bring to a boil with constant stirring. Pour in 4 g of citric acid, stir, cover, cook for 30 minutes over low heat. Remove the lid, let the syrup cool for 15 minutes. Add 3 g of baking soda, after which abundant foaming should begin. Stir the syrup with a spoon several times at intervals of 10-15 minutes so that the foam goes away. Set aside 170 ml of mastic syrup, store the rest in the refrigerator.
• For the mastic, pour gelatin with half a glass of water. We prepare it as indicated on the package. After readiness, filter so that there are no grains.
• Mix the remaining water, salt, sugar, invert syrup. We put on a small fire, bring to a boil with constant stirring.
• When the mass boils, reduce the heat, boil for 8 minutes, but you do not need to stir.
• We turn on the mixer, pour the boiling mixture into the gelatin. Beat at maximum speed.
• It is necessary to beat for a long time so that the mass increases three times. It should become uniform, fluffy, white, shiny and wrap around the corollas.
• Then we change the nozzles to spiral ones. Sift the powder, add it in several passes. We continue to whisk.
• When the snow-white dense mass is ready. We close the container with mastic with cling film, leave for a day at room temperature. Then we knead on a table sprinkled with starch.

Marzipan mastic comes out smooth and elastic. It is used to completely cover the surface of pies and cakes. Less commonly used for sculpting flowers, fruits, and other figures. Required ingredients:

• sugar - 1 glass;
• almonds - 1 glass;
• powdered sugar;
• cocoa powder - 1 tbsp. l .;
• almond essence - 3 drops;
• water - 0.25 cups.

A step-by-step recipe for marzipan mass for a cake with your own hands at home:

• Almonds, without peeling, are immersed in boiling water, boiled for a couple of minutes, transferred to a colander. When all the water has drained off, pour the almonds onto the board. Remove the shell, rinse the kernels, fry in a dry frying pan for 15 minutes with constant stirring. Grind the nuts in a blender until puree.
• Mix sugar with water, heat until the syrup dissolves and thickens, so that a flexible, hard ball rolls out of it.
• Mix syrup with almonds. We warm up for 4 minutes. We pour in the essence.
• Sprinkle the board with powder, spread the mastic and knead.

This type of mastic is considered to be very common. Judging by the reviews, it is used to form small patterns, use for a cornet or the smallest nozzle. What is the protein-drawing mass made of? Its peculiarity is the addition of protein and lemon juice. Required components:

• icing sugar - 200-220 g;
• lemon juice - 1 tsp;
• protein - 1 pc.

Step-by-step making of a protein drawing mass for a cake with your own hands at home:

• We transfer the protein to the container. Whisk it a little with lemon juice.
• Gradually mix in the sifted powder in batches.
• The mass should drain slightly from the shoulder blade, but not be liquid.

Flower

DIY flower mastic for a cake at home is a unique type of mass that perfectly retains a given shape, hardens in a short period of time, and is easy to mold. Required components:

• cold water - 30 ml;
• icing sugar - 250 g;
• liquid glucose - 1 tsp;
• gelatin - 2 tsp.

Do-it-yourself step-by-step preparation of flower mass at home:

• Pour water into a small bowl, add gelatin, leave for 10 minutes. After that, we warm up to dissolve in a water bath.
• Stir in glucose into gelatin, mix.
• Gradually add the sifted icing sugar in portions.
• We spread the thick mastic on the surface sprinkled with powder, knead until the stickiness disappears. We wrap it in foil, let it brew for half an hour.

How to make mastic colored or shiny correctly

Mastic is very popular for decorating cakes, sculpting figurines, and tight-fitting. It is a white plastic mass. In order for the decorations to be original, bright, the material must be painted. For this, food colors are used, which can be liquid, dry and helium. Mastic staining can occur in several ways:

• Liquid dye or helium is added during the preparation of the mastic. The color comes out even, for which there is no need to additionally knead the material. To get multi-colored mastic, you need to add several colors.
• When the mastic is ready, you can paint it like this: dip a wet toothpick in a dry dye, stick a ball of plastic mass. Then mix thoroughly until a uniform color is obtained.
• Dilute the dry dye with boiled water, alcohol or vodka in a ratio of 1 tablespoon of liquid to the tip of a powder knife. Dip a toothpick in the dye, pierce the mastic in several places, mix.
• For a marbled effect, apply a few drops of dye, roll into a sausage, wrap the edges towards the middle, add more paint. Repeat this pattern until you get the desired streaky, streaked color.

