How to:
Sculpting Leaves on Wire
Sugar leaves can be a wonderful accent to a cake, either in combination with flowers or on their own. Sculpting leaves on wires will give you the flexibility to create movement, whether attaching them to flower stems or grouping the leaves together with floral tape. As with flowers, any size or shape leaf cutter can be used with this technique.
USE THIS TECHNIQUE FOR:
- Sugar Eucalyptus cake, page 183
- Mod Earth cake, page 293
- Vintage Tin cake, page 309
- Gold in Chaos cake, page 290
TOOLS:
- cornstarch in a muslin bag for dusting
- silicone rolling pin
- Sugar Paste (page 59)
- leaf cutter
- damp tea towel wrapped in plastic wrap (see page 134)
- foam pad
- medium ball tool
- silicone vein mold
- 24-gauge green wire, trimmed to 6-inch lengths
- 1:1 mixture of water and corn syrup
- fruit carton
- green floral tape
- paintbrush
- powder dye
On a cornstarch-dusted nonstick
surface, roll out the sugar paste, rotating evenly, to a thickness
of ¹⁄16
inch. Using the leaf cutter, cut out multiple leaves from the
rolled-out sugar paste.
Place the sugar paste leaves onto
the plastic wrapped tea towel and cover while you work.
Working with one at a time, place a
leaf on a cornstarch-dusted foam pad, and use a medium ball tool to
thin out the leaf.
Place the thinned-out leaf on a
cornstarch-dusted silicone vein mold and press gently to make an
impression. Gently remove from the mold.
Dip the end of a green wire into the
water–corn syrup mixture.
Place the wet end of the wire on the
end of a sugar paste leaf.
Pinch the underside of the leaf to
adhere the sugar paste to the wire.
Place the leaves on the fruit carton
to shape and dry. Let dry for 48 hours to 1 week before handling or
assembling.
Once the leaves are dry, assemble
multiple leaves by staggering them in bunches and wrapping them
with green floral tape.
To finish the leaves, dry-dust with
a paintbrush and powder dye, creating shadows and highlights on the
ruffles and veins.