The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Greenhouse Decoration

JimJam's picture
JimJam

Greenhouse Decoration

Hey lovely bakers,

I have been baking for years, it's my love and passion. But the one thing I have always been terrible at is decoration.
Whatever I try and do ends up looking like a toddler has attempted it for a school project.

I have set myself a challenge to make my girlfriend an allotment cake for her birthday. The allotment is her pride and joy and I thought to myself "why not make a replica of the allotment for her birthday!"

My thoughts so far are:
- Gingerbread shed
- Marzipan potatoes
- Glazed icing tomatoes
- Sugar glass pond

BUT the one thing I just cannot work out, is how to make a green house. Just making it with grey icing feels like a cop out, and I have been trying out different ways of using glacier mints and melting them down, both in shortbread and on their own. But so far it doesn't look right.

Has anyone tried this before, or does anyone have any ideas I could try?
Any advice will be very very gratefully received.

Very very many thanks.
Jam x

tacosandbeer's picture
tacosandbeer

What about Isomalt? (I’ve never used it, but it seems like it’s what you’re looking for.)

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Add food coloring of your choice after cooking to the right temperature, then cast (pour onto a flat surface and let harden.  

 

It might take a couple trial batches to find the quantity of water+sugar to cook, and the best temperature to finish with.  Probably somewhere in the "hard crack" range near 150 C / 300 F.   Be careful with hot sugar, you can burn yourself or the sugar can catch fire. 

 

Pour the colored hot liquid sugar onto a silicone baking mat and let harden.  Score and break into shapes and sizes of your design.  Depending on how large (square inches or square cm) an area you need, it might require more than one batch.