What to do if you have only a few colors and you don't have the desired shade? Then you should be aware of the combination rules:

• light green - yellow and purple;
• green - blue and yellow;
• khaki - green, brown;
• lavender - lilac, blue;
• blue - yellow, orange, green;
• purple - blue, red;
• strawberry - red, pink;
• mint - green, blue, white;
• pearlescent - add kandurin;
• champagne - white, yellow, brown;
• dark red - a little black and red;
• orange - yellow, red;
• gold - orange, yellow, red;
• coral - yellow, pink;
• terracotta - brown, orange;
• brown - green, red;
• corporal - yellow, red;
• black - red, blue, brown in proportions 1: 1: 1.
• gray - red, blue, brown, choose the proportions yourself until you get the desired shade.

If you have not stocked up with food colors, then herbal ingredients will come to the rescue:

• yellow - carrot juice, turmeric powder, saffron, diluted in alcohol, water;
• pink and red - cranberry, beetroot, pomegranate, currant, cherry juice, red wine;
• orange - orange juice;
• green - juice of spinach, parsley, sorrel, brilliant green;
• purple - juice of grapes, blackberries, blueberries;
• chocolate - cocoa powder;
• black - activated carbon.

Another common question when working with mastic is how to make it shiny? When the cake is decorated with this plastic mass, it is necessary to prepare a solution of vodka and honey in a 1: 1 ratio. Cover the mastic with the vodka-honey mixture using a soft brush. After a few minutes, the vodka will begin to evaporate, then the jewelry will get a glossy beautiful shine.

Video tutorials: how to make cake mastic at home

Mastic is a product that allows you to sculpt figures, like from plasticine. However, this smooth and tasty material dries quickly outdoors. There are many recipes for plastic mass based on different products, which you will familiarize yourself with in the following videos for beginners. This option for decorating a birthday cake with your own hands at home will surprise all guests. This special paste is designed for modeling pastries, creating a variety of decorations, and making baked goods more aesthetic.

Homemade honey mastic

Marshmallow mastic recipe

Sweet condensed milk mastic

Cooking mastic can turn the most ordinary cake into a real masterpiece. It can be used as a glaze and to sculpt interesting figures. There are many different types of mastic. Let's consider the most popular ones.

The easiest to prepare is milk paste. Mix icing sugar, powdered milk and condensed milk in proportions 1: 1: 1. Please note that the powder must be thoroughly ground, otherwise the mastic will turn out to be inelastic. Stir the mixture until it looks like stretching gum. You can add food coloring if desired. When you're done stirring, the mastic is ready. Pack the mass tightly in plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator for half an hour. Then take it out, sprinkle the starch on the table and roll the mastic into a thin layer. From it, you can create beautiful elements for decoration or use as a cover. It is worth noting that the color of the milk mastic will not be snow-white, but the taste more than compensates for the small flaw. The recipe for gelatinous mastic is more complex, but the result will be more aesthetic. Take 2 tbsp. l. gelatin and soak them in a saucepan of plain water. Leave the mixture on for 2 hours. Then heat it up and bring the gelatin crumbs until completely dissolved. Please note that you cannot boil water, otherwise the gelatin will lose its adhesive properties and deteriorate. When the lumps are completely dissolved, add 2-3 cups of powdered sugar to the composition. Mix the mass well. For colored mastic, add food coloring to it. If using liquid dye, add another 0.5 to 1 cup of powdered sugar. This is necessary to compact the mass. To prevent it from being sugary-sweet, add 0.5 or 1 tsp. lemon juice. All is ready! Marshmallow mastic (airy marshmallows) has become very popular. Place the marshmallows (200 g) in a saucepan and add 2 tbsp. l. water. Place it in the microwave for 2 minutes. Keep in mind that the sweets will swell and double in volume, so choose larger dishes. When you take out the candy, you will see a stretching mass formed. Add food coloring (if required) and 2 cups of powdered sugar to it. Mix the composition well while adding it. If it gets too thick, sprinkle the table with powdered sugar, put it there and knead it with your hands until it stops sticking. Using the same technology, you can prepare marshmallow mastic. Many people are interested in chocolate mastic. You only need two ingredients - liquid honey and black or white chocolate. Melt the chocolate in the microwave. For 100 g, set 1 minute of time. If the chocolate is not completely melted, repeat the procedure until the desired result. Stir chocolate between heatings. It should melt completely, smooth and shiny. Then mix chocolate and honey in a 2: 1 ratio. Stir with a spoon, then start stirring with your hands. It will be too runny at first, but will become thick and stringy as you stir. Tear off a piece from it and try to roll it into a ball. In this case, the mastic is ready. If you are not good at making decorations for confectionery with your own hands, use molds and cut out beautiful figures. If you can't get your own molds yet, make your own out of cardboard. For example, you can make tulips using tablespoons. Cover the inside of the spoon with mastic and remove any excess. Then peel off the layer gently to maintain its shape. When the petals are a little dry, create a bud on the cake itself. You can create a whole tulip arrangement. Confectioners recommend making cake decorations 2 weeks before making it. During this time, the parts will have time to dry well and keep their shape.

