jueves, 7 de febrero de 2013

The Gum Paste and the Royal Icing


My relationship with the Gum Paste and the Royal Icing, began in the Gremi de Pastisseria in Barcelona, when I was studying. It was where and when I began to see all greatness that the pastry cook can be given freeing his creativity.

What surprises me with the Gum Paste is its durability in time. Indeed, as you can see it in this blog, I made a few pieces a long time ago, and, as long as they have been well protected from humidity and dust, they can be kept in the same condition many years.

A few examples: 

  - Pitter's Badge
  - Thunder

What is the Gum Paste?

From the creation of this blog, many of you have asked what the Gum Paste was.

We are here trying to explain this sweet technique in the easiest way we can.

The Gum Paste are the figures, made of sugar, which we are used to see on cakes and pies. Thanks to its rigidity once they are dry, these figures are not used as dessert: they are generally kept as a memento. For this reason, this technique is employed for the wedding cupolas, which are finished with Royal Icing for the decoration.

The basic ingredients for the production of the Gum Paste dough are:
 - Water, 
 - Sugar, 
 - Jelly, 
 - And as an option, Alimentary Colourings.

Once the dough is done, according to the shape wanted, it will have to be well stretched out until it is the thinnest possible. Then you can cut, shape or carve it.

After a while, it will be consistent and you will be able to paste the pieces together with the Royal Icing.




What is the Royal Icing?

The Royal Icing is a white glaze, made of egg whites gently beaten with icing sugar (also called powdered sugar, confectionary sugar) and sometimes lemon or lime juice.
It is generally used in Christmas and wedding cakes, gingerbread and many other cakes, biscuits and cookies, as a soft covering like with marzipan to dip the piece, or in peaks to decorate and to give desserts some kind of relief.
Sometimes glycerin is added to avoid a too strong hardening.
As well as covering cookies, the Royal Icing or Royal Glaze is used to create many decorative effects, like flowers and figures.
The Royal Icing or Royal Glaze is shaped with a pastry bag, and is left in a non-stick surface to dry. These figures can then be used to create edible decorative effects in different sweet plates.

Keep connected to the blog... we will upload more figures done with these techniques soon.

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario

Cualquier comentario de carácter insultante será eliminado sin previo aviso. Todas las opiniones son bienvenidas en este blog. Sólo se pide formalidad y respeto a la hora de expresarse.

Any kind of insulting comment will be removed without previous notice. All opinions are welcome, we only ask for respect when writing.

Tout commentaire à caractère insultant, injurieux sera automatiquement éliminé. Tous les avis sont les bienvenus sur ce blog dans la mesure où ils restent corrects et respectueux.

Alle Kommentare beleidigenden Charakter werden ohne Vorankündigung gelöscht. Alle Meinungen sind in diesem Blog willkommen. Es sollte nur auf Formalitât und Respekt geachtet werden.