Sugarworks Blog

Ruth Rickey is a former lawyer, administrative law judge and bakery owner.  Ruth was named the top Bakery Manager in the world for the IGA stores (3200 stores in 31 countries) in 1999, then opened Ruth’s Sweete Justice Bakery in 2000.  Ruth closed the bakery at the end of 2011, so that she could focus strictly on teaching and judging.  Ruth began a custom product line of cutters, veiners and dusting powders under the name Sugar Gypsy and has started an educational blog called SugarZen.

 Ruth has been seen on all 3 networks that have cake programming.  She won WE tv’s Wedding Cake Wars, she assisted Pat Jacoby’s team twice in their victories on TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off and she has been featured in 3 different Food Network specials about the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show.  Her cakes have graced the pages of national and international publications for years.

 Ruth was given The Sweet Life Hall of Fame award at the National Capital Area Cake Show in Virginia and the Cake Support Award at the Cake Masters Awards in Birmingham, UK.  She is also one of only a few dozen ICES Certified Master Sugar Artists in the world! 

Ruth has taught all across the US and is now teaching and demonstrating internationally.

 Today, Ruth is going to teach us how to make this stunning holiday cake using stenciling, ruffling, and hand painting techniques.

Start with a cake in your chosen size already covered in fondant.  You can use Sugar Smoothers to smooth the fondant and get crisp edges.

Put a thin layer of shortening on a non stick mat and roll out your fondant or gumpaste on the shortening coated mat. I used Sugar Gypsy's Silicone Baking Mat.

Trim the fondant and turn the paste sticky side up. Then, place your stencil on the sticky paste. I used the Ho Ho Ho stencil from 2T Stencils. 

Using a soft brush, dust the stencil with petal or luster dust. Luster dust grabs better and is less likely to smear.  I used red petal dust. 

Remove the stencil and trim the fondant into strips. Attach the strips to the cake, like ribbons on a gift box.

Next, cut out scalloped circles in red gumpaste. I used Choco Pan red gumpaste and a standard plastic circle/scalloped circle cutter set.  

Using the pointed Sugar Shaper, ruffle the edges of the scalloped circle. I used the light blue sugar shaper, regular size, in soft.  To ruffle, use your dominant hand to turn the shaper quickly back and forth, while using pressure from a finger on your non dominant hand to maintain consistent pressure. 

Repeat with three smaller scallops. Attach each scallop, larger to smaller, in the center where the ribbons meet.  Use a brooch mold to make a decorative sugar brooch to place in the center of the cake.  I used Brooch 4 from my Brooch collection at Sugargypsy.com.  Paint the brooch as desired.  I used non-toxic gold metallic luster mixed with lemon extract on the facets of the brooch and used Super Pearl luster dust mixed with lemon extract for the stone. 

For the border, cut out small scalloped circles in red gumpaste and ruffle as before. Scrunch the circles and place at the base of your cake. 

 Now stand back and admire your creation! This cake is an elegant and festive addition to any holiday event!

We hope you enjoyed this instructional by Ruth Rickey! You can follow Ruth on Facebook, subscribe to her Sugar Zen blog, or visit her online at RuthRickey.com and SugarGypsy.com.

Something about the holidays just makes me yearn for rich, decadent treats. And nothing says "Winter Holidays" to me more than peppermint and chocolate together. As a kid, rich chocolate peppermint fudge was one of my favorite treats ever. As an adult, however, the high dairy content of traditional fudge recipes is a no-go for my lately-acquired sensitive stomach.

This year, though, I was determine to have my fudge (and eat it, too!) So, I started with a fudge recipe I found on the back of a jar of Marshmallow Fluff (no, seriously) and totally hacked it to make it completely dairy, egg, and gelatin free.

And it's freaking delicious.

This recipe hinges on a new product Trader Joes has come out with. They're a type of marshmallow that contain no dairy, egg, or gelatin, relying instead on carrageenan for their consistency. Carrageenan is an extract from certain seaweeds, which sounds a bit odd (mmm, seaweedmallows...) but trust me- these marshmallows are fantastic.

So this is what you need:

Ingredients

• 1 bag Trader Joes Marshmallows
• 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons Earth Balance spread
• 2/3 cup plain non-dairy milk (i used soy this time, but almond works just as well)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 16 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup peppermint Schnapps (or 1 tablespoon peppermint extract if you're not into alcohol)

This recipe is super simple. The first thing you're going to do is combine the marshmallows, sugar, Earth Balance, soy milk, and salt in a large soup pot. Keep the heat low until the marshmallows are completely melted and you've got all the ingredients well-combined.

Then, raise the heat to medium and bring it to a boil. Once you get it boiling, keep it going for 5 minutes. I've made this a few times now, and the 5 minute rule is really spot on. I've never had any success in candy-making with the "soft ball method", so I need definite times. There's just one catch- the mixture will release some air bubbles as it heats, so make sure it's legitimately at a boil when you start the timer. If you under-boil it, it won't set quite right.

