Silicone Mould Masterclass
- Material: Ensure your silicone mould is made from food-grade silicone for edible creations or high-quality silicone for crafting projects. Be careful where you purchase moulds from as there are many counterfeit moulds out there which use inferior quality silicone that may not be food safe, will rip or tear and do not have the release quality required to give you optimum results.
- Design: Select a mould that complements your project. Moulds come in various shapes and sizes, from intricate patterns to detailed figures.
2. Preparing the Mould:
- Cleaning: Wash the silicone mould with mild soap and water before the first use. Our silicone moulds are dishwasher friendly too! (Not moulds on the market are).
- Dust with Cornflour: ALWAYS dust your mould with cornflour. Use a cornflour pouch and pat it all over the mould. Tap out any excess before moulding. Do not use trex (white vegetable fat). The reason is that when you release the paste from the mould, you might want to add colours by brushing on or painting with powders. The grease will prevent you from doing this.
- Have tylose (cmc) powder to hand: Tylose(cmc) powder can be added to your sugarpaste / fondant to ensure that it will work with the moulds. The general rule is approximately 1 tsp of tylo kneaded into 250g of sugarpaste. The quantity can vary slightly depending on the brand of paste that you use. You need to bear in mind that the paste will also firm up further the few hours after the tylo is kneaded into it. Karen Davies Sugarcraft own brand sugarpaste works straight from the packet with no need to add tylo.
3. Using the Mould:
- Materials: Prepare your chosen material (chocolate, fondant, resin, etc.) according to the product instructions.
- Filling the Mould: Pour or press the material into the mould carefully, making sure to reach all the details. Make sure you fill the cavity so as your material is flat against the back of the mould.
- Leveling: Scrape excess material from the top of the mould using your fingers if using sugarpaste/ cookie dough/ clay or a spatula or knife if using a liquid substance to create a smooth surface.
- Make sure your fingers aren’t sticky: When moulding a thin piece of sugarpaste, you should also dust the back of the paste with cornflour to prevent it sticking to your fingers and lifting out of the mould too soon.
4. Setting or Baking:
- Setting Time: Sugarpaste and certain clays can be released immediately. Simply turn your mould over and peel back. Chocolate and other liquid materials will need to be left to set. Cookie dough should be released onto a lined baking tray ready for baking.
- Baking: If using for baking, follow the recommended temperature and time guidelines, such as our no-spread cookie recipe.
5. Releasing:
- Waiting Period: Ensure your creation has fully set or cooled before attempting to demould. Sugarpaste, rolled buttercream, certain clays and cookie dough can be released immediately.
- Peeling Away: Gently peel back the edges of the mould to release your creation. Flex the mould to help release the edges if necessary.
6. Cleaning and Storage:
- Cleaning Up: Wash the mould with mild soap and water. Some silicone moulds are dishwasher safe (including ours.. yippee!)
- Storage: Store the mould in a cool, dry place.
7. Tips for Success:
- Temperature Awareness: Be mindful of temperature requirements for both the material and the mould. In warmer weather
- Experiment: Don’t hesitate to experiment with colors, layers, and techniques to enhance your creations.
- Patience: Allow ample time for setting or cooling if using a liquid material to avoid damaging your masterpiece during release.
8. Advanced Techniques:
- Layering: Create multi-layered designs by building colours! When using sugarpaste use a small bone tool or ball tool to help you press different coloured pastes into different crevices.
- Painting/Decorating: After releasing, enhance your creations with additional colors or decorations. We always use edible powder colours to dust our creations and we add rejuvenator spirit to turn our powders into paints when a stronger colour is needed.
9. Safety:
- Material Safety: If using for food, ensure that the silicone mould is food-grade and has no harmful additives. Counterfeits like those on Amazon, Shein, Alibaba and Temu are more than often not food safe. If the mould seems like an absolute bargain.. there’s a reason for it. Poor quality silicone can also rip or tear.
- Ventilation: For projects involving fumes (e.g., resin casting), work in a well-ventilated area.
Remember to always follow the specific instructions provided by the manufacturer of your silicone mould and the material you are using. Happy creating!
- Published in Blog, Uncategorized
Tutorial – Winter Mitten Cookies
Winter Mitten Cookies
Keep your cakes and bakes warm this Winter with this fun winter mitten tutorial.
Make mittens using our cookie recipes and our range of knit and crochet moulds!
Watch our quick tutorial video and then follow the instructions below!
For our favourite cookie recipes click here >>> ‘How to mould and bake perfect cookies’
Equipment
Either..
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Chunky Rib Mould
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Knitted Piece Mould
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Crochet Piece Mould
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Chunky Knit Mould
And/Or..