Baking cakes at home is a hobby of many housewives. The use of mastic will help to significantly improve the appearance of the finished product. What it is and how to use it - read the article.

Cake mastic for wrapping: cooking method

Mastic is a sweet decorative material that allows it to be decorated in an original and bright way. Ready-made mass is sold in stores, but the best would be a self-made mastic for wrapping a cake. At home, during production, you can adjust the taste of the paste and its consistency, as well as be sure that it is made only from natural ingredients.

Marshmallow mastic

It is convenient to work with this paste, as it rolls out easily and does not harden while wrapping the cake. Monochromatic marshmallows give a single color, and when using different marshmallows, you can achieve several shades without adding dyes.

Would need:

• 100 g marshmallows;
• 200 g icing sugar;
• 4 tsp milk;
• a small piece of butter.

Zephyr is finely chopped and filled with milk. Next, you need to either warm up the mixture in a microwave oven, or melt it in a water bath. When the marshmallow begins to melt, butter is added to it. The soufflé can be removed from heat when it is completely dissolved. Powdered sugar is added to the resulting workpiece in parts. The mass is constantly being mixed. Readiness can be determined by its consistency - the best mastic for wrapping a cake should resemble an elastic dough and not stick to your hands. The resulting mass can be stored in a cool place for up to 3 months.

Milk mastic

It is easy and quick to prepare milk paste for wrapping the cake. The recipe includes inexpensive ingredients and no special cooking skills are required to create the pasta. The finished mass tastes good - condensed milk makes the mastic look like toffee.

Would need:

• 1 can of condensed milk;
• 200 g icing sugar;
• 200 g of powdered milk;
• 2 tsp lemon juice.

Powder, milk and lemon juice are mixed. Next, you need to add condensed milk in parts, while kneading the workpiece until it becomes dense. A ball is formed from the resulting homogeneous mass, sprinkled with powdered sugar and cooled in the refrigerator for 12 hours. Before starting work, the mastic should lie down for half an hour at room temperature. Such a blank can be stored for up to three months, provided that it is protected from drying out.

Honey mastic

A distinctive feature of this mastic is its softness. The finished mass does not crumble or crumble, and also helps to mask the external imperfections of the cake.

Would need:

• 950 g icing sugar;
• 125 ml of honey;
• 15 g gelatin;
• 45 ml of water.

Pour gelatin with water and wait until it begins to swell. Then add honey to it and heat it all over low heat until the gelatin dissolves. The honey mixture is added to the icing sugar, and then it all mixes well. If the spoon cannot cope with the density of the mass, then knead it with your hands. The workpiece should lie in a plastic bag for 30 minutes before use.

Ready-made mastic for wrapping a cake can be stored for 3 months at room temperature, and up to a year in the freezer.

Gelatin based mastic

Gelatin for covering is considered universal, so if a blank remains afterwards, then flowers or figures can be molded from it. The sweet mass turns out to be very soft and can be easily rolled out in a thin layer necessary for covering the product.

Would need:

• 10 g gelatin;
• 450 g icing sugar;
• 1 tsp lemon juice;
• 4 tsp water.

The gelatin is soaked in water and then cooked over low heat until it dissolves in the liquid. The workpiece must be stirred periodically and not brought to a boil. Next, mix the icing sugar with gelatin and lemon juice. The mass is mixed until completely homogeneous, covered with cling film and put into the refrigerator for an hour. After that, you can start covering the product.

The prepared mastic for the cake for wrapping is stored carefully packed in cling film or an airtight container. In the refrigerator it is up to 3 months, and in the freezer compartment - up to six months. Before cooking, the mastic must be taken out in advance so that it warms up to room temperature.

Staining mastic

Homemade mastic is usually white or yellow in color. To give the finished product brighter shades, you can use the following options:

1. In the process of kneading the workpiece, add dry or gel dye to it. It should be borne in mind that by painting all the mastic in one color, you will get a solid cake. If decorative figures are also planned to be made from the prepared mass, then this staining option will not work.
2. Already ready-made mastic for the cake for wrapping is painted in different colors by separating the pieces of the desired size from the total mass. To do this, the tip of a toothpick is painted with a bright gel and colored dots or lines are applied to the workpiece. After that, the piece is thoroughly mixed so that the color is evenly distributed.
3. To obtain a brighter shade, it is necessary to paint the mastic after the cake has been covered with it. it is diluted with a few drops of vodka, and then applied to the product with a sponge.