After it's boiled for 5 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla, chocolate, and peppermint. I used Peppermint Schnapps for a little boozy kick to my fudge.

If you go that route too, add it after you pour in the chocolate chips. If you add the alcohol to the boiling hot candy it'll just fizzle away. Keep stirring until the chocolate has completely melted and the candy is silky smooth.

Pour it into a greased 9x9" pan. I sprinkled some red and white sugar on top just to drive home that peppermint theme, but this is totally optional.

That's all there is to it! Just let it cool and enjoy! This is my new favorite holiday treat- rich, smooth, and so satisfying. I just might make this a treat for every holiday!

Kaysie Lackey is world-renowned for her incredible, gravity-defying 3D sculpted cakes. But how does she do it? By all laws of physics and everything you've ever learned about flour, sugar, and moisture, that cake should fall down, fall apart, sink, or sag.

But just like your own body couldn't stand up without a skeleton, those cakes have an internal structure that holds them up and keeps their form. Today Kaysie is going to teach us all about the new Sugar Structures cake armatures!

Cake Artists have known forever that you need a structure to hold up your sculpted cakes, but until now we had to rely mostly on hardware store findings: pipes, fittings, wires. These things were designed and manufactured for plumbing, not for food. They were heavy, clumsy, and had to be wrapped in plastic for health and cleanliness.

But not anymore!

Sugar Structures are made of lightweight food grade aluminum. Pop them in the dishwasher and they're clean and ready to be eaten from. For this guy, I used the 2-Legged Running kit and started by building my basic skeleton. The pipe elbows are engraved with the degree of their angle, making it super easy to build a figure in motion whose arms and legs each bend at different degree.

Next I added some foam cake boards to hold the weight of the body. This is going to be one chubby teddy! In addition to weight support, the foam boards also allow for gradual sloping of the parts I want to be rounded. You can see in the photo how I've carved out some of the foam on the bottom-most board so it sits around the metal joining. This will give my bear a more gently rounded bottom.

The blue straw on top is a bubble tea straw. These fit perfectly around the Sugar Structure rods and allow you to slide the head on and off smoothly without making multiple holes in your cake.

Next I start to add the cake. This guy is going to be about 2 feet tall, so that's a lot of cake weight I've added already, and more will come when I put on his head. The Sugar Structures are super sturdy and won't bend, warp, twist, or break. I can make this cake enormous! 

And there he is! Sugar Structures are the strongest, safest, simplest way to make a sculpted cake that will stand tall and proud through even the longest party!

We hope this gives you a good overview of our upcoming Sugar Structures cake armatures. We expect these to be hitting the shelves in the next month or two. Sign up to our email list to see the release announcement as soon as it's given!

Halloween is just around the corner, and in our house that means one thing: it's Jack-O-Lantern time!

Now personally, I'm a bit of a food waste nut. I am the queen of "I can do something with that!" Your mustard greens have gone to seed? I'll make mustard. Carrots for dinner? Don't toss those greens; I'll make pesto! Kabocha squash rind chips? Ok, this is where I usually lose people, but really- they're good.

So pumpkin carving kind of kills me just a little bit. All that potential food used as home decor! But at least I can salvage the cast offs- roast the seeds and use the carved out hunks to make pumpkin goodies.

After this week's pumpkin carving night, I cranked out some delicious, Halloweeny chocolate chip pumpkin cookies.

Ingredients

• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk (or whatever type of milk you prefer)
• 1/4 cup molasses 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2.5 cups flour
• A whole lotta chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet)

Pumpkin Prep

The first thing you'll need to do it prepare your pumpkin. Gather all the big chunks you cut out of your Jack-O-Lantern and pile them in a pan. Use a pan with a lid to prevent the chunks from drying out in the oven. Bake at 425f until the pieces are very soft. This will vary a bit depending on what sort of face you gave your Jack-O-Lantern and if it resulted in big chunks of pumpkin or small ones. But expect somewhere between 25 and 45 minutes.

Once it's cooked squishy, scrape the pumpkin meat off the skin and into a food processor. Puree it until it's smooth.

Cookie Creation

Combine the pumpkin puree, sugar, molasses, almond milk, and vanilla extract until well mixed. Stir in the cinnamon, gloves, and ginger.

Add the flour, salt, and baking soda and stir until smooth. Because of the pumpkin base, this dough will be softer than other cookie doughs. Fold in as many chocolate chips as you like.

Drop by spoonful onto cookie sheets and bake at 375f for 8-10 minutes. These are soft and chewy cookies so they'll look puffy and feel slightly firm when they're done.

For an extra Halloween touch, while the cookies are still warm, use your pointed tip Sugar Shaper to draw out the warm chocolate of any exposed chocolate chips to make them into little chocolate spiders.

That's it! You've saved some good, edible food from the compost bin and made some delicious cookies in the process! Trick or Treat!

The problem with being known in your social circle as the one who does "fancy cakes and sweet things" is that it becomes expected that you'll show up to any gathering or event with something adorable and quirky. Gone are the days when you can show up to a party with a bag of chips and a jar of salsa.