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Rustic Cable Knit Mould
Corn Flour
Edible Glue
Various cutters such as Holly and Trees could also be used.
Instructions
- Make your cookie dough following the instructions in our ‘How to mould and bake perfect cookies’ post.
- Roll out your cookie dough until it’s 1cm thick and use your mitten cutter to cut out as many mittens as you would like.
- Place on a baking tray and bake.
- Once your mittens are baked, allow them to cool. You can either wait until your cookies are completely cool and then follow the steps below, attaching your decorations to your cookie as you go. Or you can create the decorations in advance and then simply attach on top of your cookies once the cookies have cooled.
- Colour your sugarpaste using food colouring. They look beautiful in either pastel or festive colours. We always use either Rainbow Dust or Sugar Flair food colouring.
- Start by dusting your knit/crochet effect mould with cornflour and tapping out any excess.
- Roughly roll out your sugarpaste on your work surface before placing into your mould. Start by using your fingers to press and secure your paste into one edge of the mould. Take a rolling pin and begin to roll from the edge that you have just secured. Roll firmly into the mould until you can begin to see the pattern through the back of your sugarpaste.
- Tear away any excess either with your fingers or with a palette knife before turning your mould over and peeling back. Your sugarpaste should drop out easily.
- Use your mitten cookie cutter to cut out a mitten from your moulded sugarpaste. To create a pair, simply turn your paste over so as the plain side is facing up and cut. Before cutting – make sure that the knitted pattern is running in the correct way – down or across your mitten. Place to one side.
- Now you can mould accessories for your hat using various cutters such as holly and trees or you can mould accessories from our moulds such as Rustic Cable Knit Mould, Sugar Snowflakes Mould, Baby Buttons Mould, Buttons Mould, Flower Buttons Mould.
- Mould a trim for your mittens using one of our various knit/crochet effect moulds. In the video above we have used the trim from our Knitted Piece Mould. Measure it against the cuff of your mitten before trimming to size with a cutting wheel and attaching with edible glue. You can also make trims using any of the other moulds in our knit & crochet range.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
- Published in Blog
Tutorial – Bunny bottom Easter cookies
These cute bunny bottom cookies make perfect Easter treats. Give as gifts or make with the kids this Easter! Can also be used as decorations on cupcakes and cakes.
Equipment
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Wild Meadow Mould
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Easter Bunny Mould
Small Rolling Pin
Palette Knife
Edibles
44m square cookies baked using our cookie recipe >> see here <<
Icing Sugar
Apricot Jam
Cornflour
Sugar Flair Spruce Green food colouring
Rainbow Dust Chestnut food colouring
Rainbow Dust Tangerine food colouring
Rainbow Dust powder colours – Autumn Green, Pumpkin Pie, Snow Drift, Pink Candy.
Edible Glue
1. First you will need to bake some delicious cookies using our cookie recipe! See the recipe here!
Make your dough, roll it out on to your work surface and cut cookies using a 44mm square cookie cutter. Place on a lined baking tray and bake!
2. Allow your cookies to cool on a cooling rack.
3. Colour some Karen Davies Sugarpaste pale green using Sugar Flair Spruce Green food colouring. Dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll your sugarpaste out thinly on your work surface. Use your cookie cutter to cut enough squares to cover all of your cookies.
4. Once your cookies have fully cooled, spread a thin layer of apricot jam on the top surface and attach a green square on each.
5. Colour some paste a darker Green colour using the Spruce Green food colouring.
6. Dust your Wild Meadow Mould with cornflour and tap out any excess.
7. Roll a sausage of paste wide enough to fill the top quarter of the grass on the mould and long enough to fill the width. Place on top of your mould a quarter of the way down from the top of the grass.
8. Use your fingers to press the bottom edge of your paste into the mould. This will help hold your paste in place whilst you roll the rest up to the top of the grass.
9. Use a small rolling pin to roll your paste up the top of the grass. You may need to dust the back of your paste with cornflour to stop it from sticking to your rolling pin.
10. Make sure your paste is rolled thinly and flat against the mould. Carefully cut away any excess using a palette knife. If you cut over the top of the grass you will see that your paste will remain in the grass strands and any excess will come away.
11. Turn your mould over and peel back to release your grass. You can now dust it with Autumn Green Powder colour.
12. Cut your grass into thirds. This will give you enough grass for three cookies. Repeat steps 7-11 until you have enough grass for all of your cookies.
13. Take a strip of moulded grass and bend it into a circle shape so that both ends meet. Attach the ends together with edible glue.
