Any good ways to create miniature linework for petit-fours?

By pam on Thursday, January 13, 2000 - 12:41 am: Edit

hi!if your talking about the fondant covered little cakes there are certain petits fours designs.you can find these in a book,of course you can make up your own. i use couverture but one brand of chocolate paste is Garnivite.you just have to practice, it can be piped very thin, but so can chocolate.what exactly are you looking for?

By W.DeBord on Thursday, January 13, 2000 - 05:25 pm: Edit

Emma could you be more specific? Do you mean a good techique, good frosting or are you looking for a style?

By Emma on Friday, January 14, 2000 - 11:04 am: Edit

Sure, I'll be a bit more specific with my original question: I would like a good technique to be able to create tiny flower sprays with royal icing on fondant-covered petit-fours. Possible or im-? Thanks in advance!

By pam on Friday, January 14, 2000 - 02:38 pm: Edit

you just have to practice.wilton's cake decorating books have instructions on all kinds of flowers & tips to use. you can also use a stiff boxed icing mix.you may want to take a cake decorating class to get the tecniques.wilton has classes all over around here. they're at craftstores & jc penney. i don"t know where you're at.its good to take if you've not made flowes before. some people have a better touch at it than others but its doable.the best way is to do the flowers on little pieces of parchment or wax paper & put them in the fridge or freezer. pipe on your stems & vines & make "glue"dots w/the icing where you want the flowers, you can then pick exactly the ones you want & place on.since they're frozen ,they're less fragile.then add leaves. once you get good then do it right on the cakes. its pretty time consuming but you can do the flowers any time & store them.

By W.DeBord on Saturday, January 15, 2000 - 02:29 pm: Edit

POSSIBLE! The technique used with royal icing is to pre-pipe your flowers and let them air dry. Royal icing does have one disadvantage, it is moisture sensitive. You should not place your flowers in a cooler for more than a couple of hours before serving because they melt.

My techinque would be as follows: I'd prepipe my flowers in groupings or sprays on parchement paper for easy placement onto my cakes. I'd make drop flowers which are the easiest, plus they can be made very small as you indicated. I'd pipe one color or step of my spray at a time working as an assembly line for speed, rather than finishing each one, one at a time. Let them harden then attach whole flower sprays onto cakes with any frosting.

I never pipe royal icing flowers directly on the cake (I'd chose another frosting for that). If I couldn't make petite enough flower sprays I would pipe my greens dirrectly on the cakes and before serving add my royal icing flowers.

Hope that answers your question.

By Mikeh (Mikeh) on Saturday, January 15, 2000 - 04:28 pm: Edit

W. DeBord,

Is there a dessicant that I could throw in with my moisture-sensitive sugarwork that is approved for use with food?

Cheers, Mike

By pam on Saturday, January 15, 2000 - 10:42 pm: Edit

mikeh, use silica gel. we just put it in a rubbermaid container,cover w plastic wrap & set sugar ribbons etc on it. put on cover & it will keep for months & months. it's the stuff that comes in little bags with shoes & film.it has no smell or taste & doesn't disintegrate. i think it lasts forever if it never gets wet.i think you have to get it at a camera store.i know you can't eat it but i think it's safe for storing since it doesn't actually get on the pieces.i'm going to check around. albert uster has a product that is made from limestone. i've never used it but maybe they can give you more info.

By pam on Saturday, January 15, 2000 - 11:11 pm: Edit

you can buy silica gel from www.confectioneryarts.com. i think the notters use quicklime. that may be like the limestone from albert uster.

By d. on Sunday, January 16, 2000 - 01:36 pm: Edit

I'm assuming that this would work well for tuile cookie cups and possibly even meringue cups and decorations? Could this silica gel be purchased at maybe a camping store or Home Depot?

By W.DeBord on Sunday, January 16, 2000 - 02:09 pm: Edit

How about the health department? In my area I wouldn't think of using silica anywhere the health department might look. They give us a hard time over storing kitchen items in the kitchen!

I've mentioned before that I'm plagued by humidity at my job but so far I've had success using baking soda in my plastic bins. I use aprox. 1 c. per 1.5 sq. ft. box placed in a shallow open containers in the bottom of my boxes. I use soda for tuiles and meringues. I don't do much in the way of sugar work so I really can't vouche for use with sugar.

By pam on Sunday, January 16, 2000 - 03:37 pm: Edit

i would think it's safe since its sold by a sugarwork supply company. i'm not sure if the quicklime is the same as at the hardware stores. know its used in building & also (this is gory) (john wayne gacy used it to disintegrate bodies)i would again only order this from a food supply house. i think i'll call albert uster tomorrow & find out about the limestone vs silica & why they don't have silica gel. i"ve seen cookie jars that have silica gel in the top. it's in the knob & is blue colored. have you seen them? it's for storing chips & cookies. i'm not sure if it's all sealed or you refill it. w.debord, the restaurant i used it in was also on the northshore.

By W.DeBord on Sunday, January 16, 2000 - 06:27 pm: Edit

Northshore of Chicago? If so, are you still in the area?

Boy, I just haven't noticed the use of silica with food products. How do you handle the lime around food? Isn't it non-edible also?

By pam on Sunday, January 16, 2000 - 10:58 pm: Edit

w. debord. i'm still in the suburbs.i got your area from some of your messages .i didn't know how personal to get. this is the first time i've been on a chat room(or whatever this is)i don't mind giving out info, i just didn't know if we could. i have no idea about the limestone.i'm going to try to find out.