Unfortunately, friends and family don't always understand the time involved in your work. Compromises must be made.

These stencil-topped Oreos are a quick and simple way to bridge the gap between "I stopped on the way here and bought a bag of chips" and "I spent 14 hours making cake-pops for your party."

Crafting Your Stencils

You don't even need to stop by the supply store for stencils- we're going to make our own. All you'll need is some card stock, an Exacto knife, and, if you've got any, hole punches (shaped or circular, let your tools guide your vision on this one). And of course you'll need your Sugar Smoothers and Stencil Genie™ for the stenciling.

Trace the size of an Oreo onto your card stock, but don't cut this part out when you make your stencil- it's just a guide. Inside the circle, draw whatever shape you want to be on your cookie. Don't go too close to the edges of the circle; these will be the edges of the cookie when you stencil and it'll get a bit messy if it bleeds over the edge. Then just cut out with your Exacto knife. You can also use your punch to punch a shape, or shapes inside the cookie circle.

That's all there is to it. You've just made a stencil. Now do a couple more so you have some variety.

Crafting Your Cookies

Now all you need to do is stencil on the icing. Oreos have a texture that makes stenciling directly onto the cookies sloppy, so I cut out circles of white fondant and topped the cookies with them. I also dyed my icing orange and purple for Halloween. You can use any icing you like for this; you can even just buy a can of frosting at the store. (Remember- these are party snacks and you're not being paid. ;)

Load your stencil into your Stencil Genie™. It doesn't need to be the exact size of the Genie; the magnets will hold it in place just fine. And center your cookie beneath your stencil.

Spoon some icing over your stencil and use your Sugar Smoother to scrape off the excess.

The small sized Sugar Smoothers fit perfectly inside the Stencil Genie™.

Repeat until all your cookies are stenciled and you're done!

Quick, easy, and cute enough for a casual Halloween party with your pals!

Nayda Hernandez is the self-taught talent known throughout the cake world as W.E. Sugarart. After leaving a successful career in the medical field to spend more time with her children, Nayda stumbled into the world of cake art while attending a birthday party. The party's beautiful fondant cupcake toppers inspired her to seek out online classes and tutorials and try her own hand at the craft. 

Nayda's work is is often described as whimsical and playful. She specializes in sculpted child figures, often incorporating costumes and props reminiscent of childhood folly. Nayda frequently shares her work on her Facebook page and her Instagram.

Just in time for Halloween, Nayda is joining us at Innovative Sugarworks to teach you how to make this adorable fondant Scarecrow and its Jack-O-Lantern companion!

Supplies/Tools Needed:

• Gumpaste/fondant in pastel colors: 3 shades of tan (very light, light, & medium), light blue, pale yellow, salmon, watermelon, white
• Gel paste colors: baby blue, white, tangerine, ivory, khaki
• Watermelon petal dust
• Soft Mini Tip Sugar Shapers
• Cutters: 4” & 2.25’ circle cutters, mini heart cutter, mini diamond cutter, mini square cutter
• detailing paint brushes
• dotting tool
• wood skewer
• 1.4” floral foam ball
• Shortening
  
  

Part 1: The Scarecrow

Step 1:
Start with 130g of light blue gumpaste/fondant and roll into a sausage shape with tapered ends. Fold your sausage in half to form an inverted ‘V’. This will be your scarecrow's pants. Cut off the ends so you have 3” from the top to the end of each leg. Then use the smaller end of the bone chisel sugar shaper (orange) to create creases or folds in the legs. Set aside to firm up before adding the torso.

Step 2:
Take 84g of your gumpaste/fondant in the lightest shade of tan (ivory) and roll/shape into a teardrop shape. Flatten the bottom so you can place it on the pants after it has dried. Set this aside.

Step 3:
Roll out a 2” x 4” piece of light blue gumpaste/fondant and cut off the corners as shown in the photo (this will be the upper part of the overalls). Place the torso on the light blue altered rectangle (make sure to flip over your light blue piece so the nice side is the side that will be showing). The torso should be slightly closer to the back so that when you fold them up the front portion will be higher than the back. Once you are happy with the placement, moisten the torso & attach the front/back of the overalls.

Step 4:
Cut out a small rectangle of the light blue gumpaste/fondant that you will use to make a pocket for the front of the overalls, moisten the piece then attach to the front of the torso. Use the smaller end of the square tip chisel (yellow) to make some stitches around the edges of the overall along the front & pocket as shown in the photo. Use the chisel to pull out the pocket so it will look like it is slightly open.

Step 5:
Take the wooden skewer and rub some shortening on it so you can insert it easily through the center of the torso/legs, then cut the skewer so you have about 1.5” above the torso to place the head once it is ready. Once you are happy with the placement of the body, remove the skewer and set aside both pieces to dry overnight.

