"Dish from the Sea" Small Sand Dollar Silicone Mold Tutorial

Here is part 2 of Joanne Wieneke's project for DTC product user group. These sand dollar dishes are so clever and unique - Thanks again Joanne for sharing your talents with us!

This is the second part of the Beach Mold Tutorial. This time the project is an edible serving dish made from poured sugar using the small sand dollar silicone mold. If you are not yet confident doing poured sugar, gelatin is the best replacement for this project.

Sand Dollar Caviar Dish

Materials and Tools:

Small Sand Dollar Silicone Mold

Clear venuance pearls or cooked isomalt

Gel food color of your choice

Silicone prep bowls (at least 2)

Silicone mat

Rubber gloves or garden gloves under a latex or nitrile gloves

Put a couple of venuance pearls in silicone prep bowl and heat in the microwave until it melts, It is recommended to wear gloves before tackling the hot sugar. Dip the toothpick in a small amount of food gel color of your choice and carefully color the melted sugar in the silicone bowl.

Once the color is achieved, pour the sugar in the mold , do not fill the mold - just 2/3 full. Should there be any bubbles , poke it with a toothpick or gently pass some heat from a lighter to burst the bubble. Use the yellow or blue flame that the lighter emits.

Carefully distribute the melted sugar on the sides of the mold by holding the mold with your thumb and forefinger or middlefinger (whichever you are comfortable with), lifting it up slightly from the the silicone mat and rotating it carefully until all sides are filled.

Lay it on the mat and let it set and cool.

Do not touch the sugar while it is cooling, do not test poke or tap with your fingers, you might get your fingers stuck, burned or have some finger prints while the sugar is in the process of cooling down. Never place it in the refrigerator to cool, this will just cause moisture and just melt the sugar and eventually not set at all… The sugar has set when the mold has completely cooled .

Carefully release the sides of the sugar out of the mold, if totally cool, it will be easy to unmold.

Repeat this process until you have collected 6 of the same color—these are your sand dollar petals. You will only need 5 but I recommend doing 6-7 because this is a fragile project and it might break as you proceed to assembly, it is better to have more than less sand dollar petals. For the last poured sand dollar, choose a contrasting food gel color, this will be for the center of your flower (this is where the caviar sits).

To assemble, get a round artist palette and carefully assemble five petals laying each petal on top of each other approximating 1/4 from the lower edge of each petal . Once you have seen how the petals will be formed, you can melt a small batch of isomalt and use it as your glue, watch out for the temperature of the isomalt glue because the heat of the melted isomalt glue cracks the cold petal sand dollar and you end up in breakage of petals . Adhering the sand dollar petals with hot isomalt should be done carefully and quickly. Another option is the use of clear piping gel, but this takes a longer time to adhere and dry.

When everything has set and ready to be presented, gently transfer the sandollar plate to a nice platter and plate the caviar in the center.

You can also use each sand dollar as a an individual caviar dish if serving Hors d'œuvre.

*** same procedure will be followed if using gelatin, best ratio if using Knox is 1:1, the advantage of gelatin is that you can flavor it and you can rest the whole plate on a bed of crushed iced while serving the caviar….

Enjoy the party!!!!

If you have any questions regarding the tutorial please email me at thelittlecakedecorator@thelittlecakepatch.com or contact Decorate The Cake.

Thanks!

Joanne