Liquid Glaze and Reduced Jam

Technique for Liquid Glaze and Reduced Jam

Fluid glaze
Put the necessary amount of royal glaze in a container.

Add a little egg white, lemon juice or water and mix. This way the consistency is lowered. You can notice when it’s ready when you put a drop of this on the table and then another drop and it slowly joins together without extending its limits very much.

If the glaze is too liquid it will extend too much. On the contrary, if the two drops don’t join then it’s still too thick.

Give it the coloring wanted with a dab of food coloring on the paste.

Reduced jam
Take a portion of pear or orange jam.

Pass it through a thin sifter to separate the pieces of fruit, give it the coloring needed.

Note The use of the reduced jam is important since its effect is very bright and quite attractive.

How to use them
There are many ways of using these materials. One way is by working on cellophane paper; another is by working on a plaque made previously; the third is by working directly on top of the cake (remember that to work on the cake you must have some practice).

On cellophane paper or butter paper

1. Draw the chosen design on white paper (it can be designed by you or taken from a magazine or book)

Place the design on top of a Styrofoam lamina, on top of it place a cellophane sheet and hold it with pins or adhesive tape.

With a medium consistency royal glaze (black, white or a darker color than the one that is going to be used for the rest of the cake) placed on a coned paper with a small fine filter tip; trace the outline trying not to leave any open spaces.

2. Prepare liquid glaze and give it the coloring needed. Put each color in a different coned paper and use them to refill and to draw the outlines. Don’t fill the adjacent spaces.

Let it dry well before continuing; if necessary with the heat of a lamp to dry quicker.

3. Continue filling the empty spaces until you have completed the whole figure; let it dry very well.

4. Have the surface in which you are going to place the liquid glaze ready and paint the inside of the main figure with a fine brush and food coloring.

5. Decorate the royal glaze and paint the details with a thin brush and food coloring.

6. Un-stick it carefully and place it on top of the cake or any desired surface.

On a plaque
Prepare the paste (this will be explained later).

Stretch it and cut a plaque with the silhouette desired (squared, oval, round, etc).

Let it dry for at least a day.

1a. Trace the design. Flip it over and using an HB pencil, re-touch the traces.

2a. Flip it over again and transfer the design onto the paste plaque.

Paint the background and all the details on the inside. With a point and half glaze de-limit the sectors.

3a. Refill each part slowly with the colored liquid glaze or the reduced jam which are put into coned paper (you can combine both materials in the same work).

4a. Let it dry and decorate the details with paint or glaze.

Use or store as explained previously.

Note The design must be left to dry enough before un-sticking it since it can break easily.

On a cake
Once you have enough practice you can work with the liquid glaze directly on the cake since this will save up on too many steps to follow. This can be done when the designs are in a horizontal position since this can’t be done on the sides of the cake because of running (the side decorations must be done in the same way mentioned for the previous designs). Pass the design to the top surface of the cake. This can be done in many ways, one is by tracing it onto the butter paper, rest it on the cake and mark the borders with a pin making a succession of dots. Another way is to cut the parts of the design on a thick cardboard and rest them on the cake, pressing enough so as to mark it. Once the design is transferred use the same steps mentioned previously. The glaze technique can also be used for the plaques and frame making.