Step 6:
Grab the 1.4” floral foam ball & 72g of the light tan gumpaste/fondant. Flatten the ball of gumpaste/fondant and rub some shortening on the side that will be against the ball. Wrap the gumpaste/fondant around the ball and roll until you get all the cracks out and end up with a smooth ball.

Step 7:
Press gently with your thumbs at the eye level in order to obtain cheeks. Using your little finger, gently press to form the jaw/chin and neck of the face. You can cut off any excess gumpaste/fondant but make sure to leave just enough for the neck.

Step 8:
Using the smaller end of the round tip chisel (green) make two holes where the eyes will be. Place a small ball of white fondant in each eye socket.

Step 9:
Using the large end of the bone chisel make a hole where the mouth will be. Roll a small piece of the watermelon colored gumpaste/fondant to place around the mouth to form the lips as shown in the photo.

Step 10:
Cut out two small circles of the light blue gumpaste/fondant and place on the eyes, then color the edges with the blue gel paste (you can thin it out with a bit of water or Everclear). Apply some of the watermelon color petal dust to the cheeks. Take a piece of the darkest shade of tan gumpaste/fondant and form a small triangle/pyramid shape for the nose, moisten and place it on the face. Then mix a bit of white/ivory gel colors to achieve a cream color. Take your dotting tool and make three dots along each side of the mouth. Then with the fine detailing brush make two “X” as shown in the photo.

I like to take a skewer to make the hole in the head at this stage, so that once it is dry I don’t have to worry about damaging the face when placing it on the body.

Step 11:
Roll out four cone shapes (2 small & 2 large) to form the top and bottom eyelashes for your scarecrow. Moisten the top and bottom of each eye at the lash line, place the lashes as shown in the photo, and cut off the excess.

Step 12:
At this point, your pants and torso should have had time to dry over night. Assemble your scarecrow by re-inserting the wood skewer in the hole and stacking pants, torso, and head.

Now, take the ivory gumpaste/fondant, roll it out, and cut a thin strip that will be used to form the collar of the shirt. Moisten, then place the strip around the neck. Using the smaller end of the bone chisel, make some creases/folds in the collar.

Step 13:
Cut out a mini heart in the watermelon colored gumpaste/fondant, moisten and attach to the front pocket of the overalls. Use the pointed chisel (light blue) to make holes along the edge of the heart.

Step 14:
Roll two cone shapes (19g each) in the ivory gumpaste/fondant for the arms. Use the pressure of your little finger to give the arms a bend at the elbows. Pinch the end of each sleeve so they flare out slightly. Moisten the inside part of the arms and attach to the torso so the forearms are slightly resting on the thighs.

Step 15:
Cut out several pieces of gumpaste/fondant in several colors and shapes, they will be used as patches on the overalls and hat of your scarecrow.

Step 16:
Roll out and cut two 3” strips of the light blue gumpaste/fondant for the suspenders and roll out some of the pale yellow gumpaste/fondant to cut in very thin pieces of various lengths for the straw. Attach the suspenders to your figure's overalls and moisten the the ends of the sleeves and pants to attach some pieces of the pale yellow “straw”.

Step 17:
Roll two small balls of the light tan gumpaste/fondant for the hands. Flatten one end of each ball and cut a small triangle so you have two pieces that look like mittens. Clean/smooth out the edges and then moisten and attach the hands to the end of each sleeve.

Step 18:
Cut a round piece of the pale yellow gumpaste/fondant, moisten and attach to the back of the head. Then moisten and attach more of the yellow straw all around the head for the scarecrow's hair.

Step 19:
Roll out the medium tan fondant and cut a 4” circle for the brim of the hat and use the tri tip chisel to give it some texture. Moisten the top of the head and attach the hat to the top of the scarecrow's head.

Step 20:
Roll two teardrop shapes of the medium tan gumpaste/fondant and flatten the smaller end to make the shoes, moisten and attach to scarecrow.

Step 21:
Roll a thick piece of medium tan fondant and cut a circle using your 2.25” round cutter for the top of the hat. Roll and cut another thin strip of light blue gumpaste/fondant for the sash of the hat, moisten and attach to the hat. Now you can place some of your patches onto the hat, elbows, and along the legs of the scarecrow.

Part 2: The Jack-O-Lantern Friend and Bag of Treats

Step 1:
Take 38g of the melon colored gumpaste/fondant and roll into a smooth ball. Start with the tri tip chisel (red) and create 6 indentations from top to bottom, trying to space them out evenly. Use the pointed chisel (light blue) to soften/clean up the indentations you created on your pumpkin. Next take the large end of the bone chisel to make the eyes and the small end to make the mouth.

Step 2:
Using the mini heart cutter, cut out two hearts to use as leaves in the khaki colored gumpaste/fondant (I took a bit of the ivory and added just a touch of the khaki gel paste). Then roll out two very thin pieces for the tendrils and another small teardrop shape for the stem. Attach all your pieces to the pumpkin.

Step 3:
Roll two small balls of the medium tan gumpaste/fondant for the eyes and place in the eye sockets. With our fine detailing brush, paint some eyelashes & eyebrows with the ivory gel paste. Brush some watermelon petal dust along its cheeks and, if you want, roll a small ball of watermelon gumpaste/fondant for a nose.