If you do not want to buy artificial colors, you can use natural products. Beets, pomegranates, cherries, carrots, cranberries, oranges and blackberries give bright shades.

Wrapping the cake: step by step instructions

1. The surface of the cake should be smooth, as any bumps, bumps or pits will be visible under the mastic. To give an even shape, smear the top and sides of the confection with a thin layer of cream, which will smooth out all the irregularities. After applying it, the cake should be cooled in the refrigerator.
2. The kitchen table is generously sprinkled with starch or powdered sugar, and then homemade mastic is laid out on it. To cover the cake, roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of 5 mm.
3. The mastic is carefully transferred to the cake.
4. It is necessary to smooth the rolled mastic: first from above, and then from the sides. When smoothing, you need to ensure that no air bubbles form - this will spoil the appearance of the product.
5. The excess mastic is cut along the bottom edge of the cake.

If the cover is not very neat, you can mask the flaws by decorating - with inscriptions made of cream or voluminous figures.

Rules for working with homemade mastic

There are several general rules that should be followed when wrapping the cake with mastic yourself:

1. To prepare the mass, you should carefully choose the powder. If large sugar crystals are present, the cover may break.
2. The mastic is not applied to sour cream cream or overly soaked cakes, as the coating may dissolve from contact with moisture.
3. If the wrapping cake mastic has frozen and stopped rolling, then warming it up in the microwave will help. After that, it will become plastic again.
4. To give the cake a mirror-like shine, grease the cover with a solution of vodka and lemon (1: 1). The smell of alcohol will disappear from the product, and the glossy shine will remain.

Homemade mastic does not require a lot of money or time, because it is made from simple products. But now any cake can be turned into a small piece of art that will delight loved ones and surprise guests.

The fashion for decorating cakes with sugar dough, or, as we call it, mastic, came a few years ago from America. And today this type of design is becoming more and more popular! Such a cake invariably catches admiring glances at any holiday. And this is not surprising, because with the help of mastic you can create almost any decoration for a “sweet masterpiece”.

Homemade cake is the most delicious dessert and many housewives already know how to cook it. All stages of its preparation, subject to the recipe and the use of fresh and high-quality products, are not particularly difficult. In addition, modern household appliances greatly facilitate work and reduce the time spent on kitchen, which is a great advantage in comparison with those recent times, when to get fluffy cream or biscuit it was necessary to rotate the whisk by hand until exhaustion.

The cost of homemade desserts is an additional argument in favor of making them with your own hands.

But the question of decorating a homemade cake causes many people to feel insecure, at least. There are different ways to solve this problem: the cake is simply not decorated, or ready-made confectionery products are used - chocolate medallions, pieces of marmalade, nuts or raisins in chocolate or glaze. Of course, this is the way out. But this way out does not satisfy those for whom confectionery is a favorite hobby, in which there is a desire to constantly improve their skills.

First you need to know that there are several types of mastic for homemade cakes. Consider the most common and affordable options.

Knowing the features of the preparation and use of each of them, you can easily make mastic to decorate your cake at home.

Milk mastic prepared on the basis of condensed milk, powdered sugar and milk powder.

To make milk paste for the cake, take 1 cup of powdered milk, 1 cup of icing sugar (and keep 1 cup of icing in stock), 150 g of condensed milk and 1 tsp. lemon juice. Sift the powder, discarding all unsifted lumps (when kneading the mastic, they will not dissolve, and the mastic will turn out with grains). Mix a glass of powder with a glass of powdered milk, pour condensed milk and lemon juice into the mixture and knead the mastic dough. Add powdered sugar if necessary. The mastic for covering the cake should be homogeneous and elastic, should not stick to your hands. Give the finished mastic a little "rest" in the refrigerator and you can decorate the cake!

This type of mastic is perfect for covering cakes, because mastic has a pleasant milky taste. However, it is important to know that this mastic will never turn out to be snow-white, but will have a creamy shade. If you want to make cake mastic in rich, bright colors, then use food coloring. Coloring the mastic with natural juices (beets or spinach) will be problematic, because they will greatly "liquefy" it.

To do marshmallow cake paste ("Marmyshkovaya"), you will need an airy marshmallow marshmallow ("Bon Pari", "Clouds-Tyanuchki" or others), lemon juice and sifted powdered sugar. For 100 g of marshmallow - 200-250 g of powder, 2 tbsp. lemon juice.

