Winter Village Cookies

Keep cosy indoors this Christmas! Bake and decorate with our Winter Village Mould!

Create beautiful Nordic village inspired cakes and cookies.

 

For a plain biscuit recipe please see our ‘How to mould and bake perfect cookies’ post.

Click HERE for a video on how to mould.

 

Perfect Gingerbread Recipe

We often make cookies using our moulds. They are perfect for Christmas tree decorations, gifts and wedding favours. They are also delicious. So why not treat yourself this Halloween? The secret to creating perfect gingerbread houses is to use a dough that won’t spread..

 

75g light brown soft sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 tablespoon black treacle (this can be substituted for a tbsp. of golden syrup to make your gingerbread lighter)

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger

A pinch of cloves

95g unsalted butter

250g plain flour sifted, plus a little more (if needed).

 

Method

Put the sugar, syrup, (treacle), water, and spices together in a large saucepan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bring them to boiling point, stirring all the time. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter until melted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, stir in the flour gradually until you have a smooth dough – add a little more flour if you think it needs it. Knead your dough and then leave it covered in a cool place to become firm (approximately 30 minutes).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4.

If you’re not immediately making the cookies, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate (or freeze) until you are ready to use it. Before using, bring to room temperature.

 

Now you are ready to mould and decorate!

 

Equipment

Gingerbread dough

Karen Davies Sugarcraft Winter Village Mould

Plain Flour or Corn Flour for dusting

Baking paper

White Royal icing

No. 1.5 piping nozzle

Piping bags

Royal Icing in flooding consistency – pink, ivory, blue, light brown, grey and any other pastel or festive colours you would like!

Small dish of water

Small flat paintbrush

Cocktail sticks

 

 

Instructions

Dust your Winter Village Mould with Plain Flour or Corn Flour and tap out any excess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take some of your cookie dough and roll into a smooth ball. Press the smoothest side down into one of the buildings. Use your fingers to push the dough into the mould until it is flat on the back and up to all of the buildings edges. Use your thumb to tear away any excess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn your mould over and slowly peel the mould back until you can see the building start to fall out. Keep pulling back slowly so as not to tear any windows until your building has dropped out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mould as many buildings as your dough will make. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper (you may have to bake in batches). Bake for approx. 10 – 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once baked leave them to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.

Once your cookies have cooled you can pipe over their details using a no. 1.5 piping nozzle and White Royal Icing. Pipe lines along their rooves, doors, window frames and any other detail. Allow to dry.

Once dry, use small amounts of food colouring to colour different shades of royal icing. Pastel colours look beautiful when all placed together but more festive colours could also be used. You can make as many different ones as you like! Turn your royal icing to a flooding consistency by gradually adding small amount of water and mixing.

Put each icing colour into piping bags and cut a small opening at the end. Flood each building in a main colour. Use a cocktail stick or small slightly damp brush to help guide your icing all the way up to the edges of the windows, doors and edges.

Flood the rooves in a different colour. Any other leftover details such as door frames can be flooded in various colours to make them stand out. Allow all of your buildings to dry.

Once your buildings have dried, use normal consistency royal icing to pipe any extra decoration such as dots, lines and snow on your buildings.

 

Ready, set, bake!

 

How To Make Bobble Hats

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

Karen Davies Sugarpaste

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

1. Colour some sugarpaste in your chosen colour.
2. 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).
3. Dust which ever knit/crochet effect mould you have chosen with cornflour. Tap out any excess.
4. 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.
5. Turn your mould over and peel back, your paste should peel easily out of the mould.
6. 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!
7. 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.
8. Use a Dresden Tool to help disguise any joins. Don’t worry too much about the top as your bobble will cover it.
9. Brush the top of your hat with edible glue and then roll a ball of white sugarpaste and attach on top.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. (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.

Baby it’s cold outside..

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! Alice designs lots of our moulds and incorporates them into her fantastic cake designs. Being Karen’s daughter, Alice has followed in her mum’s footsteps and has grown up in the world of cake decorating.

Where did you find the inspiration to make this cake?