Step 4:
Grab the medium tan gumpaste/fondant and form a 1” x 2” rectangle that will be a brown paper bag. Take your fingers and pinch all the edges of the rectangle to give it a worn look.

Step 5:
Moisten the top of the bag and attach some more straw.

Step 6:
Cut a small piece of the light blue gumpaste/fondant, moisten and attach to the front of the bag. Using a dotting tool, make a dot in each corner. With a detailing brush and peach gel color (I used white with a touch of tangerine) paint “TRICK OR TREAT” on the bag and use the dotting tool to apply color to the dots on each corner.

Step 7:
Next layer strips of the ivory, melon, and watermelon gumpaste/fondant and cut out several triangles to use as candy corn. Moisten the top of the bag and the left palm of the scarecrow and arrange/attach the candy corn.

And voila! You now have the most adorable edible scarecrow ever!

We hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and are inspired to try out some of these techniques in your own work! Nayda encourages all of you to customize your scarecrow to fit your personal vision. And she would love to see how people use her tutorial in their own art, so if you try out her lesson, go ahead and post pics of your creations on her Facebook page!

Sometimes you don't want a lot out of cookie, just a plain and simple "serve with your tea" style cookie. And sometimes you just want to get right down to the fun part- the decorating, and you don't want to spend a lot of time on the making and baking of the cookie part.

These simple, three-step Sugar Cookie Crisps are the perfect versatile cookie- they're simply delicious all on their own, and they make a great cookie base for decorating.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Earth Balance buttery spread
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/8 cup vanilla almond milk
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Step One: The Soggy Stuff

Cream the sugar and Earth Balance together. Then add the almond milk and vanilla extract and stir until it's all well combined.

Step Two: The Doughening

Add your remaining dry ingredients- salt, soda, baking powder, and flour- and mix until thoroughly and evenly combined. You should have a nice dough.

Refrigerate for at least an hour. 

Step Three: Cookies!

Flour a flat work surface. Roll out your dough to about 1/8" - 1/4" thick. Cut out your shapes and place them on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for about 8 minutes. They're done when the edges just begin to golden.

Use a spatula to remove them from the cookie sheets and place them on cooling racks while they're still warm. If you let them cool too much they can be hard to get off the sheets, especially if you rolled them out thinner.

And now you either have delicious crispy sugar cookies, or you are ready to begin decorating!

Labor Day has passed. The kids are back at school. Summer is definitely winding down. And if you're a backyard gardener like me, you are sick to death of zucchini.

Zucchini is a lot of fun early in the season- it grows fast, it's the first to fruit, it thrives in nearly every climate, and it can seemingly withstand all conditions of hardship. It is the viking of the vegetable patch.

It also makes a whole heckuva lot of food.

By late summer, you're drowning in zucchini. They never stop growing! You pick one zucchini longer than your arm and a half dozen smaller ones burst forth nearly instantly. You've steamed them, sauteed them, skewered them, and stir-fried them. You've braised them, broiled them, and breaded them. You've made them into those trendy "zucchini noodles" that really don't pass for real noodles no matter what the health fad magazines say. 

Your friends have stopped inviting you over because they know you'll bring zucchini.

What do you do with it all?

Well, personally, by this point in the season I feel I've paid my dues in healthy summer home-grown vegetable eating and I'm ready to mash them all up with sugar and spice and make myself a treat.

It is time for zucchini bread!

If I'm baking for myself, I feel like the stakes are pretty low. (Meaning if it turns out truly awful I can quietly slip it in the compost bin and no one is any the wiser...) So I tend to make my own recipes. This one turned out pretty fab (an opinion validated by my two roommates, who scarfed it down in a day,) so I'm going to walk you through what I did.

The first thing I did was a quick internet search on quickbreads just to get a sense  of basic proportions (flour:sugar:fat) commonly used. The I rummaged through my cupboards to see what I had on hand that sounded good in zucchini bread.

This is what I came up with:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups zucchini
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or whatever type of milk you enjoy)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar 
• 3 tablespoons dark molasses 
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar (honey is fine also)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 cups flour
• Semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Walnuts
• A few pinches of turbinado sugar

 Step One: Wet stuff

Grate 1 cup of the zucchini. Put the other cup in the food processor. It doesn't need to be pureed, but it should be processed down to tiny chunks. Put all the zucchini in a mixing bowl.

Add the oil, milk, molasses, agave, and vanilla extract. Mix it up. Then add your sugar and mix some more. Set this bowl aside for a minute.

Step Two: Dry stuff

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. You can sift all this if you want, but it's not crucial to do so. Just mind the baking soda. Nobody likes clumps of baking soda in their snack.

Step Three: Two worlds collide

Add the dry mixture to the wet, sugary, zucchini pulp in the mixing bowl. Stir it up until you have a nice batter. Fold in as many chocolate chips and walnuts as fits your taste. I was real heavy on the chocolate chips, but lighter on the walnuts. 

