Sugarworks Blog

Sugar Structure Base (x1) and Wood Screws (x3)

Sugar Structure 4 Inch Rods (x2)

Sugar Structure 5 Inch Rod (x1)

Sugar Structure Straight Coupler (x2)

Sugar Structure 4 Inch Washer (x1)

Use your own creativity to make it sweet, or keep it spooky like in the demo!  

One of the amazing things about cake sculpting, is that underneath all of the artistry, is a unique combination of flavors and textures completely customizable to any given palette.  However, for somebody just getting into the cake world, this can also be overwhelming at times.  Below we have listed a few of our basic go to recipes that might come in handy with one of our Sugarworks Academy classes.

If you are unfamiliar with hand carving cakes, you'll want to be sure to start with a delicious, but slightly denser sponge.  It is important for the cake to be able to withstand the pressures of carving and hold up to the knife.  If the cake is too soft, it may collapse on you!

 Chocolate Stout Cake

Ingredients:

• 1lb (454g) Butter, unsalted
• 16oz (454g) Guinness
• 1 ½ cup (170g) Cocoa Powder
• 4 Eggs (200g)
• 5 cups (624g) Sour Cream
• 2 ½ cups (255g) Cake Flour
• 2 ½ cups (255g) All Purpose Flour
• 4 cups (794g) Sugar
• 1 tsp (4g) Baking Powder
• 3 ½ tsp (15g) Baking Soda
• 1 ¾ tsp (9g) Salt

Instructions:

1. Melt butter and Guinness in a sauce pot.
2. Whisk in cocoa powder, let cool for 15 minutes.
3. Using the whip attachment of your mixer, combine the eggs and sour cream.
4. Add chocolate mixture and whip until smooth.
5. Combine all dry ingredients, including the sugar, in a separate bowl.
6. Add all dries to the chocolate mixture.
7. Scrape bowl well and beat briefly on low.
8. Fill lined pans and bake at 325º convection until done, checking at 25 minutes and every few minutes after until cooked through

 Vanilla Bean Cake

Ingredients:

• 1lb (454g) Butter, unsalted
• 6 cups (1191g) Sugar
• 1 ½ tsp (8g) Salt
• 1 ½ tsp (8g)Vanilla Paste
• 1 ¼ tsp (7g) Vanilla Extract
• 15 Egg Whites (454g)
• 5 cups (454g) Cake Flour
• 4 2/3 cups (454g) All Purpose Flour
• 4 ¼ tsp (16g) Baking Powder
• 2 ¾ cup (680g) Whole Milk

Instructions:

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add salt and both vanillas
3. Slowly incorporate egg whites, scraping bowl regularly
4. Sift dry ingredients
5. Alternate additions of dries and milk (begin and end with dries)
6. Scrape well and beat on medium speed for about 20 seconds
7. Fill lined pans and bake at 325º convection until done, checking at 25 minutes and every few minutes after until cooked through

Buttercream is a delicious and versatile filling to use in cakes.  It can be flavored with just about anything from pastes and purees to alcohol.  It is incredible smooth and easy to work with, and can provide a cake with a little extra stability as it hardens slightly when chilled.  It can be stored at room temp or refrigerated.  

Italian Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 4 cups (794g) Sugar #1
• 9 ½ oz (283g) Water
• 10 Egg Whites (283g)
• ¼ cup (50g) Sugar #2
• 2lbs (907g) Butter, unsalted
• 1 ¾ tsp (10g) Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp (6g) Salt

Instructions:

1. Combine sugar #1 and water in a pot. Cook to thread stage.
2. Begin whipping egg whites on speed 2 when sugar reaches thread.
3. Slowly add sugar #2 to the whipping egg whites.
4. When cooking sugar reaches soft ball stage, remove from heat.
5. Pour cooked sugar immediately into whipping egg whites.
6. Continue whipping until cooled to just warm.
7. Slowly add room temp butter in chunks.
8. Add vanilla and salt.

Ganache is commonly used for crumb coating cakes as it easy to spread when warm but hardens in the cold.  It can provide sharp edges and a perfectly smooth finish before covering with fondant.  It is quick to make as it is only comprised of two vital ingredients - chocolate and cream.  However because the final set of the ganache can be influenced by environmental variables and the actual ingredients used, there is not a "perfect" recipe to follow.  Instead, you should use the following weight ratios as a guide. 

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Typically made with chocolate containing 50%-60% cocoa solids.  

You need 2 parts dark chocolate to 1 part cream:

• 1 ¾ lb (800g) Dark Chocolate
• 14 oz (400g) Heavy Cream

Milk Chocolate Ganache

Typically made with chocolate containing around 30% cocoa solids.  

