People often look at cakes and question ‘where did they get the idea from’? ‘where did they begin in making that’? and ‘I wonder how long that took them’? Here, Christina Ludlam answers all of these probing questions and more..

Farmyard Cookies

Which is your favourite cookie?

I love the horse cookie.  I was really pleased with how the barn doors turned out and the horse has such a cute face.  The horse cookie really makes me smile.

Which moulds did you use?

I used the Farm Animals Mould, Rustic Wicker Mould, Rustic Basketweave Mould and the Rustic Driftwood Mould.

How did you make the metal pieces on the barn door backgrounds?

For the metal bracing, I cut two narrow strips of grey sugarpaste and indented them at intervals with a #1 piping tube to indicate the bolts.  I painted the bolts with black food colour paste.

What size cookie cutter did you use?

These cookies were made using a 7 cm round cutter.

What cookie recipe did you use?

I used the recipe provided on the Karen Davies Sugarcraft website (200g sugar, 200g unsalted butter, 400g plain flour and 1 egg).

What dust colours did you use?

I used Sugarflair Nutkin Brown, Skintone, Primrose and Autumn Gold.  I also brushed a little cocoa into the woodgrain.

How long did they take you to make?

These cookies were very quick to make, thanks to Karen and Alice’s beautiful moulds.  In fact, I think it probably took me longer to colour the sugarpaste than it did to decorate the cookies.

How far in advance could I make these?

The toppers for these cookies can be made weeks in advance.  Simply cut out and decorate the sugarpaste toppers then store them on parchment paper until required.  To keep them soft, store them in an airtight container until required.  If you prefer them to set harder, allow them to dry in a cardboard box.  When you’re ready to decorate your cookies, use a little royal icing, piping gel or jam to attach the sugarpaste toppers.

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

44mm square cookie cutter

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

Karen Davies Sugarpaste

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.

People often look at cakes and question ‘where did they get the idea from’? ‘where did they begin in making that’? and ‘I wonder how long that took them’? Here, Alice answers all of these probing questions and more..

What inspired you to make this cake?

I love Winter, it is my favourite time of year. I had recently made mini muffin bobble hats using our range of Knit & Crochet Moulds and they were so popular I just knew I had to make a large one.

What was your starting point?

I baked two deep 8″ round sponge cakes and stacked them. I dowelled the cakes and then carved them into the shape of a bobble hat.

How did you create the texture?

Once I had carved my cakes I then crumb coated them and used our Crochet Piece Mould to mould 5-6 pieces of crochet to attach to my cake. Disguising the joins is really easy with a Dresden Tool and I aimed to have my joins running down the cake in a straight line as I knew I would later be able to cover them with the Cable Knit.

What food colouring did you use?

I coloured Karen Davies Sugarcraft Sugarpaste using Rainbow Dust Grey gel colour.

How did you create the mitten?

I moulded two pieces of Crochet from the Crochet Piece Mould. I turned one piece over so as the crochet pattern was against my work surface and left one piece so as the pattern was facing up. I then gently placed my hand on top of each piece and cut around it using a Cutting Wheel. I kept my four fingers tight together and stuck my thumb out to one side to create the mitten shape. I then stuck the two gloves together using edible glue and used a Dresden tool to disguise the joins.

How did you create the cuff?

I moulded our Chunky Rib Mould and cut a long rectangle piece about 1/3 of the size. I brushed edible glue on the back of the piece and folded it over. I then cut away any excess so as it was the right size.

How did you create the fluffy bobble?

First, roll a ball of sugarpaste slightly smaller than you wish your bobble to be and attach it to the top of your cake. Brush the ball with edible glue. Next, you will need a metal sieve and some trex (white vegetable fat). Soften your sugarpaste by kneading in trex. You want it soft enough that it will push through the sieve easily but will keep its shape (stand on end). Take a ball of sugarpaste and press it through the back of your sieve with your fingers until the strands are your desired length. Remove the strands by carefully wriggling a palette knife at the base of the paste against the sieve and carry the strands over to your bobble. Use a Dresden Tool to help get the strands off your knife and into position.

How did you create the cables and accessories?

They’re all from our Rustic Cable Knit Mould! The cable is the largest cable on the mould and the little knitted heart on the hat and cog button on the glove are on there too.

How long did this cake take you from start to finish?

This cake was really quick to make! I’m usually very slow and fuss over every tiny detail but this surprised me and only took me 3 hours!