Step Four: The final stretch

Pour your batter into a greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan. I like to sprinkle a little turbinado sugar on top for a little sugary crunch in the top crust.

Bake at 350f for about 50 minutes. I've found over the years that bake times can vary a lot among home ovens, so start checking your bread around 45 minutes. When you can poke a knife through to the bottom and it comes out mostly clean, it's ready.

And there you have your Chocolate Chip Walnut Zucchini Bread! 

Not only is this the best zucchini bread I've made so far, but it might be the most delicious end-of-summer zucchini disposal you could hope for. 

When I was experimenting with Sugar Shapers for the very first time, I learned something pretty cool- they work just as well for traditional art media as they do for edible media!

This opened worlds of possibilities for me. I'll be honest- I don't like baking. I love cake as art, but the hours of kitchen work ahead of time just to get to the sculpting part? Ugh. Last time I tried that I burnt through an entire season of Peaky Blinders on Netflix before I even got to the fondant.

But clay? Ok, it doesn't taste as good, but you get right to the fun part! And since it doesn't get eaten, you can show it off to your friends forever. 

It's also really great to be able to practice on something that doesn't go bad and can be reused. Clay or modeling compound are perfect for that, and Sugar Shapers work great with either.

So, I've been reading The Mists of Avalon recently and my mind is all aswirl with this ancient Druidic imagery- the Lady of the Lake, the Moon Goddess, the Horned One... you get the idea. I decided I wanted to sculpt the skull of the Horned One. (You know, in case the rite of the Ancient Challenge ever needs to be performed in my living room. It could happen...)

I used oven-bake polymer clay for this and started with just a big, round blob of clay. I first just made dots with my Bone Chisel Sugar Shaper to mark off where I wanted the eye sockets and nasal cavity to be. Then I used my firm-tip Bone Chisel (the orange shaper) to begin the eye sockets by pressing in and moving the shaper in increasingly large circles.

Continue widening your circles, letting the clay build up into a ridge outlining the sockets. Don't worry if your ridges get too high- you can blend them down later. Use the edge of your shaper to shape your sockets. Remember, eye sockets aren't perfect circles and no skull is perfectly symmetrical. Don't be afraid to give your skull some character.

For the nasal cavity, I used the larger end of my bone chisel to start the two sides of the cavity at its bottom, then switched to the smaller end of the chisel to extend the cavity upwards, narrowing to a rounded point at the top. Again, I let the clay build up a bit around the edges of the cavity, especially at the top. This top ridge of bone is what would be the bridge of the nose if flesh were present.

The teeth were the most fun part. I started with my Lip Chisel (the purple/periwinkle one). While this chisel was specifically designed to sculpt lips, it's surprisingly ideal for teeth, as well. If you press the whole chisel head into your clay, you get a really good tooth shape. I used the larger end and just stamped out a line of them.

I then went in with my Pointed Chisel and scraped out the clay in between the teeth. I smoothed down any rough edges this created with the edge of the shaper.

Next I used my soft tip Round Chisel (the green one) to add some dimension to the area where the teeth insert into the upper jaw bone. Press the tip of the chisel into the clay at the top of the tooth shape and pull outward just slightly.

Add some more dimension by using your bone chisel to make indentations in between each tooth and pull upward toward the nasal cavity. The teeth roots extend upward into the jawbone, leaving slight recesses in between each root. You can use either the firm or soft tips for this, depending on how much you want to exaggerate the gaps.

And just for fun, I roughed up the teeth a bit. I bent one front one in towards its partner, broke off pieces of a couple, and added a slightly jagged texture to the bottoms of them all.

Now we have our skull; it's time to make it the Horned One.

I took two little blobs of clay and stuck them to the upper sides of the skull, above and inward from the temples, for the horn bases. Lacking a convenient supply of deer antlers, I just used sticks from my yard. They'll be taken out when the clay is baked, but for now leave them in to hold the shape, I used my firm tip Pointed Chisel like a pencil to draw some texture lines onto the horn bases.

I decided my skull should have a crack above one of its eyes. (It's an ancient relic; it can't have survived all those year undamaged.) So I used my Pointed Chisel to draw on the crack and then my Square Chisel (the yellow one) to widen the crack and give it some depth.

Here's a really cool thing I learned with this project- your Bone Chisel is an eraser! I decided i made too many crack lines and wanted to back-track a bit. I used the larger end of my Bone Chisel and rubbed it gently back and forth over the unwanted lines, just like an eraser. And the lines just disappeared, completely smoothly.

And there's your skull of the Horned One! 

Add a little paint and some rose thorns and you're done!

Margherita Ferrara is one of the hottest talents in European cake art. With a background in fashion and a corresponding eye for style, Margherita's work is both unique and distinct. 

Margherita's creations range from the ultra-realistic to highly stylized caricatures, yet each piece exemplifies her careful attention to intricate detail and her remarkable ability to capture expression.

