How to:
Sculpting Mushrooms
When sculpting mushrooms, I like to alternate the stems and caps with a variety of shapes and colors for a playful yet natural feel. For the mushrooms shown on this cake, mix five different yellow and neutral-toned shades of sugar paste. Individually wrap them in plastic wrap to prevent the sugar paste from drying out. I often use sandwich bags when sculpting with multiple colors for easy storage. When you’re done, you can save them to reuse for your next project.
TOOLS:
- cornstarch in a muslin bag for dusting
- Sugar Paste (page 59) tinted to desired colors
- 20-gauge wire cut into 2-inch lengths
- Styrofoam cake dummy for drying the mushrooms
- ball tool
- veining tool
- parchment paper
- baking sheet
- 1:1 mixture of water and corn syrup
- paintbrush and powder dyes
For each mushroom, start with a
grape-size amount of sugar paste and sculpt it into a log that is
slightly tapered at one end to create the mushroom stem—the log
shapes can be fat and short or slender and tall. Make a mixture of
both for a variety. Once you’ve sculpted a variety of stems, insert
a wire down the center of each, trimming the wire to leave an extra
½ inch on one end. This will come in handy when drying the
mushrooms and will keep them stable when arranging them on the
cake. Set aside in the cake dummy to dry.
To sculpt the mushroom caps, start
with an assortment of pea- to grape-size balls of sugar paste. Use
your fingers and/or a ball tool to make a variety of shapes from
roundead cones to shallow umbrella caps, hollowing out the
underside in order to fit them over the stems.
Using the veining tool, lightly mark
gills on the undersides of the mushroom caps. Set the caps on a
parchment-lined baking sheet, and let the mushroom stems and caps
dry for 24 to 48 hours.
Dab a small amount of water–corn
syrup mixture inside the caps.
Attach the caps to the stems,
combining the different colors, shapes, and sizes for a fun mix.
Place in the cake dummy to dry for at least 4 hours. To give the
mushrooms depth, dry-dust them with neutral and yellow powder dyes.
I also like to dust cocoa powder on the edges for a natural dirt
look. When applying on a cake for decoration, place the mushroom
stem onto the cake, securing it in place with the wire.