I was looking online for a gift for a friend on Not On the High Street and stumbled across a gorgeous mug (not appropriate for my friend but I thought wow!). I love, love, LOVE Christmas and even though it was only September at the time it got me a bit excited.. I love Winter and being indoors with the fire lit, candles, warm, cosy, hot drinks and baked treats. My 3 year old nephew also loves hot chocolate and so I thought how cute it would be to create a quick and easy hot chocolate mug cake using our knitted effect moulds and my new Winter Village Mould.

 

How did you make the cookies?

Firstly, I made my gingerbread dough using our perfect gingerbread recipe that won’t spread. You could also make this cake using our plain biscuit recipe. Both can be found in our blog post ‘How To Mould And Bake Perfect Cookies!’.

I’ve then moulded a house from our Winter Village Mould as well as a few trees and snowmen. I’ve also moulded the gingerbread man and woman from our Sitting Elf Mould. You simply treat your dough as you would with sugarpaste. Dust your mould with either cornflour or plain flour first and tap out any excess. Then simply press your dough firmly into the mould, turn the mould over and release on to a lined baking tray.

How did you begin the cake?

I began by creating the handle as this needs to be allowed to dry whilst you carry on with the rest of the cake.

I coloured flower paste using a tiny drop of Rainbow Dust’s Chestnut Brown Gel Colour. I then rolled a sausage of paste and flattened it out using a rolling pin. You can then trim this into a perfect long rectangle using a pizza wheel. Gently smooth any edges with your fingers before bending into a C shape. Make sure your top and bottom edges are in line with each other as you want them to attach against the mug perfectly i.e you don’t want one end of handle meeting with the mug and the other not.

How did you create the mug?

I used a 4″ round 4″deep cake and started by covering the top surface of the cake with very thin layer of our Marshmallow sugarpaste. I then rolled out a long piece of the sugarpaste and using a ruler cut it using a pizza wheel so that it was 4.2″ high and wide enough to wrap around the sides of the cake. I then attached the piece around the sides of the cake and trimmed away any excess at the back. The beauty of this cake is that you won’t see the join once your knitted effect is attached! Just try to get the top 2cm of the join as perfect as possible as this will be the only part still on show.

 

How did you create the hot chocolate?

I first debated whether to use piping gel as this is what I normally use when creating a liquid but I decided it wouldn’t be the right consistency for hot chocolate and so I coloured Royal Icing with Brown food colouring and watered it down slightly. I then flooded the top of the cake and used a cocktail stick to push the icing right up to the edges of my white paste.

How did you create the whipped cream?

I waited until my royal icing had dried and then I rolled a large tapered sausage of white sugarpaste. I then wrapped it around on top of itself. You may need to brush a little edible glue underneath each layer so as it sticks to itself. I then attached the cream on top of the hot chocolate and attached chocolate curls (bought from Asda!) on top and around the hot chocolate.

Which moulds did you use to create the knitted effect?

I decided to first use our Knitted Piece Mould. It’s gives you a beautiful, fine knitted pattern. I coloured our sugarpaste using the Chestnut Brown gel colour again so as it would match the mug handle. I moulded a knitted piece and then held it up against my cake to decide what height I needed it to be. I then trimmed it using a pizza wheel and attached it around the sides of the mug and repeated the process until the sides were fully covered.

I then used my Rustic Cable Knit Mould and used the medium sized cable to create the cable effect around the sides. I spaced them evenly around the cake starting from the centre. There are 6 in total. I also used my thumb to gently press and flatten the top edge so the rib effect could be attached around the top. I used our Chunky Rib Mould to create the edging around the top and then finished by moulding the large knitted heart off the cable knit mould and attaching imbetween each knitted panel.

 

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

I think this would look cute and be a great addition to any Christmas table, party or event. I also think children would love it!

 

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

I decorated this cake in 2 hours! It was super quick and easy as it’s mostly due down to the speediness of the moulds. Also, you can be getting on with your cake whilst you’re waiting for your cookies to bake and cool.

 

 

How To Make A Reindeer

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer or Vixen?
Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen orrrrr Rudolph?

Make cute reindeer quickly and easily this Christmas using our Reindeer Heads Mould and Horse Mould!