Margherita is the founder and owner of Fashflower's Cake in Florence, Italy. She also travels the world teaching cake design classes, and is our newest brand ambassador, representing Innovative Sugarworks in Italy and the European Union.

Today she is going to walk us through the making of this incredible Patrick Dempsey cake topper for a Seattle/Grey's Anatomy themed cake.

Materials Needed:

• Modelling sugarpaste
• Dust food color
• Gel color
• Brush
• Innovative Sugarworks Sugar Shapers
• Innovative Sugarworks Mini-Tip sugar Shapers (optional)
• Airbrush

The Basic Face

First, take a ball of sugarpaste to build an oval. With a light pressure of your finger, mark the indentation of the eyes about halfway up the oval.

The Nose

Lay your Bone Chisel Sugar Shaper along one side of your eye indentation and press softly inward toward the center of the face to start to build up the bridge of the nose. This will also help to further mold your eye sockets. Use your fingers to build up the sides of the nose by pressing inward and out, continuing from the bridge you just made.

Use your Bone Chisel Sugar Shaper for the nostrils. The firm Bone Chisel Shaper is great for making the basic form of the septum. Then I like to use the larger end of the soft Bone Chisel Shaper to press upward into my nose, making small circular motions to expand the nostril. Last, use the smaller end of your Bone Chisel Shaper to define the edges of the nostril against the face.

The Mouth

With your Pointed Chisel Sugar Shaper, make a line a little wider than his nose to begin the mouth. Next, use your Round Tip Sugar Shaper to pull the sugarpaste slightly outward from the mouth line to add lip volume to your mouth. Finish your mouth by using your Bone Chisel Shaper to press beneath the bottom lip, adding shape to the lip and smoothing into the chin.

The Cheeks

Mold the shape of the cheeks and cheekbones with light pressure from your fingers, and add creases and anatomical features with your Bone Chisel Mini Sugar Shaper (or the smaller end of your regular shaper if you don't have the Minis).

The Eyes

Use your Pointed Chisel Sugar Shaper to lightly mark the lines of the eyes. Check that both eyes are level with one another, then apply more pressure with your Pointed Chisel to deepen the lines. Remember that your eyelids are separate features from your eyeball- pressing upward into the sugarpaste along the line you've drawn for your eyelid will give dimension and reality to your design.

The Finishing Touches

Paint the eye bases with white dust and leave to dry. Once they're dry, use blue gel color to paint in the irises, and use the tip of your Mini Bone Chisel Shaper (or the smaller end of your regular Bone Chisel) to dab in the pupil with black gel color.

Paint the lips with red dust color and apply a thin cylinder of black sugarpaste along the eyelid for eyelashes.

Make two small ovals out of sugarpaste for his ears. Flatten them out a bit, smooth them onto his head with your fingers, and press in and up with your Bone Chisel Sugar Shaper to sculpt the ear canal and inner ear structure.

Use black gel color to draw the eyelashes down a bit. Then apply a cylinder of black sugarpaste above each eye for the eyebrows. Use your Pointed Chisel Sugar Shaper to add shape and texture to the brows.

 
Apply black sugarpaste all over his head, and use your Pointed Chisel Sugar Shaper to add hair texture and style into a Dempsey-like 'do.

Use dust colors to give him a few final details- brush on a little chin stubble and add some depth and shadow to his features.

And there you are! Your Patrick Dempsey cake topper is ready for your next Grey's Anatomy party!

We hope you liked Margherita's tutorial! You can learn more about Fashflower's Cake, and see more of Margherita's work on her website. You can also follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Birthday Mischief is a Cake Art project inspired by J.K Rowling's Harry Potter book series. Founded in 2014 by Michelle “ChefMitchie” Curran of Mitchie's Munchies in Las Vegas, the idea was to celebrate Rowling's birthday (which, incidentally is also Harry Potter's birthday) with cakes inspired by her magical world placed in locations connected to the book series.

The project was such a success they've decided to continue it annually. This year, with the upcoming release of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film, the Birthday Mischief crew decided to focus their cakes on the magical creatures described in Rowling's faux-textbook of the same name.

Many of the talented and renowned cake artists participating in Birthday Mischief used Innovative Sugarworks Sugar Shapers in their creation, and Chef Mitchie sent us photos of their amazing work. We've decided to compile them here where you can see a whole collection of Fantastic Beasts!

Drew the Dragon, Ukrainian Ironbelly

Artist: Berenice Rabago of Berry's Sweet Studio

This shy dragon has the power to transfigure anything into beauty. He is known for his sage advice and his love of pumpkin spice flavored popcorn.

Dwendino the Erkling

Artist: Lyle Clemente of Cake My Day Abu Dhabi Dy's CMD

Dwendino was one of the last of the now extinct Erklings to be captured and studied. Their uncontrollable tempers and insatiable cravings for human children's flesh caused them to be hunted into extinction by protective humans. 

Pattersyn the Plimpy

Artist: Ruth Rickey of Sugar Gypsy

Plimpies are harmless but annoying aquatic creatures. They pester swimmers and nibble the toes of bathers.

