Make a classic white wedding cake with brooch moulds that create a striking cascade of sugarpaste. This vintage delight is by Marie McGrath from Marie’s Bakehouse
Cascade of Brooches Tutorial
You will need
For the cake
• 15cm (6in), 20cm (8in) and 25cm (10in) round cakes, filled, covered and stacked
To decorate
• vegetable fat, eg Trex
• buttercream
• white sugarpaste
• tylo powder
• royal icing
Equipment
• 25cm (10in) cake drum
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• dowels
• lustre spray or dust
• paintbrush
• white ribbon
• various brooch and gem moulds
Method
Covering the board
- Fill, crumb coat, then cover, dowel and stack the three round cakes.
- Cover the drum board
- Trim the board and the bottom of each cake with ribbon, securing at the back with a small blob of royal icing
Decorating the cake
- Mix some of the white sugarpaste with the tylo powder (or you can use flower paste instead). A ratio of 1 tsp tylo powder to 250g (9oz) of sugarpaste works well. Make sure that whenever you are not using the paste, keep it wrapped in a food bag so it does not dry out.
- Using your fingers, smear a bit of vegetable fat into the mould you are using to prevent the paste from sticking. Push a ball of sugarpaste into the mould, removing any excess with the pad of your thumb. Do not use a sharp knife to cut away the excess, as this can damage your mould. Pop the brooches and gems out from the moulds.
- Put the brooches and gems onto a sheet of kitchen paper to start to dry and, when you have made enough of them, spray with the lustre spray, or wait until they have dried out a bit and dust lustre dust over the surface using a soft paintbrush.
- Add a little royal icing on the back of each sugar brooch and gem and stick into place.