Watch our quick tutorial video and then follow the instructions below!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equipment

Karen Davies Sugarpaste

Karen Davies Sugarcraft Reindeer Heads Mould 

Karen Davies Sugarcraft Horse Mould

Karen Davies Sugarcraft Sitting Reindeer Mould (optional)

Corn Flour

Brown Food Colouring

Green Food Colouring

Rainbow Dust Cherry Pie Powder Colour

Rainbow Dust Chocolate Powder Colour

Rainbow Dust Black Magic Powder Colour

Rainbow Dust Snow Drift Powder Colour

Rainbow Dust Pink Candy Powder Colour

Rainbow Dust Metallic Light Silver Powder Colour

A selection of paintbrushes

Isopropyl Alcohol

Tweezer Scissors

Edible Glue

Palette Knife

 

Instructions

1. Colour some sugarpaste dark Brown and some light Brown.
2. Dust your Reindeer Head Mould with cornflour and tap out any excess. Roll four small sausages of dark Brown paste and press firmly into the largest antlers on your mould. Turn the mould over and peel back. The antlers should drop out easily. Set to one side.
3. Dust the largest head on your Reindeer Head Mould with Corn Flour and tap out any excess. Roll a ball of light Brown paste and press firmly into the reindeer head. Guide any excess over to one side using your fingers and tear away with your thumb. Turn your mould over and release the head.
4. Use a dusting brush to lightly dust the ears and cheeks with Pink Candy powder colour.
5. Mix isopropyl alcohol with White powder colour to turn it into a paint. Paint the eyes in White.
6. Paint the pupils in Black. We always paint our eyes either looking to the side or up or down.
7. Use a thin brush to paint a thin line above each eye. You can also draw eyelashes if you wish.
8. Finish painting the eyes by adding a small white dot to each.
9. Paint the nose in either Red or Brown depending on whether you are making Rudolph or not.
10. Use small tweezer scissors to snip the top half of the reindeer’s face.
11. Colour some sugarpaste Green and press into the seat of the saddle on the Horse Mould. Brush a small dot of water or edible glue onto the back of the saddle. Roll a thin sausage of paste and press into the strap of the saddle, press up until it meets and attaches to the seat.
12. Roll a fat sausage of pale brown paste and press firmly into the mould on top of the saddle you’ve just filled. Push your paste along the body into the legs and hooves. Don’t worry about moulding the head or tail of the horse.
13. Turn your mould over and peel back to release your paste. Use a palette knife to remove any excess at the neck of the horse, leaving a pointed piece. Gently flatten the point, leaving yourself an area to attach the reindeer head.
14. Use your tweezer scissors to snip fur on to the body.
15. Roll a small cone of light Brown sugarpaste and attach as a tail. Also snip this with the tweezer scissors.
16. Attach the reindeer head onto the body and then attach the antlers into position.
17. Use Silver powder colour mixed with isopropyl alcohol to paint the hooves.
18. (OPTIONAL) Use our Sitting Reindeer Mould or any of our other moulds to mould an accessory for the saddle such as holly, ivy, mistletoe or bows.

 

Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say..

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’?

We interviewed teacher, author and cake artist Christina Ludlam of ‘Cakey Bakey Art Sugarcraft School‘ to ask these probing questions and more! Christina often makes fantastic cakes for us incorporating our moulds and she often comes up with ideas we’d never ever think of ourselves.

Where did you find the inspiration to make this cake?

Believe it or not, the inspiration for this cake came from a new pair of pyjamas!  The pyjamas are very pale blue with raspberry coloured branches and flowers which I thought would look perfect with the little hummingbird from the Karen Davies Sugarcraft Tropical Birds Mould  and the apple blossom and leaves from the Buttercream Flowers Mould. I got a little carried away whilst painting and the end result looks nothing like the pyjamas but I love it just the same.

 

How did you colour the bottom tier?

I mixed Sugarflair Dusky Pink/Wine with Sugarflair Burgundy to achieve the raspberry colour I wanted.

 

How long did it take you to paint the second tier?

It took me a lot longer than I planned!  I was quite nervous as I don’t think I’ve painted a cake since my college days but once I got started, I loved it and I ended up painting far more than I’d intended to paint.  I spent almost a full day painting it but I enjoyed every minute!