Nundu

Artist: Corinna Maguire of Lovin From the Oven

The Nundu is a leopard-like beast found in East Africa. It is an aggressive animal and emits a lethal gas through vents in its mouth. The nundu generally feeds on large mammals, but is known to have a weakness for aroma-inducing herbaceous foods such as beans, prunes, and garlic.

Scrufflefluff the Griffin and his human, Ash

Artist: Heather Sherman of Art2Eat Cakes

Scrufflefluff and Ash are best friends. Ash was raised high in the mountains, and spent much time alone in forests and meadows. Scrufflefluff was discovered by Ash as an injured kitten-chick, who simultaneously discovered previously un-tapped magical powers while defending the scruffy baby from the ignorant muggles who were "family".  The two fled, and lived in a dry, sweet cave in happy harmony together.

Ash healed the baby's broken leg, and would laugh at Scrufflefluffs baby antics. Ash gave Scruffle his name for his very un-griffinlike and highly undignified crest of silly fluff that pops up whenever Scruffle is intrigued or happy. They are adorable baby feathers that have remained even after several moultings. The two have been fast friends ever since. Ash never shirked the (bloody) responsibility of the proper feeding of a Griffin kitten-chick, bringing Scruffle many rabbits until he learned to hunt them himself. Then Scruffle hunted for them both! It is nearly impossible to win the unbreakable devotion of a Griffin, to the point where they will share food.

When Hogwarts heard of the pair, Ash was extended an Invitation by Owl to attend Hogwarts, in Specialized Research of Creature Studies. Now, while Scrufflefluff wings about on his own (looking for lady Griffins), he returns frequently to Ash's eyrie tower room for cuddle-snuggles and rabbit tidbits. Ash has been spotted clambering onto Scruffle's back periodically and taking wild flights at all hours. Scrufflefluff is naturally the beloved live Mascot of Gryffindor, who welcomed Ash with wide open arms as long-lost kin.  Hogwarts visitors are advised to look for Scruffle's Orange Ribbon (normally tied at his throat), and if they see a Griffin approaching to please hold all spells.

Sira the Ashwinder

Artist: Renay Zamora of Sweetface Cakes

The Ashwinder is a fascinating creature. It lives for only one hour before turning to ash, yet manages to lay a full nest of eggs in that time. It eats nothing.

Antipodean Opaleye Dragon

Artist: Mike Guerrero of Mad Mike's Cakes

The Antipodean Opaleye is a solitary and territorial dragon breed. They neither fear humans nor consider them prey, but will attack if threatened.

Billywigs

Artist: Laura Burton of Dalton Cupcakes

Billywigs are swarm creatures. When threatened, they will coordinate to disorient a potential predator and can unite to sting as a unit. Billywigs feed on Bowtruckles and Flobberworm mucus. Their eggs are used in potion-making and their stings are highly valued by sweets manufacturers.

Lethifold

Artist: Hailey Harris of Hailey's Sweet Temptations

The Lethifold is a silent and fast predator. It moves in the blink of an eye and kills its prey so swiftly there is never time for escape. As a creature of darkness, the smallest bit of light terrifies the Lethifold.

Silver Spur the Hippocamus

Artist: Irina Salazar of Enna's Cake Design

The Hippocamus is a gentle creature who will only attack in defense. Generally invisible, it will show itself only in the presence of magic. 

Common Welsh Green Dragon

Artist: Jarid Altmark of Jarid's Awesome Cakes

This particular specimen of Welsh Green was clearly a juvenile. He has a propensity for exaggeration, dominates any conversation with his chatter, is highly sensitive, and demonstrates a lack of consideration for others. He is also surprising adept at Parkour for such a large and ungainly creature.

Jarvey

Artist: Cynthia Lorow of The Vagabond Baker

The Jarvey spends most of his day beneath the sodden ground of Britain's farmlands and forests, coming out only to feed on moles and gnomes or to bombard a weary farmer with his scurrilous remarks delivered rapidly and thoughtlessly. Woe to the hapless human who surprises this boorish beast, as a startled Jarvey has been known to sink his sharp teeth into the tender flesh of an ear or an ankle drawing blood and rancor whilst hurling insults at his victim through blood stained teeth!

Garden Gnome

Artist: Jaclyn Dinko of Cake'D Out Creations

Gnomes are a common pest in magical gardens. They feed on worms and the roots of vegetable plants. More a nuisance than a danger, gnome populations can be controlled by introducing Jarveys into the environment.

Chimaera

Artist: Jacqui Kelly of Totally Sugar

From Greek origins - Chimera traditionally are created from three different animals: lion, goat and serpent. However, in the mystical world, this little hatching has the body and one head of a Welsh Green Dragon. The second head is from a Pegicorn, which is a mix of Unicorn and Pegasus, and the final head comes from the Fantastical Phoenix.

We hope you've enjoyed these Fantastic Beasts! Check back soon- we'll be adding more over the next few days!