Place the marshmallows in a large container, drizzle with lemon juice and microwave until expanded. It takes me less than one minute. During the heating process, you can stir the marshmallows once or twice. When the marshmallow "disperses", it must be thoroughly kneaded and kneaded with a spatula (the mass will look like chewing gum). Gradually add the icing sugar and knead like a dough. Keep in mind that while the mass is hot, it can take in more powdered sugar than it needs. Do not rush to add more powder than the specified weight, give the mastic a little "rest" and cool down (ideally, an hour or two). If necessary, you can add powder to the ready-made cold mass, but remove it, if you have kneaded too much, no longer.

The indisputable advantages of this type of mastic include the fact that this mastic is suitable both for covering cakes and for sculpting figures: they added a little butter (1 tablespoon) and a little less powdered sugar during the kneading process - you get a soft and pliable mass for cover. Without oil and with a lot of powder - a dense, tight modeling paste.

Another advantage of this mastic is that you can get a perfectly white color using white "marshmallows" or a colored mass using multi-colored marshmallows. A great option for those who do not have a set of food colors in their kitchen arsenal. Mastic has a pleasant sweet taste and aroma of airy marshmallows (vanilla, strawberry, lemon - depending on which flavor was added to the marshmallow).

In order to make chocolate mastic for the cake ("Shokomastic"), take 100 g of marshmallows, 100 g of chocolate, 1 tbsp. butter, 2 tbsp. heavy cream, 200 g icing sugar.

First, melt the chocolate (in a water bath or in the microwave), add the marshmallows and stir. Heat until the marshmallow expands in volume and stir well. You should get a homogeneous viscous mass. Pour warm cream into this mass and add butter. Stir well until smooth. Now gradually add the sifted powder and knead like a dough. The finished mastic is soft and pliable, but no longer sticks to your hands. Wrap it in plastic and let it "lie down". You can cover cakes with such mastic and sculpt figures from it. Remember that for sculpting, the mass must be denser than for covering (the density is regulated by adding powdered sugar and / or a small amount of starch).

Chocolate mastic has a distinct chocolate flavor and aroma and can be brown or cream colored, depending on the type of chocolate you used. If desired, this mastic can also be tinted with food colors, but only if you decide to make a mastic based on white chocolate. It is best to add the dye at the stage of kneading the "dough".

And the last type of mastic that is easy to make at home is mastic on gelatin.
To prepare it you will need: 1 tsp. gelatin, 40-50 g of cold water, 0.5 tsp. lemon juice, icing sugar, dye - optional.

To make this mastic, soak the gelatin in water until it swells (according to the instructions on the package, this can take from 10 minutes to 1 hour). When the gelatin swells, heat it until it dissolves, but in no case boil it - from this, the gelatin loses its properties! Add lemon juice and dye to the warm gelatin solution. Now stir in the sifted icing sugar. I can't say exactly how much powder is required (about 100 g). Look at the mass - it should be soft, plastic and not sticky to your hands. Try to stretch the mastic - it should stretch well.
At this stage, you no longer need to add powder (if you overdo it, the mastic will quickly become "oak"). Wrap the mastic in foil and, according to tradition, remove the "rest" for a couple of hours.

Excellent figures are obtained from gelatinous mastic, because it dries quickly enough. But for the same reason, she will not be able to cover the cake. The taste of gelatinous mastic is neutral (just sweet), because, in fact, it contains nothing but sugar.

Well, now a few specific recipes for making mastic for cakes:

SUGAR MASTIC

One of these ways is cake sugar. At home, this decoration option is not at all difficult. To overcome the far-fetched fear - “I just can't do that” - it is enough to remember how in childhood each of us sculpted figures from plasticine. There was no fear then, was there? So everything will work out.

You can buy ready-made sugar cake paste in specialized stores. At home, cooking it is also not difficult.

Sugar mastic for cake at home - basic technological principles

First, let's figure out what mastic is, and what result must be obtained in order to easily create decorations of any complexity from sugar mastic for a cake at home.

As already mentioned, in consistency it should be similar to plasticine: flexible, with a bound structure, without lumps. Sugar mastic for the cake at home should not harden immediately. This condition is met by using the appropriate binding components.

Such properties are inherent even in ordinary wheat flour dough: after all, the dough also dries out, retaining a certain shape if left in the air. If wheat flour is brewed, it turns into a sticky mass. But this ingredient does not quite taste good for sugar paste. Therefore, professionals introduced sugar flour, that is, powder, into the composition of confectionery mastic as the main ingredient.