 

 

 

What colours did you use to paint?

I used Sugarflair paste colours: Dark Brown, Kiwi, Egg Yellow, Spruce Green, Dusky Pink.  I also used black and white powder colours.

 

What brushes did you use?

I painted most of it using a number ‘2’ (round) sable paintbrush with a very sharp point.  I have some very fine ‘00000’ sable paintbrushes which I used for the finer detail.

 

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

I think this is quite a feminine cake so I imagine it would be ideal for a ladies birthday, Mother’s Day or even incorporated into a wedding cake design.

 

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

I decorated this cake over two days, covering the cakes and drum, and making the moulded embellishments on day one.  I also stacked the cakes, attached them to the drum and piped the royal icing detail.  On day two, I painted the cake and added the moulded hummingbirds and buttercream flowers.

 

How did you create such sharp edges?

I love sharp edges! Holding two flexible plastic smoothers at right-angles on the top edges of the cake (one on the top edge and one on the upper side of the cake) whilst gently rubbing back and forth helps to create crisp, sharp edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haunted House Cookies

Trick or Treat? Make ghoulish gingerbread houses this Halloween with our Winter Village Mould!

 

For a plain biscuit recipe please see our ‘How to mould and bake perfect cookies’ post.

 

Perfect Gingerbread Recipe

We often make cookies using our moulds. They are perfect for Christmas tree decorations, gifts and wedding favours. They are also delicious. So why not treat yourself this Halloween? The secret to creating perfect gingerbread houses is to use a dough that won’t spread..

 

75g light brown soft sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 tablespoon black treacle (this can be substituted for a tbsp. of golden syrup to make your gingerbread lighter)

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger

A pinch of cloves

95g unsalted butter

250g plain flour sifted, plus a little more (if needed).

 

Method

Put the sugar, syrup, (treacle), water, and spices together in a large saucepan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bring them to boiling point, stirring all the time. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter until melted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, stir in the flour gradually until you have a smooth dough – add a little more flour if you think it needs it. Knead your dough and then leave it covered in a cool place to become firm (approximately 30 minutes).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4.

If you’re not immediately making the cookies, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate (or freeze) until you are ready to use it. Before using, bring to room temperature.

 

Now you are ready to mould and decorate!

 

Equipment

Gingerbread dough

Karen Davies Sugarcraft Winter Village Mould

Plain Flour or Corn Flour for dusting

Baking paper

White Royal icing

Black Royal Icing

No. 1.5 piping nozzle

Piping bags

Royal Icing in flooding consistency – purple, orange, yellow, dark brown, grey and any other Halloween colours you would like!

Small dish of water

Small flat paintbrush

Cocktail sticks

 

 

Instructions

Dust your Winter Village Mould with Plain Flour or Corn Flour and tap out any excess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take some of your cookie dough and roll into a smooth ball. Press the smoothest side down into one of the buildings. Use your fingers to push the dough into the mould until it is flat on the back and up to all of the buildings edges. Use your thumb to tear away any excess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn your mould over and slowly peel the mould back until you can see the building start to fall out. Keep pulling back slowly so as not to tear any windows until your building has dropped out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mould as many buildings as your dough will make. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper (you may have to bake in batches). Bake for approx. 10 – 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once baked leave them to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.

Once your cookies have cooled you can pipe over their details using a no. 1.5 piping nozzle and Black or White Royal Icing. Pipe lines along their rooves, doors, window frames and any other detail. Allow to dry.

Once dry, use small amounts of food colouring to colour different shades of royal icing. Typical Halloween colours are purple, orange, green, grey, yellow and black. You can make as many different ones as you like! Turn your royal icing to a flooding consistency by gradually adding small amount of water and mixing.

Put each icing colour into piping bags and cut a small opening at the end. Flood each building in a main colour. Use a cocktail stick or small slightly damp brush to help guide your icing all the way up to the edges of the windows, doors and edges.

Flood the rooves in a different colour. Any other leftover details such as door frames can be flooded in various colours to make them stand out. Allow all of your buildings to dry.

Once your buildings have dried, use normal consistency royal icing to pipe ghosts, bats and pumpkins on your buildings.

 

Happy Halloween!