14. Attach the circles of grass to the centre of each cookie using edible glue. Don’t worry if there is a hole in the middle as your bunny bottom will hide it!
15. Colour different shades of pale Brown sugarpaste using Chestnut Brown food colouring.
16. Dust your Easter Bunny Mould with cornflour and tap out any excess.
17. Roll a small ball of sugarpaste and firmly press into the bunny bottom on your mould. Guide any excess paste to one edge and tear off with your thumb. Make sure your paste is flat at the back before turning your mould over peeling back to release.
18. Dust the pads on the bunnies feet using Rose powder colour.
19. Dust the tails with White powder colour.
20. Attach your bunny bottoms on top of the grass on your cookies using edible glue.
21. Colour some sugarpaste using Tangerine food colouring. Mould carrots from the Easter Bunny Mould. Dust the leaves with Autumn Green powder colour and the carrots with Pumpkin Pie powder colour before attaching to your cookies.
- Published in Blog
Cake International 2024
Join us at the world’s biggest cake show, Cake International!
A fantastic 3 day show showcasing the world’s biggest cake decoration competition, your favourite brands, offers, fantastic displays, live demos and much more!
Visit our stand E50! Directly opposite the main entrance and with our best and biggest cake display ever, we will be hard to miss!
We will have all of our latest and most popular moulds! Be quick as we are known to sell out!
Interested in a mould? Ask for a live demonstration before you make up your mind!
- Published in Events
Tutorial – Bobble Hat Cookies
Bobble Hat Cookies
Keep your cakes and bakes warm this Winter with this fun bobble hat tutorial.
Make cute bobble hats using our cookie recipes and our range of knit and crochet moulds!
Watch our quick tutorial video and then follow the instructions below!
For our favourite cookie recipes click here >>> ‘How to mould and bake perfect cookies’
Equipment
Either..
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Chunky Rib Mould
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Knitted Piece Mould
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Crochet Piece Mould
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Chunky Knit Mould
And/Or..
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Rustic Cable Knit Mould
Corn Flour
Edible Glue
Sieve
Cutting Wheel or Pizza Wheel
Palette Knife
Instructions
- Make your cookie dough following the instructions in our ‘How to mould and bake perfect cookies’ post.
- Roll out your cookie dough until it’s 1cm thick and use your bobble hat cutter to cut out as many hats as you would like.
- Place on a baking tray and bake.
- Once your hats are baked, allow them to cool. You can either wait until your cookies are completely cool and then follow the steps below, attaching your decorations to your cookie as you go. Or you can create the decorations in advance and then simply attach on top of your cookies once the cookies have cooled.
- Colour your sugarpaste using food colouring. They look beautiful in either pastel or festive colours. We always use either Rainbow Dust or Sugar Flair food colouring.
- Start by dusting your knit/crochet effect mould with cornflour and tapping out any excess.
- Roughly roll out your sugarpaste on your work surface before placing into your mould. Start by using your fingers to press and secure your paste into one edge of the mould. Take a rolling pin and begin to roll from the edge that you have just secured. Roll firmly into the mould until you can begin to see the pattern through the back of your sugarpaste.
- Tear away any excess either with your fingers or with a palette knife before turning your mould over and peeling back. Your sugarpaste should drop out easily.
- Use your bobble hat cookie cutter to cut out a hat from your moulded sugarpaste. Before cutting – make sure that the knitted pattern is running in the correct way – down or across your hat. Place to one side.
- Mould a trim for your hat using one of our various knit/crochet effect moulds. In the video above we have used our Rustic Cable Knit Mould. Measure it against the bottom of your hat before trimming to size with a cutting wheel and attaching with edible glue.
- Roll a small ball of sugarpaste and attach and gently flatten to the bobble on your hat. Lightly cover with edilble glue.
- Soften sugarpaste using Trex (white vegetable fat). Roll into balls and press through a sieve to create the fluffy bobble texture. Press through until it is the desired length. Use a palette knife to gently scrape the ‘fluff’ off and take over to your bobble. Attach to your bobble. Repeat the process 4-5 times until the bobble is covered.
- Now you can mould accessories for your hat from our various moulds such as Rustic Cable Knit Mould, Baby Buttons Mould, Buttons Mould, Flower Buttons Mould.
Oh, the weather outside is frightful!
- Published in Blog
Tutorial – Mini Bobble Hat Cakes
How To Make Mini Bobble Hat Cakes!
Keep your cakes and bakes warm this Winter with this fun bobble hat tutorial.
Make cute bobble hats using muffins or cupcakes and our range of knit and crochet moulds!
Watch our quick tutorial video and then follow the instructions below!
Equipment
Either..