Carbohydrates make up almost 100% of the sugar mass. They, although they have binding properties, do not have the flexibility inherent in flour, due to the lack of protein, unlike flour. Flour contains about 70% carbohydrates, but the remaining 30% contains moisture and fats, as well as proteins that can absorb and retain moisture. That is, this small amount of proteins is enough to create the necessary plasticity. But the fats contained in flour will make the mastic much heavier. Therefore, another component is needed, with a lighter structure. Starch does not contain fats, has a loose structure and binding properties at the same time, so its addition to powdered sugar creates the desired consistency of sugar mastic for a cake at home.

Confectionery mastic in industrial conditions is created on the basis of collagen contained in gelatin. Due to the use of industrial technology, a higher quality paste is obtained. Gelatin is fat-free and its high animal protein content allows crystalline carbohydrates to bind to sugars to form a pliable paste.

Sugar mastic can have different density, taking into account its purpose. So, by adding more water, you can get a sufficiently liquid consistency to cover the surface of the cake by pouring. Making figures, flowers, lace from sugar mastic for a cake at home requires a thick sugar dough in order for it to retain the desired shape.

In short, in order to quickly and easily learn how to work with mastic, you need to know its biochemical composition and physical properties.
This will help not only to successfully cope with pastry mastic purchased in specialized stores, but also to prepare the desired paste yourself.

Adding acid to the mastic not only adds flavor to the confection. Lemon juice or acid crystals diluted in water inhibit the drying of the mastic and give additional time to create the decoration before the mastic dries.
Sugar flowers are flavored with different aromas, with the help of additives. For this purpose, it is possible to use fruit syrups, but then the amount of added water must be reduced, taking into account the moisture contained in the syrup.

Another important nuance: often in the recipes for sugar mastic there are ingredients such as glycerol and glucose... Please note that these components are sold only in specialized stores... Although they have a similar name to the components used in the manufacture of confectionery, their composition is somewhat different from glucose for injection and glycerin for external use sold in pharmacies.

On quality of food colorshelping to create culinary masterpieces should also be looked out for. When buying multi-colored powders, make sure they are edible. Otherwise, it is better to use improvised natural paints contained in conventional products. Here are some examples:

Orange color can be obtained from carrot juice;

Yellow - when adding turmeric powder, Indian saffron to sugar mastic for a cake at home;

Crimson, any shades of pink - from beet juice;

Red color - from cranberry, pomegranate, strawberry, raspberry, cherry juice; If you add a little lemon juice to the cherry juice, you get a blue color;

Blue color can also be obtained from the juice of red cabbage, blueberries, red grapes;

To receive green color it is necessary to squeeze the juice from the spinach leaves (it has a neutral taste, without aromatic oils);

Brown color for mastic can be obtained by mixing powdered sugar with cocoa powder or adding melted dark chocolate to the mastic.

The rest of the colors and shades can be obtained by combining the listed food colors. Remember that orange and red fruits contain a fat-soluble vitamin, β-carotene: therefore, to obtain a rich color, juice from the fruit must be isolated using a small amount of vegetable or animal fat. You can get the desired color by infusing the listed products in alcohol, followed by evaporation.

Now you can get sugar mastic for a cake at home of any color and realize your most daring and sophisticated ideas for decorating your own culinary masterpiece. It remains only to prepare the mastic by choosing an acceptable recipe:

Milk-based sugar paste

Ingredients:
Powdered sugar, finely ground 120 g
Dry cream of any fat content 160 g
Corn starch 80 g
Condensed milk 8.5% 110 g
Glycerin (special) 50 ml
Vanilla or fruit flavor, alcohol
Citric acid 5 g
Water for acidic solution 20 ml

Preparation:
When using dry milk concentrates, you can use products with any fat content, since the dry substance when kneading sugar mastic for a cake at home will not have time to transform the fats it contains and transfer it to the dough. Fats will begin to work already when the product is consumed, participating in the creation of taste and in the process of digestion.

Dissolve citric acid in water. You can use lemon juice instead. Combine all dry components of the mastic.

If you need mastic of different colors, then the dyes can be dissolved in an acidic solution, dividing it into the required number of colors. In this case, it will be appropriate to replace the water for the citric acid solution, for example, with beet juice, which will allow you to get a mastic of bright pink or raspberry color.

To achieve a pale pink hue, combine beet juice with water to reduce the concentration of food coloring, but do not reduce the acid content, otherwise the mastic will dry out very quickly, which will interfere with working with it when creating jewelry.

Be sure to sift the powder so that the mastic is very plastic and the sugar crystals do not break the structure. Add the dry mixture to the condensed milk, stirring intensively at first with a silicone spatula, and then transfer the dough to the silicone surface and continue kneading with your hands.

When making jewelry, take the right amount of mastic, and cover the rest with a film so that it does not weather and dry out.

