Top your cupcakes with gorgeous soft swirls of buttercream. Follow our easy recipe for a delicious topping or
filling for your cakes.

Makes enough for 24 cupcakes or 1 large cake. Halve the mixture for less butter cream.

You Will Need:

280g Unsalted Butter
560 Icing Sugar
3 tbsp Milk
2 Drops Vanilla Extract

Method

1) Beat the butter until smooth and pale.

2) Add half the icing sugar and beat.

3) Beat in the remaining icing sugar until smooth and stiff. Add 1 tbsp of milk to loosen. The consistency should be able to be piped but not too stiff. If your mixture is too stiff add a little more milk.

4) Finally, add the vanilla extract or other flavourings you desire.

A Christmas cake at tea time is an essential part of Christmas. Make our modern design Spot & Holly cake to bring a bit of cheer to your table.

Everything You Will Need:

1) A square cake that has been covered in Marzipan and white Sugarpaste

2) Red Ribbon

3) Small Holly Cutters Holly Cutters found in this pack.

4) Any piping nozzle (this is used to make the spots so choose your nozzle depending upon the size you would like)

5) Edible Glue

6) Sugarflair Extra Red Paste Colour

7) Gum Tragacanth

8) White Sugarpaste/Fondant

8) Sugarflair Holly Green Paste Colour

9) No.2 Script Nozzle

10) Piping Bag

11) Royal Icing (See our recipe on our website)

12) Rolling Pin of your choice. We recommend a Sugarcraft Rolling Pin

Method

Step 1

Take some of the white Sugarpaste and colour with Holly Green paste colour. Add a small amount of Gum Tragacanth to the icing to add a firmness and eradicate any stickiness. Roll out to a thickness of roughly 4mm. Using the holly cutter press down the plunger onto the icing to emboss, then release and push the cutter into the icing. Using the plunger push out the holly shape. Make 16 of these holly leaves.

Step 2

Using some edible glue dab a little onto the back of the holly leaves and place one set in the middle of each side of the cake. Place a set of holly leaves onto each corner.

Step 3

Using some more sugarpaste, colour with the Extra Red colouring and roll out. Using the wider end of the nozzle that you do not use to decorate cut out 24 spots.

Step 4

Using some edible glue dab a little glue onto each spot and place 4 spots on each side of the cake. Now place a red spot in the middle of each side of the cake on the top of the cake. Then place the remaining four spots onto each corner.

Step 5

Using some of the left over red sugarpaste roll tiny balls for berries and using a tab of edible glue place alternating 2 and 1 berries into the middle of each holly leaf set.

Step 6

Finally colour a little royal icing with red paste colour and with a piping bag tipped with a no. 2 nozzle pipe Merry Christmas onto the top of the cake.

Click image to enlarge.

You Will Need:

1) Circle Cutter

2) Sugarflair Party Green

3) Sugarflair Paprika/Flesh

4) Fondant

5) Edible Black Food Pen

6) Blade Modelling Tool or Similar Tool

7) Sugarflair Red Sparkle Lustre Dust

8) Sugarflair Pearl White Lustre Dust

9) Edible Glue (Optional)

10) Sugarcraft Rolling Pin (Optional)

Step 1

Colour 2 balls of fondant. One with some Party Green one with Paprika/Flesh.

Step 2

Take a small piece of orange fondant and shape into a carrot.

Step 3 & 4

Press into the head. If the fondant has dried a little edible glue will help the carrot to stick. Using the food pen dot 2 eyes and dot the charcoal mouth.

Step 5,6 & 7

Roll a long ‘sausage’ of green icing and roll out flat. Using the blade tool cut out a scarf shape. At the ends of each scarf make cuts for tassels.

Step 8

Following the guide make the hat and attach to the head of the snowman.

Click image to enlarge.
Step 9,10,11

Take a cupcake that has been topped with butter cream that has a flat top. Roll out some fondant to a thickness of 4mm and carefully place on top of the butter cream. Smooth out gently to achieve a flat top.

Step 12 & 13

Make a small ball of fondant and placed between thumb and index finger gently shape to form the body of the snowman. Press onto the top of the cupcake and add the head. Again, if the icing has dried a little edible glue will work.

