"O Tannenbaum" O Christmas Tree

Thank you Sandy Swart for the great blog post for today!

Christmas parties and what can I take? DTC has wonderful mini molds that are great for Christmas treats.  For this treat I used: Christmas- Mini #1 , Christmas- Mini #2,  Christmas- Reindeer Mini,  Christmas- Angels Mini,   Valentine- Heart set of 6, and a few of the buttons from Button- Large Set of 9


The first thing to make is the mini chocolates in the mini molds mentioned above.  After melting the almond bark in a disposable piping bag, I cut the tip off to make a small hole.

Fill each mold, piping the melted almond bark into the cavities. Be careful to not overfill.

Gently tap to even out the almond bark in the mold. Place in freezer for 5 minutes.

Carefully pop chocolate out of the molds after removing them from the freezer.  I dusted each chocolate with luster dust to highlight the details on each chocolate.   Below you can see the difference. The top snowflake is dusted and the bottom one was directly out of the mold.



Push chocolate back into bag away from the opening if you have the molds filled. This allows you to re-melt the chocolate in the microwave without it leaking out the cut end.  The chocolate molded minis can be made way ahead of time. 

As I went to bake my mini cupcakes, I noticed that my liners were too open.

Somewhere online, I remembered reading about someone "re-crimping" their cupcake liners. I picked out a round cutter from my Ateco round cutter set that was the size of the muffin cavities and the next size smaller.

Place a stack of liners in the larger cutter and place the smaller cutter on top. I used the palm of my hand to push the liners down into the larger cutter.  Allow to set for an hour or two.

Here is the same method used on regular sized cupcake liners.

Here shows the mini liner on the left and the resized mini liner on the right.  It fits just fine down into the cavity. That helps prevent the outside of the liner kinking when the batter is put into the liner.

Set out the mini cupcakes into the shape of a Christmas tree.  I found that my large heart shaped cardboard worked fine for the shape

I reheated the remainder of the chocolate in the piping bag and "glued" the individual cupcakes to the foil board with a small bit of melted chocolate to prevent the cupcakes from moving.

I piped a swirl of green buttercream on each cupcake and placed one of the minis on each one. Looking at the picture you can see where I just piped a wide zigzag for the bottom part of the tree.  To show off the star that I piped on the top cupcake, I first placed a white fondant disk on the cupcake first.  The center of the green piped star was a green star.

With some of the extra minis from this project, I molded some red minis.  I piped a large green buttercream star on the cupcake before adding the chocolate mini.  I didn't care for the pearl dust on the red minis so I did not dust the red ones. Experiment and you'll know what you like the looks of.

I love Ritz crackers with peanut butter dipped in white almond bark.  I dipped some for our family Christmas treats.  This time I just used the mini hearts to accent the tops.

Any questions?  You can contact me through Sandy Swart Cakes on Facebook or at sewsweet2@hotmail.com
Albums of my decorated cakes can be seen at:  http://flickr.com/photos/sewsweet2/sets

DTC Products Used:
Christmas- Mini #1
Christmas- Mini #2
Christmas- Reindeer Mini
Christmas- Angels Mini
Valentine- Heart set of 6
Button- Large Set of 9

Making realistic tree bark

I started with ivory fondant that I then added extra AmeriColor ivory to darken it. 

Then using the Oak Tree Texture Mat I rolled out a section at a time to cover the cake. 

I place the fondant over the mat and roll until I can barely see the texture through the mat. 

Then I flipped the whole thing over and peeled off the texture mat. 

I then cut the sections to the height of the cake plus approximately 1/4".  Using some "glue" of your choice attach to your cake. I just used water to attach to my buttercream. 

I forgot to get a photo of the sections on the cake prior to dusting.  So, here is one on the table showing how I dusted.

To color I used Penzey's Spices Dutch Process Cocoa powder -- any cocoa powder or a brown petal dust will work -- along with some corn starch to get the variegated colors you want. 