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Chunky Rib Mould
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Knitted Piece Mould
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Crochet Piece Mould
And/Or..
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Chunky Knit Mould
Corn Flour
Blue, Grey, Lilac or Pink Food Colouring
Buttercream/Apricot/Chocolate
Sieve
Knife
Edible Glue
Instructions
- Colour some sugarpaste in your chosen colour.
- Take your muffin or cupcake and turn it upside down so as it’s widest point is at the bottom. Trim bottom flat if necessary. Crumb coat in buttercream (jam, chocolate etc can also be used if preffered).
- Dust which ever knit/crochet effect mould you have chosen with cornflour. Tap out any excess.
- Roll out your sugarpaste roughly on your work surface and then place on top of your mould. Use your fingers to secure the bottom edge and one side edge down into the mould before using a rolling pin to firmly roll your paste into the mould. You should start to be able to see the pattern through the back of your paste.
- Turn your mould over and peel back, your paste should peel easily out of the mould.
- If your paste looks like it’s going to be too big for your cake you can trim a little excess off. But there’s no need to be precise, you’d rather leave yourself with more to work with than too little!
- Wrap your paste around your cake and use your fingers to gently press and gather any excess together at the top. Use a sharp knife to carefully cut away any excess.
- Use a Dresden Tool to help disguise any joins. Don’t worry too much about the top as your bobble will cover it.
- Brush the top of your hat with edible glue and then roll a ball of white sugarpaste and attach on top.
- Brush around the base of your hat with edible glue and mould a trim from either the same mould or from another one of our knitted effect moulds. Trim to size before attaching using a knife or cutting wheel.
- Use a Dresden Tool to help push the paste around the top edge of your trim right up against your bobble hat so as there are no gaps showing.
- Brush the white ball on top of your hat with edible glue. Soften white sugarpaste with some Trex (white vegetable fat). Take a sieve and press a ball of sugarpaste firmly through the sieve. You can press/add more paste to the back of your piece until the strands are as long as you wish. Use a knife to scrape and lift off the ‘fluff’ carry it over to your ball of sugarpaste and use a dresden tool to help you position the fluff around the bobble. Repeat process until bobble is fully covered.
- (OPTIONAL) You can personalise your hats with various items from our other moulds such as Bows, Buttons, or knitted hearts from our Cable Knit Mould.
- Published in Blog
The Cake & Bake Show
The Ultimate Baking Event
Whether you’re a baker extraordinaire or simply a lover of extraordinary bakes, there’s something for everyone at the UK’s biggest experiential baking show. Make sure you put this year’s Cake & Bake Show dates in your diary – 22nd – 26th November 2023 at Olympia, London.
Visit us at Stand: C330! Where we will have our largest display of cake and bakes all made using our stunning range of moulds. All of our latest and most popular products will be available to purchase! Be quick as we are known to sell out!
See live demonstrations of our moulds and learn tips and tricks along the way!
- Published in Events
Rolled Buttercream Recipe
The game changer that is rolled buttercream (or butterpaste as we like to call it)!
We are loving making cakes and using our moulds with this beautiful recipe.
It’s so easy to use and tastes delicious, just like buttercream.
It’s more stable than normal buttercream and so you don’t have to stress so much about your decorations melting or sweating in warmer weather!
It dries with an outer crust but remains beautifully soft to eat on the inside. And it’s perfect for covering cakes with, no elephant skin!
We could go on and on about how much we love it but you just need to try it for yourself!!
Ingredients
- 125g unsalted butter
- 125ml corn syrup
- 500g icing sugar (plus 300g-500g for kneading)
Instructions
- Cream your butter for 10 minutes until pale and fluffy
- Slowly mix in your corn syrup
- Slowly add in 500g of icing sugar until a sticky dough is formed.
- Knead your buttercream into extra icing sugar on your work surface until a smooth ‘dough’ forms (this part is honestly so therapeutic, it’s beautifully smooth!)
- You will know that your buttercream is ready when it’s no longer sticky and is beautifully smooth and pliable
- Colour with food colouring (gel or oil based).
- If covering a cake with rolled buttercream, crumbcoat your cake first for your rolled buttercream to adhere to.
- To mould, simply dust your mould with cornflour and press your buttercream firmly in. Peel back to release. Attach to your cakes using normal buttercream or edible glue.
- Published in Recipes
Custard Cream Recipe
The perfect addition to any English garden party! A custard cream!
Follow our recipe below and use with our Afternoon Tea Mould to create your own custard creams!