You need 3 parts milk chocolate to 1 part cream:

• 1 ¾ lb (800g) Milk Chocolate
• 9 oz (266g) Heavy Cream

White Chocolate Ganache 

You need 3.5 - 4 parts white chocolate to 1 part cream:

• 1 ¾ lb (800g) White Chocolate
• 7 oz (200g) Heavy Cream

Instructions:

1. Scald the cream
2. Add the cream to the chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes 
3. Stir until smooth

Modeling chocolate is a wonderful edible sculpting medium. It's like clay you want to eat- firm, yet malleable, capable of holding it's shape or being reworked, and also delicious. If you want to try a different medium, or are looking for a new flavor profile it can often be substituted for sugar paste or fondant when sculpting.  We know of two different recipes for modeling chocolate- one that uses candy melts, and one that uses real chocolate. We're going to give you both.

Modeling Chocolate Using Candy Melts

Ingredients:

• 454g Candy Melts
• 115g corn syrup

Instructions:

1. In a double boiler, heat your candy melts until they're mostly melted but a few lumps remain. (The lumps will melt out from the residual heat of the warm melted candy).
2. Microwave your corn syrup for a minute and a half so that the syrup gets very warm and very thin. 
3. Put your melted candy melts back on the double boiler over a low heat and pour in the warm corn syrup.
4. Begin stirring! And keep stirring! Stir much longer than you think you need to; if you don't stir your mixture enough, the fats will separate out during the cooling process and your modeling chocolate will wind up lumpy.
5. Your modeling chocolate is ready when it's absolutely silky-smooth and shiny- no air bubbles, no "curdled" appearance, and no liquid separated out.
6. Pour your warm modeling chocolate onto the lined sheet pan and spread to about 1/4" thick. Once it's cooled, you can start sculpting immediately or put it in an air-tight container for later.

Modeling Chocolate Using Real Chocolate

Ingredients:

• 500g White Chocolate (or regular chocolate if you want an all-brown figure)
• 250g Glucose
• 1 Teaspoon water
• Gel color (optional)

Instructions:

1. In a double boiler, melt your chocolate over a medium heat until it is super smooth. Once your chocolate is completely smooth, take it off the double boiler and set it aside.
2. Add 1 teaspoon of water to your 250g of glucose and microwave for a minute or two - until it's warm enough to be smooth, liquidy, and easy to pour.
3. Put your chocolate back on the double boiler over a low heat.
4. Pour the glucose-water mixture into the chocolate and begin stirring over a constant low heat. You should notice after a bit of stirring that the fat from the chocolate begins to separate out. Keep stirring! You want that fat content to be reabsorbed by the chocolate; don't stop stirring until it is. If you notice any lumping up of the chocolate- keep stirring! Eventually you will get to a stage where your chocolate is silky smooth.
5. If you want to color your chocolate- this is a great time to do it! You can knead in color later when your chocolate has cooled, but it is so much easier to stir it in now while the chocolate is warm and soft.
6. Pour your warm chocolate onto a sheet tray lined with plastic and smooth it out to about 1/4" thick. Once it's cool, you can use it immediately or store it in an air-tight container in a cool, dry place.

Brand Ambassador Belinda Lucidi is at it again - making cute things even cuter.  For this video tutorial, all you need are Mini Tip Firm Sugar Shapers, sugar paste, a fluffy brush, and a few powdered colors.  Follow along as you hand sculpt a baby octopus beginning with the head and face.  Learn the secret to creating depth behind the eyeballs, as no detail is too fine.  Playfully wrap each tentacle out of two colors of sugar paste and line them carefully with tiny individual suction cups.  And to finish it off? This happy little octopus gets a couple of sprinkled donuts, because why not! 

Using a combination of firm and soft Sugar Shapers, Brand Ambassador Ana Remígio demonstrates her technique for creating a realistic scaly hide. For this demonstration, she hand sculpts a baby crocodile out of sugar paste over a styrofoam and aluminum foil armature. The sculpture is then carefully textured using different combinations of the small/large and firm/soft Sugar Shapers. Mixing up the shapes and sizes allows for a more organic skin texture composed of varying sized scales. To finish, the baby crocodile is dusted using Innovative Sugarworks brushes.

Watch as Innovative Sugarworks Brand Ambassador, Sachiko Windbiel prepares and plants her very own little vegetable garden cake.  Using our Firm Mini Tip Sugar Shapers and fondant, Sachiko sculpts everything from the intricate wood grain picket fence to the fresh green leaf lettuce.  The smaller head sizes found on the the Mini Shapers, make them perfect for the fine detail work often required when sculpting miniature pieces.  Not known for your green thumb?  Try this fun and delightful cake instead!  