Blend the two items together and brush on the cake with a nice fluffy brush.  Making variations in the colors as you dust will make the cake look more natural.  ** Emailed question -- Which direction did you brush on the the color to get the best natural coloration?  Answer -- I didn't brush in any particular direction.  I brushed with the bark grain, sideways, in circles -- basically I was ubber messy in my dusting.  This of course required major cleanup on the board -- but a little Everclear on a napkin and it wiped up nicely.

As you can see in the photo below the left half is the undusted original fondant piece and right half has been dusted with the cocoa powder/corn starch. 

DTC Products Used:
Oak Tree Bark Large

Similar DTC Products:
Pear Tree Bark

Don't like fondant and want to use the mat with some buttercream?  Check out the this blog Silicone Texture Mats and Buttercream

Isomalt Log using Texture Mats

Today we are going to show you how to make a textured log for your next isomalt scene.

Remember when working with isomalt to take precautions against getting burned.  The sugar gets very hot!  Wear gloves and keep a bucket of ice water handy in the event you get sugar on you.

I'm going to use my Oak Tree Bark texture mat.  You could also use the  Pear Tree Bark texture mat.  For the first step I am going to pour the isomalt onto the back side of the mat.  You may use any smooth silicone mat or silpat type product for this step.

I used clear and white isomalt nibs from CakePlay.  They were melted in the microwave in 30 second increments until fully melted.  Then I added a few drops of brown food coloring until I reached the desired color; using a long bamboo skewer to stir the mixture.  

Pour out a portion of the isomalt onto the back of the mat.  Use a skewer to keep it from oozing off the sides.  

As it starts setting keep folding the mat over folding the sugar onto itself.  

Once the sugar forms together use your hand to roll the isomalt back and forth forming a log.  ** Remember to do what I say and not what I'm showing -- please wear a glove as the sugar may still be warm enough to burn. **

Continue rolling until you get a round log of the desired shape.  Times will vary depending on the amount of isomalt in your log.  The larger log below took almost 30 minutes to cool where the small one only took about 10.

Make sure they are solid and cold before you continue or the log will become misshaped on the next step.

Now heat up your brown isomalt again.  You will pour this onto the textured side of your bark mat.

Pour out an amount that is larger than your log.  Use the skewer to flip the extended ends back over itself as they start to cool.  Allow this to set until it is firm but still slightly soft.  Bend the mold, if it cracks it is too cool, you may use a blow torch to soften the top surface.

Once softened, place the log onto the middle of the area.  Fold the mat over the log.

Roll the texture mat around the log center.  I then used rubber bands to hold in place.

Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes.....

DTC Products Used:
Oak Tree Bark Large Texture Mat
Pear Tree Bark Texture Mat

CakePlay Products Used:
Clear Isomalt Nibs
White Isomalt Nibs

Silicone Texture Mats and Buttercream?

A very common question I get is if the DTC silicone mats will work on a buttercream cake.  I wasn't sure so I decided to give it a try.

I decided to try it out with the oak tree bark mat.  Since the mat is so deep and detailed I knew I needed a very thick layer of buttercream to start.  I added approximately a 1/3" thick layer of buttercream to the outside of the cake. I made sure the top was smooth how I wanted it.  Then semi smoothed the sides.  I didn't get super picky on this.  Just a quick smooth.  Sorry I forgot to take a picture at this stage.

Then in the freezer the cake went.  I wanted it nice and cold but not frozen.  In my freezer I left it about 15-20 minutes.  I wanted the cake firm enough that it took some pressure to dent when I touched the side of the cake but would move some.

Take the cake out of the freezer and lay the texture mat next to the cake and very firmly and evenly press the mat into the cake.  I was by myself so not the best picture.  Press firmly.  You can use a fondant smoother to make sure it is evenly pressed. When you have the nice thick buttercream layer and you are pushing on it like this it will force some of the buttercream up above the top edge of the cake.  I liked this look and played while pushed to get the somewhat rough top edge that bark would give.

Gently pull the mat away.  I did get some of the buttercream stuck in the deep crevices but only after the cake has been out a while and I kept futzing with the cake.

The buttercream really picks up the details!

Quick airbrush with some various browns.

Add some grass and butterflies and I'm all done!

DTC Products Used:

Oak Tree Bark Large Texture Mat

You could also use:

Pear Tree Bark Texture Mat