How To Make A Sugar Skull Cake

I adore all things Halloween – the costumes, the candy, the chilling decor – and then each yr I try to mail something special here to celebrate. The by two years I've created movie-inspired cakes (see here and here), simply this twelvemonth I'm doing something a fiddling different. Recently my best friend created the nigh beautiful ofrenda skull, and it inspired me to brand i of my own!

If you lot're not familiar with saccharide skulls and their meanings, and so hither'due south the gist of it: Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday that takes place Oct 31, Nov 1st and 2nd. During this time, spirits are welcomed back to their homes with decorated altars fabricated by their loved ones. Sugar skulls are an important office of this decor and they commonly comport metallic embellishments, brightly colored icings and the name of the deceased loved one existence honored.

I'd never made sugar skulls before, so I idea it'd be fun to certificate my get-go endeavour with a video (you can find that a little later in this mail). It was a fun process, and reading all the history and tradition backside the holiday really made it meaningful.

Information technology wasn't too hard to choose a subject for my saccharide skull. Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is one of my favorite artists of all time. Her work is cute, tragic, ugly, and honest. It'southward total of pain but too the love of life. Much of her life was spent in concrete pain due to a omnibus blow that shattered her spinal cavalcade, and she also suffered emotional hurting because of the man she chose to dearest (the marriage of a dove to an elephant, some called it – you can guess which is which). But from all this hurting and loss and love grew beautiful works of fine art from her hands, most of them self-portraiture.

Speaking of hands – I bet yous saw the above moving picture and wondered why my sugar skull is wearing a manus as an earring. Yous tin can encounter Frida wearing these in "Cocky Portrait Dedicated to Dr Eloesser". The earrings (called milagros) are wax pieces shaped in the grade of the trunk office that a person wants to be healed. The earrings were a gift from Pablo Picasso, during the time she was recovering from a hand injury.

But enough backstory for now – on to the creative deets! To get started, y'all'll need a sugar skull mold. I love the look of the larger 3D skulls (more room to decorate!) and I found a nice mold here. According to this site, good meringue powder is also a must! I followed their advice and used CK products meringue powder, and the blanks turned out beautifully. Y'all can see the results of my very beginning attempts in the video embedded beneath.

You'll need to whip up a batch of royal icing to assemble the skulls, which shouldn't be a trouble since you'll already accept the meringue powder on hand. Earlier putting the 2 halves together, the middles of the skulls need to exist scooped out to about 1/2 inch thickness. This lightens the weight of the skull so they can stand up upright. Only scoop out the skull portion – get out the chin portion as-is.

Normally you'd decorate the skull blanks with purple icing, but I wanted to paint on the details with food colour, then I chose to cover the skull with fondant. My technique for painting with nutrient color comes directly from the SprinkleBakes book. It'due south simply gel food color mixed with clear liquor or extract to speed the drying process.

I made her thick complect with ii pieces of black fondant; twisted them together and tacked on with regal icing. Her eyes are two isomalt candy jewels surrounded past dragees. Yous can find the jewels here, or make your own with a mold. Her red lips were painted on and and so embellished with glittering red disco dust.

An important part of Frida's iconic wait (likewise the uni-forehead and flake of 'stache) is the floral crown she always wore. I decided to get in with fondant roses. You'll detect my bloom-making process in the video below. I didn't accept any flower petal cutters, so I improvised with a modest round cookie cutter. I too lacked the piece of specialty cream that you utilise to form the petals, but folded up paper towels work simply fine. 1 tool that I discover important is the ball fondant tool. Information technology's inexpensive and easy to store. I left the bottoms of the flowers unfinished because they were tacked on with royal icing and covered with leaves. I hope to include the full finishing technique in another video tutorial.

You tin can purchase the rose centers from a cake supply company, or make your ain with fondant or gum paste. Information technology's just a little cone that helps shape the first petal. If you make your own, simply be certain to let it stand overnight or until it is firm enough to support many layers of petals.

The decors on this skull are all edible, right down to the metallic dragees, but traditionally the skulls are solely for ornamentation and so you could use any inedible embellishments you lot wish! I'd imagine pretty printed paper or vellum cutting into flower shapes would brand a gorgeous display.

You'll find my recipe for sugar skull blanks and royal icing below. The batch yields about 3 big carbohydrate skulls – the remainder is up to you!

Saccharide Skulls

Make sugar skulls on a clear mild day. Like most processed, humidity will adversely affect them. The icing recipe makes stiff-peak royal icing. Use this recipe to gather the sugar skulls. Leftover icing tin be divided and tinted to decorate the skulls.

Prep Time ane hr

Overnight drying, 8 hours 8 hrs

Full Fourth dimension nine hrs

Course Dessert

Cuisine Mexican

Skulls

6 cups/1200 g granulated sugar
6 teaspoons meringue powder I use CK products
half dozen teaspoons water
Large ii-piece 3D sugar skull mold
half dozen pieces of paper-thin large plenty to accommodate the skulls

Imperial Icing

iv cups/512 chiliad confectioners' saccharide sifted
iii tablespoons meringue powder
1/4-1/2 125 to 250 ml cup warm water
ane/2 teaspoon clear flavoring extract
lemon, orange, almond, clear vanilla

Skulls

Combine the carbohydrate and meringue pulverization in a large bowl using your hands. Sprinkle in the h2o and mix with your hands until the mixture feels like damp sand. Squeeze a fleck of the sugar in your mitt, if it holds together, your sugar is properly mixed. If it falls autonomously, then mix again.
Pack sugar mixture firmly into the front end and back halves of a plastic skull mold. Scrape the tops level with a straight border (the cardboard pieces work well for this). Place a slice of paper-thin over the mold and flip over. Lay the cardboard and mold on a apartment surface and gently remove the mold. Let the skulls dry 5 hours, and then *carefully* scoop out the centers of the pieces with a spoon to one/2 inch thickness. Do non scoop out the mentum surface area. Allow the skulls to completely dry overnight.
Get together the skull halves with imperial icing (recipe follows). Decorate as desired.

Royal Icing

In the basin of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, stir the confectioners' saccharide and meringue powder on low speed until combined.
Add the water (one/four loving cup kickoff and add more as needed) and beat on medium-high speed until very stiff peaks course, 5 to vii minutes.
Add together the flavoring and trounce on low until combined.
Use the icing immediately or drape a damp tea towel over the mixing bowl or bowls to prevent the icing from drying out.

Not all meringue powder is the same. Be sure to read the directions on the back of the meringue powder container for suggested amounts.

Regal icing should be used immediately or transferred to closed containers and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature and stir before using.

Keyword granulated carbohydrate, meringue powder, royal icing

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