Our community is at its best when we come together in support of one another.  We are honored to be a part of this incredibly talented group of sugar artists.  From the bottom of our heart, thank you for joining us today!  Your continued support means the world to us, and we are excited to be able to share your wonderful creations from near and far.  Please take a moment to appreciate all of these amazing Innovative Sugarworks artists shown below and see how our tools help aid in each of their unique creative processes.  May they inspire you, as they do us!

ANA FERREIRA

PORTUGAL

 As still a beginner in sculpting the shapers make it much easier to create the small details. And the brushes are amazing to create beautiful shades and blend all the colours together. 

o

ANTONELLA MARTINI

ITALY

I have the regulars, both soft and firm. And I use them all. I use the soft ones a lot to create details in my flowers because they follow the design, which I decide to give, in a very harmonious way without leaving clear detachments. I use the rigid ones less and in the bas-relief to better define the work that I then go on to perfect with the soft ones.

o

CATIA GUIDA

ITALY

I like them [Sugar Shapers] because having various different shape points I can use them for many details both in bas-relief and in modeling...

o

FAIZA SHERJEEL

PAKISTAN

I like Sugar Shapers as they are the best while modeling any figure or giving impressions to any fondant details. Those are very easy to handle.

o

GIULIA LIETO

ITALY

LOVE MINI SOFT SUGAR SHAPERS.  The ORANGE one is the tool I use the most...it eliminates imperfections...it's soft...I find it suitable for me.

o

MARIAPIA SCIARRETTA

ITALY

To start with, I love them all, I use brushes a lot because they retain the color and give me the opportunity to make smooth shades and both firm and soft sugar shapers with which I can shape the sugar paste without any difficulty.

o

RITA CANNOVA

ITALY

It’s hard to chose a favorite tool by Innovative. I prefere all tools: it depends on the technique used and what I have to realize. I can tell you the most used by me are the soft tips mini tools. I can’t paint or dust anymore without the innovative brushes, so they are my favourite to!

o

CLAUDIA OLIVEIRA

PORTUGAL

 I love the fact that the tools have two different sizes of the same shape and we can create countless details with them, they are very versatile.

o

TISSI BENVEGNA

ITALY

 I love all the products by Innovative Sugarworks.  My turntable is fantastic and all the time help me to cover my cake....

I can t model without my Sugar shapers. I use mini firm for all my decoration, texture and modelling.

Brushes are perfect to color every part of your work.

Amazing all products!

Watch as Brand Ambassador Jennifer Holst sculpts lips and a nose out of modeling chocolate.

Looking to give your cakes a little extra Wow! factor?  Sugar Structures can help aid you with all your gravity defying tricks.  Made from food-grade aluminum, they are light-weight yet strong and sturdy enough to support a cake.  The components themselves are all interchangeable and can be re-used after a simple hand washing.  Assembly is as easy as hand tightening threaded rods with varying joints and/or couplers.  Watch as Belinda Lucidi transforms a pile of seemingly random Sugar Structure pieces, into a whimsical flamingo cake.

If you are still feeling a little overwhelmed, please check out our Sugar Structure Kits designed specifically to help get you better acquainted with the system.  We have designs ranging from Simple Standing to slightly more complicated Running Four Legged.  Plus, once you have familiarized yourself with the kits, you can continue to challenge yourself with even more intricate designs using Sugar Structure Expansion Pieces.  Belinda was able to do just that by utilizing the following Sugar Structure configurations for each section of her armature in the video.

With multiple kit options and additional add-on packages, we designed this system to allow for an artists ultimate creative freedom.  We hope to inspire that same sensation of endless possibility found when opening a brand new set of K'nex or Legos.  The sky is the limit!

Relatively new to sculpting cakes?  Then check out this tutorial by Chris Aranda!  He starts by taking just a few layers of vanilla cake and some cream cheese frosting to build his base for a simple hand carved design.  Crumb coated with ganache, which is made extra smooth using a hair dryer and our Sugar Smoothers, he then covers the cake with black fondant.  Here he provides a great opportunity to explore hand sculpting with our Sugar Shapers because the pillow-like shape design doesn't need to be perfect!  He finishes his detail work with a stitching wheel, and includes hand cut and silicone formed fondant that is painted with edible gold highlighter.  I hope you grab your Artist's Brushes and follow along!

We are so excited to have Chris onboard as a Sugarworks Brand Ambassador.  Please check out some of his other work online:

Instagram:  @chrisaranda_cakedesigner

Facebook:  Chris Aranda Cake Designer