It is also better to roll out the mastic in a thin layer using silicone rolling pins of different thicknesses. If necessary, grind the work surface with powder. To give gloss, finished mastic products are lubricated with a brush dipped in syrup with the addition of glycerin.

Sugar mastic on a gelatin basis

Ingredients:
Powder 600 g
Lemon juice 30 ml
Starch, corn 50 g
Gelatin 20 g
Glycerin 1 tbsp. l.
Water 200 ml (for jelly and for dissolving gelatin)
Vanilla 2-3 g
Glucose 10 ml

Preparation:
Boil the starch in water. When it cools down to room temperature, add glycerin and glucose to the resulting jelly. Dissolve gelatin separately in a water bath, without raising the heating temperature above 40ºϹ. Sift the powdered sugar more than the required amount for making the mastic, so that if necessary, use it for the desired consistency, sprinkle the surface of the work table on which you will knead the sugar dough. Knead the dough from the bulk of the powder, pouring starch jelly into it first, and then melted gelatin.

Add liquid ingredients gradually, while working vigorously with a silicone spatula and stirring the entire mass. Continue kneading the mastic on a table or silicone mat until the mastic acquires the desired plasticity, uniformity, and at the same time no longer sticks too much to your hands. Cover the finished mass with a film and leave for a while so that all the ingredients react with each other.

If you need to get mastic of different colors, then divide the finished white mastic into parts, add the dissolved dye and continue kneading the dough until you get an even, uniform color. When sculpting flowers and shapes, use powdered sugar to roll out the layers, sprinkling with sugar dough.

During the sculpting process, all the colors of the mastic should be covered with a film so that a dry crust does not form: take only the amount that is necessary to make a flower or a figure, and hide the rest immediately under the film. Think in advance how to lay the necessary flowers and shapes to dry, prepare the necessary shapes for them to fix the dough in the right position.

Bulk sugar mastic

Ingredients:
Milk 200 ml
Water 200 l
Powder 800 g
Perfume
Lemon juice 50 ml
Gelatin 40 g

Preparation:
The consistency of the finished mastic should be similar to thick sour cream. This mastic is intended for a smooth coating of the cake surface when complex relief patterns are not required.
Pour the icing sugar into boiling milk and, dissolving it while stirring, remove the milk syrup from the heat and cool it to 30-40ºϹ.

Dissolve the gelatin in water and, after filtering it, pour it into the milk mass, beating both parts with a mixer at low speed. Add vanilla or the desired flavor, dye, if you want to give the coating a certain color and lemon juice.

When the finished mastic has cooled down and thickens a little, pour it onto the surface of the cake, starting from the center: the mass should drain from the cake at random. Place the cake on a stand with a rim so that the mastic does not spread over the work surface and stain the refrigerator shelves.

The surface of the torus should be perfectly smooth. To prevent the mastic from slipping on its surface, it is advisable to make a layer of marzipan, or to grind the top of the cake with starch, cocoa powder or powdered sugar - depending on which ingredients are suitable for the product.

Also, before pouring the cake with mastic, it is advisable to cool it well so that the mastic hardens faster. Carefully collect the remains of liquid mastic that escaped onto the dish during pouring. You can add powdered sugar to them, knead hard sugar dough and make curly decorations for the cake: border, bow, lace. You need to glue the details of the sugar figures to each other with a brush dipped in water.

Sugar mastic protein

Ingredients:
Proteins 5 pcs.
Cognac or liquor
Vanilla
Lemon juice 50 ml
Powder 1.0 kg
Gelatin 30 g
Water 100 ml
Glycerin 40 ml

Preparation:
Beat the cooled egg whites until firm foam, gradually add the sifted powder, without stopping whipping. Add lemon juice to the protein mass, add vanilla and cognac.
After dissolving the gelatin, pour it hot into the whites, continuing to knead the dough. When the mass thickens, transfer it to the work surface, sprinkled with powder and bring the mastic to the state of a hard dough, cover with a film and after a couple of hours the mastic is ready to work with it.

Sugar mastic honey-chocolate

Ingredients:
Dark chocolate 2 parts
Honey, floral 1 part

Preparation:
For chocolate cakes, or cakes covered in chocolate icing, this sugar mastic recipe is a real godsend for decorating your chocolate dessert in style.
Making chocolate honey spread is pretty easy. The only drawback: chocolate-honey mastic must be prepared in advance, because for plasticity it must be kept for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator, in plastic packaging.
Melt the chocolate in a steam and pour in the honey, without stopping stirring, until a thick mass is obtained, which will peel off the dishes. After slightly chilling, wrap the mastic in foil.