People often look at cakes and question ‘where did they get the idea from’? ‘where did they begin in making that’? and ‘I wonder how long that took them’? Here, Christina Ludlam answers all of these probing questions and more..

What inspired you to make this cake?

One of the classes I teach at my sugarcraft school is a watering can cake class and as soon as I saw the Succulent Mould, I knew they’d look perfect on a watering can.  I thought the Hydrangeas from the Filler Flowers Mould would make a great embellishment for the front of the can.

What was your starting point?

I started with the stacked 7” round cakes.  I dowelled the cakes and placed a thin cake card on top which I then decorated with succulents and moulded leaves before adding the spout, handle and decorative detail.

How did you shape your succulents?

I used scissors to separate the petals then pressed a Dresden tool beneath each petal to lift them.  I also pinched the ends of the petals then placed the succulents into a foil-cup former which I made by wrapping foil around a foam ball.

What food colouring did you use to create the grey watering can?

Sugarflair Liquorice paste colour, dusted with a little Silver Lustre Dust.

How did you create the detailing on the watering can?

I used the Hydrangeas from the Karen Davies Filler Flowers Mould for the floral embellishments.  The fine beading was created using a clay-gun (extruder) fitted with a 3mm round disc.

How did you create the spout and handle?

For the handle, I threaded a 20# floristry wire into a sausage of grey modelling paste before bending the wire to a curve and setting it aside to dry.

The spout was made by wrapping a strip of grey modelling paste around a thick, wooden skewer.  I cut a series of grey modelling paste circles and stacked them together to create the watering ‘rose’ (sprinkler) attachment, then used a fine piping tube to indent tiny holes in the watering rose.

How did you create the stone flooring effect?

This is an effect I’ve been creating for many years now and I never tire of it.  I covered the drum with marbled sugarpaste then textured the entire surface with a dish-brush and crumpled foil.  I used two round cake cards as a guide and used a Dresden tool to indent the individual paving stones, adding a few additional cracks here and there.  I then brushed a little powder colour into the cracks to highlight the texture.

What dust colours did you use for the succulents?

I coloured the succulents with Sugarflair Eucalyptus, Moss Green, Forest Green, Burgundy, Claret, Edable Art Dark Eucalyptus, Eau De Nil, Vine Green, Rainbow Dust Snow Drift and Pearl White lustre.

How long did this cake take you from start to finish?

This cake took me around 10 hours to make from start to finish as I spent quite a lot of time colouring the succulents to get the exact look I wanted.

How far in advance could I make the succulents?

The succulents can be made weeks, or even months, in advance and stored until required.  I place my finished succulents into foil-cup formers then store inside an airtight container to keep them soft until required.  I like to allow them to air-dry for a few hours before attaching to the cake.

People often look at cakes and question ‘where did they get the idea from’? ‘where did they begin in making that’? and ‘I wonder how long that took them’? Here Karen answers all of these probing questions and more..

Where did you find the inspiration to make this figure?

I love cute knitted toys. I enjoy knitting and used to knit clothes and toys for my two daughters when they were babies. This is why I developed our range of knitted effect moulds. So I thought, how cute would it be to create cute knitted figures for cakes? I made a crochet unicorn and knitted elephant in the Summer and people loved them! So I thought ‘I must do Christmas versions’.  

How did you make the snowflake?

I used our Sugar Snowflakes Mould and then used a PME Snowflake Cookie Cutter to cut out a large snowflake. I then allowed it to dry before attaching it upright to my board with royal icing. How did you begin to make the reindeer’s body?

I began by rolling sugarpaste into a large tear drop shape the same height as the snowflake. You need to remember that you’ll be covering any body parts you make with the knitted effect so always make them slightly smaller than they would normally be. Roll out brown paste and place in the Knitted Piece Mould. Roll the paste into the mould. The paste can be made thinner by pressing with your fingers, or use a rolling pin smaller than the width of the mould. Turn the mould over and peel back. Brush the body with edible glue. Wrap the knitted paste around the body and trim to fit. Use a Dresden tool to push the paste against the body and underneath. Disguise any joins by gently dragging two edges together.

How did you attach it to the snowflake?

I used edible glue to attach the body to the back of the snowflake and the bottom onto the board. Make sure the neck is against the top of the snowflake.

What food colouring did you use?

I used Sugar Flair Dark Brown food colouring to colour our sugarpaste. You only need a tiny drop to achieve a soft Brown colour. Just add a drop more when you want to colour the antlers and hooves. For the snowflake, I used our sugarpaste straight from the packet. I dusted my Sugar Snowflakes Mould with Pearl White Lustre Dust before moulding my paste. This gives your paste a lovely pearly shimmer.

