sugarpaste decorated cupcakes?

emzolita

hey guys,

I made red velvet cupcakes last week, covered them with piped cream cheese frosting and then put sugarpaste red roses on top. The sugarpaste roses went all soft and watery and the colour bled out into the frosting, I thought this was because cream cheese frosting is more watery than buttercream.
I then made buttercream topped cupcakes the other day and put sugar paste treble clefs and music notes on them but alot them lost their shapes and went floppy.
If I wanna just decorate the cakes with piped buttercream and little decorations, has anyone any ideas what im doing wrong?

phormium

You're not really doing anything wrong, sugarpaste is mainly sugar so is going to absorb moisture if it gets the chance. Best bet is to have the sugarpaste decorations as hard and dry as possible, make them as far ahead as you can, add some tylo or cmc to them if you have it, dry them out in a hotpress or warm place, I find the kitchen press above my oven is always warm. Even decorations that have been dried out for ages can soften after a while when put on icing, especially if the weather is humid. Be sure to store them when decorated in boxes where air can circulate, plastic boxes or airtight will make them soften quicker.

SBWife

Are you mixing the fondant with GumTex and letting the flowers etc. dry fully before putting on the cupcakes?

emzolita

SBWife wrote: »

Are you mixing the fondant with GumTex and letting the flowers etc. dry fully before putting on the cupcakes?

Yeah I wasnt letting them dry. I was mixing it with CMC alright, but not letting them go hard. Thanks guys, I'll try that this weekend, (making the sugarcraft on wednesday or something) Cheers

ghartley

try leaving the buttercream firm up for a few minutes before you put on the decorations and leave in a cool place( but not in the fridge)