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 6 – 9 minutes
Ingredients
For the biscuits:
- 225 g soft butter
- 115 g sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla flavouring if you don’t have extract
- 3 tbsp milk
- 340 g plain flour sieved
- 125 g instant custard powder
For the filling:
- 300 g icing sugar
- 150 g softened butter
- 2 tbsp instant custard powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract again use vanilla flavouring if you don’t have extract
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and sugar until they are fully mixed together.
- Mix in the vanilla extract and milk.
- Add the sieved flour and custard powder.
- Mix this all together until the ingredients produce a smooth dough.
- Flatten the dough and wrap it in cling film. Place into your fridge for about 20 mins to firm up – this makes it easier to mould the biscuits.
- Preheat your oven to gas mark 4, 180ºC, fan 160ºC.
- Dust the mould with cornflour and tap out the excess. Press small pieces of dough – approximately 10g, into the mould. Remove and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Bake in the oven and check regularly on them as they can burn quickly. You want them to be a light golden brown – this should take between six and nine minutes depending on your oven.
- Remove the biscuits from the baking tray and leave to cool on a wire rack.
- Whilst the biscuits are cooling, you can make the filling.
- Cream together the icing sugar, butter, custard powder and vanilla extract until smooth. Once the biscuits are cool, spoon a teaspoon of the filling onto a slice of biscuit and then top with another biscuit slice.
- Repeat until all your biscuits are filled full of custardy tasting deliciousness and then serve. Keep the biscuits in an air-tight container, as they will go soft if you don’t, and they should keep for a few days.
- Published in Recipes
Tutorial – Cute Christmas Teddies
Cute Christmas Teddies
These cute little teddies are the perfect addition to any Christmas cake or why not make the teddy in biscuit dough and then dress in sugar paste?
Ideal for tree decorations, gifts, table places or if you just fancy a festive treat!
They can also be used for baby showers, birthdays and christenings.
Use our cookie recipes for perfect cookies that won’t spread!
Watch our quick tutorial video and then follow the instructions below!
For our favourite cookie recipes click here >>> ‘How to mould and bake perfect cookies’
Equipment
Karen Davies Large Teddy Mould
Karen Davies Knitted Piece Mould
And/Or Karen Davies Crochet Piece Mould
Karen Davies Sugarcraft Sugar Paste in Vanilla or Marshmallow
Cornflour
Small Rolling Pin
Rainbow Dust White, Black and Pink powder colour
Selection of small paintbrushes
Edible glue
Sieve
Cutting Wheel
Palette Knife
Dresden Tool
Instructions
- Dust your Large Teddy Mould with cornflour. Turn over and tap out any excess.
- Press sugarpaste firmly into your mould. Make sure your paste isn’t going over any edges and is flat at the back. Guide any excess over to one side with your fingers and tear away.
- Turn your mould over and peel back. Your teddy should drop out easily.
- Dust his feet, ears and cheeks with Pink powder colour.
- Mould a piece of paste in your Knitted Piece Mould. Turn over and peel back to release.
- Use a cutting wheel to cut a straight edge across your piece.
- Take a palette knife and carefully cut under each of his arms so as they can lift up away from his body.
- Place your knitted paste on top to fit like a jumper. Mark where you will need to cut the neck and sides.
- Use a cutting wheel to follow these guide lines and cut out the jumper.
- Attach to your bear using edible glue.
- You can now use any left over knitted paste to make sleeves. Make the first by placing the paste over an arm and marking where you need to trim. Trim the piece with a cutting wheel to create a sleeve. You can now use this as a template to create your second sleeve. Attach to the tops of the arms using edible glue.
- Glue the arms back down to the sides of the bear.
- Use a dresden tool to neaten any joins.
- Mould another piece of paste in your Knitted Piece Mould.
- Hold against the teddies head to mark where you need to trim to make a hat. You want to create a curved triangle shape.
- Attach on one side of the teddies head. Bend the edges of the hat underneath. You can create crease lines where the hat bends with your dresden tool.
- Mix Black powder colour with ispropyl alcohol and paint the eyes and nose. You can also add eyelashes if you wish.
- Your bear can be left plain or you can use small tweezer scissors to snip the paste to make the bear look fluffy. You do this by laying your scissors flat on the surface of the bear and snipping.
- You can add trims to the jumper by moulding the trim on the Knitted Piece Mould.
- Roll a ball of paste and attach to the end of the hat as a bobble. Roll a sausage of paste and attach around the bottom of the hat to create a trim. Brush both with edible glue.
- Push paste through a sieve. Make sure your fingers aren’t sticky by dusting them with a little cornflour. Press your paste through the sieve to create ‘fluff’.
- Use a palette knife to scrape the fluff away from the sieve and attach to the trim and bobble.
- Published in Blog
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