Who do you imagine this figure would be for/what occasion?

I think this would look cute on any Christmas cake for Christmas day, a party or event. I also think children would love it!  

How long did the cake take you from start to finish?

It took me 1 hour to create the snowflake and figure! Minus drying time for the snowflake which was over night. It is a quick, fun figure to make. Ideal for beginners.    

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

Isopropyl Alcohol

Edible glue

Magic Sparkles Edible Glitter

Sieve

Cutting Wheel

Palette Knife

Dresden Tool

Tweezer scissors

Instructions

1. Dust your Large Teddy Mould with cornflour. Turn over and tap out any excess.
2. 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.
3. Turn your mould over and peel back. Your teddy should drop out easily.
4. Dust his feet, ears and cheeks with Pink powder colour.
5. Mould a piece of paste in your Knitted Piece Mould. Turn over and peel back to release.
6. Use a cutting wheel to cut a straight edge across your piece.
7. Take a palette knife and carefully cut under each of his arms so as they can lift up away from his body.
8. Place your knitted paste on top to fit like a jumper. Mark where you will need to cut the neck and sides.
9. Use a cutting wheel to follow these guide lines and cut out the jumper.
10. Attach to your bear using edible glue.
11. 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.
12. Glue the arms back down to the sides of the bear.
13.  Use a dresden tool to neaten any joins.
14. Mould another piece of paste in your Knitted Piece Mould.
15. Hold against the teddies head to mark where you need to trim to make a hat. You want to create a curved triangle shape.
16. 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.
17. Mix Black powder colour with ispropyl alcohol and paint the eyes and nose. You can also add eyelashes if you wish.
18. 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.
19. You can add trims to the jumper by moulding the trim on the Knitted Piece Mould.
20. 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.
21. 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’.
22. Use a palette knife to scrape the fluff away from the sieve and attach to the trim and bobble.

If you go down to the woods today..

Quick & Easy Snowflake Cookies

Impress your friends and family this Christmas with these super quick & easy snowflake cookies!

Ideal for tree decorations, gifts, table places or if you just fancy a festive treat!

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

Cookie dough

Karen Davies Sugar Snowflakes Mould

Cornflour

Snowflake Cookie Cutter

Lustre Dust – White, Silver or Gold

Dusting Brush

Isopropyl Alcohol

Water Spray Bottle

Magic Sparkles Edible Glitter

Dresden Tool and/or Ball Tool

Optional : Ribbon

Instructions

1. Make your cookie dough following the instructions in our ‘How to mould and bake perfect cookies’ post.
2. Dust your Sugar Snowflakes Mould with cornflour and tap out any excess. Roll your cookie dough into the mould.
3. Turn your mould over and peel back. Your cookie dough should come out easily.
4. Use a snowflake cookie cutter to cut individual cookies. You can just use one size of cookie cutter or you can use several to create different sized cookies.
5. If making tree decorations now is the time to create a small hole at the top of each cookie using a dresden tool, ball tool or piping nozzle.
6. Place your cookies on to a baking tray and bake.
7. Once your snowflakes are baked, allow them to cool.
8. When completely cool you can dust or paint your snowflakes with edible lustre dusts. Dust, White, Silver or Gold lustre straight on to your cookies or you can mix your dusts with isopropyl alcohol to paint individual snowflakes.
9. Now you can spray your cookies with a light mist of water and sprinkle Magic Sparkles edible glitter on top.
10. If creating tree decorations now you can finish by threading a piece of ribbon through the hole you created earlier and tying.

Snow is fallin’, all around me!

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

Cookie dough

Karen Davies Sugarpaste

Mitten Cutter

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

1. Make your cookie dough following the instructions in our ‘How to mould and bake perfect cookies’ post.
2. 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.
3. Place on a baking tray and bake.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Start by dusting your knit/crochet effect mould with cornflour and tapping out any excess.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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!

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

Cookie dough

Karen Davies Sugarpaste

Bobble Hat Cutter

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

1. Make your cookie dough following the instructions in our ‘How to mould and bake perfect cookies’ post.
2. 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.
3. Place on a baking tray and bake.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Start by dusting your knit/crochet effect mould with cornflour and tapping out any excess.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Roll a small ball of sugarpaste and attach and gently flatten to the bobble on your hat. Lightly cover with edilble glue.
12. 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.
13. 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!