Sugar mastic with marshmallow

An effective way to get the right consistency of sugar mastic for a cake at home is marshmallow candies. They are candy based on gelatin and corn syrup. In an industrial setting, these ingredients are churned into a sponge with the addition of flavors and food colors. The addition of these candies to the sugar mastic for the cake at home greatly simplifies the task of making sugar dough. If you want to get the best possible result, then use these candies only as an additional ingredient for the viscosity of the dough, in combination with the gelatinous paste prepared according to recipe 2 described above.

Ingredients:
Marshmallow part 1
Gelatinous mastic 2 parts

Preparation:
Knead the sugar dough as directed in the second recipe above. Steam the marshmallows, but don't overheat. Pre-grind the candies so that they dissolve as quickly as possible. Do not use the microwave: it will dry out the marshmallows, making it difficult to work with the dough. By heating them with steam and thereby moistening the mass, make it easier for yourself to work when kneading the dough.

Only you need to prepare mastic with marshmallows in advance, letting it lie down at room temperature, in an airtight package. Make sure that the candies used are fresh and choose white so that the mastic does not turn out to be ugly, with a gray or brown tint.

Sugar mastic from marmalade

The fruit jelly contains a fruit base and agar-agar. Only mastic marmalade needs to be sorted by color to get a certain mastic color.

Ingredients:
Powdered sugar 700 g
Fruit jelly 250 g
Water 50 ml (or lemon juice)

Preparation:
Prepare a marmalade water bath. Cut it into small pieces, put it in a smaller container, fill it with water and put it on steam, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula. Bring the fruit mass to a temperature of 60-70ºϹ for a gelatinous consistency.

Sift the powder, pour it in a slide onto the silicone surface and make a depression into which pour the melted marmalade in small portions and quickly knead the mastic. For such a mastic, warmth is needed. When working with it, keep the mass sealed in foil, near a heat source.

Gummies can be used to make flowers. To cover the surface of the cakes, add more water to the mass and use the pouring method.

Sugar mastic for cake - tips and tricks

-Sugar mastic is a troublesome type of decoration. To make sure that the decoration from it will turn out to be successful, prepare both the mastic itself and the decorations from it in advance, before baking the cake.

-Sugar mass in a sealed package can be stored for up to two months in the cold, except for protein mastic. Finished decorations should dry indoors in low humidity.

-To work with mastic, on the one hand, it is convenient to lubricate your hands and the mat with food glycerin, but on the other hand, the readiness of the sugar dough can be determined by how easily it sticks off your hands. Shortly before the consistency of the mastic becomes visually plastic, to check it, rinse the glycerin film from your hands and taste the sugar mass with your hands without a protective coating to determine if it is done.

How to cover a biscuit with this sugar-gelatinous mastic:

First, the biscuit must be coated with cream, boiled condensed milk or jam in order to even out all the irregularities of the biscuit.
On the surface of the biscuit prepared and primed with cream, boiled condensed milk or jam, the sugar mastic will lie evenly and smoothly, there will be no protrusions and irregularities.

After the surface of the biscuits is prepared, you need to measure out the diameter of the workpiece to cover the cake.

The diameter should be no less than the diameter of the biscuit, plus double the height and another 5 centimeters for folds and irregularities. For example, if you have a cake with a diameter of 20 cm and a height of 5 cm, then, to cover the biscuit, roll the mastic to a diameter of at least 35 cm \u003d 20 + 2x5 + 5.

It is convenient to roll out confectionery sugar mastic on a table greased with butter and sprinkled with powdered sugar, and even better between two sheets of plastic wrap, the mastic rolled out on a plastic wrap is very easy to transfer onto a biscuit, this can be done directly with the film, which then just needs to be separated from the mastic and continue leveling the mastic on the surface of the biscuit.

The thickness of the rolled sugar mastic for covering the biscuit should be about 5 mm, after you put it on the cake and level it, it will stretch to the required 2-3 mm.

If you roll out sugar mastic immediately to a thickness of 2-3 mm, it can easily break when working with it.

If there are no professional tools, then buy plasticine in a box, to which the modeling tools are attached. You also need, preferably, 2 irons for covering the cake and a knife for cutting mastic, such as for cutting pizza, a food felt-tip pen, if you write directly on the mastic.

On a note! Any mastic - from marshmallows, sugar-gelatin or milk - will perfectly replace marzipan at home. Just take into account that it is not always desirable to cover the whole cake with mastic - although the coatings are very beautiful, they are quite tough.

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

"Making mastic at home"

"Modeling a rose from mastic"

"Chocolate mastic"

"Modeling a bear from mastic"