Welcome to the Cake Decorators Q&A

Hi all,

Have just become a member and am loving all of what I have seen so far. I have never done any cake decorating other than basic icing but having watched the Christmas reindeer tutorial several times I am going to give it a go!

My question is this – as my family does not like fondant/sugar paste, could I cover the reindeer with modelling chocolate or should I add structure to buttercream (watched that tutorial as well!) and pipe the reindeers fur?

Any ideas????

Thanks heaps in anticipation from Australia!

Mamie 🙂

Hiya!…..don’t see any reason why not!….I have made Paul’s’ Teddy bear where you pipe the icing as fur…….maybe keep the reindeers features as sugarpaste as it will give you better definition….and pipe the rest? X

Hello Mamie

Welcome to the site! Looks like you’re already exploring and enjoying yourself, this is just the beginning, you’ll have so much fun learning here.
Modelling chocolate is a great medium to work with. My only concern would be that if you have little experience in decorating, modelling chocolate might prove a little challenging as it does tend to set very quickly. You’ve mentioned your family’s dislike for sugar paste ( not everyone likes it), however a 50/50 mix of sugar paste and modelling chocolate might be more palatable. The two mixed together would give a more pliable paste which won’t set hard as quickly as the modelling chocolate does. This would give more time to texturize the fur + you will still benefit from the lovely chocolatey taste. How about mixing a small amount up as a taster? If you don’t like it then perhaps piping the fur would be the way to go. If you do decide to pipe the fur, the cake will need a thin coating of modelling chocolate to keep all the carved elements together as ganache alone could crack and may cause a problem. The teddy bear tutorial explains this point better, if you haven’t viewed it yet you can see it here http://www.cakeflix.com/online-cake-decorating-courses/teddy-bear-cake
I hope some of this helps. If you need more help or information please post again. All the members on this site are very friendly and helpful. There is huge wealth of experience in the community from which to learn from. Good luck, happy baking and decorating.

Hi all,

Thank you for your responses – most helpful! I will try the 50/50 mix and have a taste test, if not – a piping I will go!

Mamie

Hi, I have heard that marshmallow sugarpaste has a more pleasant taste, although more expensive!
If you can’t buy it you could Google the recipe?

I have personally made sugarpaste using golden syrup in place of liquid glucose, it tastes lovely but of course can only be used for some colours as you get a cream shade rather than white.

HI, I have found a marshmallow sugar fondant recipe see link: http://www.cakebaker.co.uk/recipes/easy-marshmallow-fondant/ which I will also try to see if this is tasty.
Thanks for your reply.

Mamie