Step 14

Now take your scarf and carefully wrap around the snowman.

Step 15

Using a small brush dip into Red Lustre Dust and tap off any excess. Dab a little onto each side of the snowman face to make rosy cheeks.

Step 16

Finally dust over the top of the cupcake with Pearl Lustre Dust for a snowy, shimmery top to match shimmery cheeks.

Enjoy your snowmen cupcakes!

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Head on over to our on-line shop at www.totallysugarcrafts.co.uk to get crafting!

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How To Use A Christmas Tree Mould

This guide will show you how to make these gorgeous little Christmas tree cupcakes.

You Will Need

Tree Mould
Holly Green Paste Colour
White Fondant/Sugarpaste
Gum Tragacanth Or Florist Paste
Christmas Red Paste Colour
Chestnut Paste Colour
Edible Glue

1) Take your sugarpaste and colour it with the holly green. Add 50% Florist Paste or 1 tsp Gum Tragacath to 225g fondant. Take a small amount of fondant and colour
with the chestnut paste colour.
2) Dust the tree mould with a little cornflour or icing sugar, turn upside down and tap out the excess.
3) Roll a ball of the chestnut sugarpaste and place in the tree pot section. Take the holly green sugarpaste and if enough to fill the mould press and smooth into the mould making sure to connect with the tree pot. Cut off any excess.
4) Gently press and push the mould out. The mould can be placed in the freezer for a little while if too sticky.
5) Roll out tiny balls of white sugarpaste and red sugarpaste. The red sugarpaste can be made by colouring sugarpaste with Christmas Red paste colour.
6) Using some edible glue dot onto the trees and top with a tiny ball.

These biscuits are inspired by Fiona Cairns Wedding Biscuits on ITV’s Home Of Fabulous Cakes. Bag or box these buttery fondant topped festive biscuits for the perfect little gift or make for a tea time treat.

What You Will Need

Star Shaped Cutter
380g Plain Flour
1/2tsp Salt
250g Unsalted Butter
125g Caster Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

For The Fondant Top

White Fondant
Royal Icing
Edible Pearls
Pearl White Lustre Dust
Red Sparkle Lustre Dust
Extra Red Colour Paste
Holly Green Colour Paste
No. 2 Piping Nozzle

Makes 32 Stars

Method

1) Sift the plain flour with the salt into a bowl.

2) Place unsalted butter into a mixer and add the caster sugar. Cream together till well mixed.

3) Add just the egg yolk with the vanilla extract to the butter and sugar and mix on a low speed.

4) Whilst on a low speed slowly add the flour till the dough just comes together.

5) Place the dough on a work surface and wrap in cling film and chill for roughly 30mins. This will allow for easy rolling.

6) Once chilled roll out to your required thickness a good thickness is 2mm to 8mm. Using the cutter cut out stars.

7) Bake for roughly 12-15mins at 180/170 fan. Obviously ovens differ so judge accordingly.

8) Once golden leave to cool.

Making Royal Icing

You Will Need

1 Egg White

A Dash of Lemon Juice

250g Icing Sugar

Method

1. Add the lemon juice to a bowl of the egg white

2. Sift some of the icing sugar into the bowl and using a clean wooden spoon stir the sugar into the mixture.

3. Stir in more icing sugar and beat.

4. Once the icing sugar has been added beat till peaks appear.

Decorating White Fondant Stars

1) Roll the Fondant thinly and cut out stars using the same star cutter.

2) Pipe or dab a small amount of royal icing onto the biscuits. Place the fondant stars over the biscuits.

3) Using a no.2 piping nozzle pipe a border around the star by slowly laying the icing.

4) To add pearl balls dot a small amount of icing onto the fondant and place a pearl on each one.

5) For the pearly finish brush on Pearl Lustre Dust. Pipe the stripe detail and star details.

Decorating Red & Green Fondant Stars

1) Colour some fondant with the red and green colour paste and roll out thinly.

2) Cut out stars and repeat the process to lay on top of the biscuits.

3) For the red stars. Dust over Red Sparkle Lustre Dust and pipe the border pattern.

How To Use A Silicone Reindeer Mould

This quick guide will explain exactly how to create a Reindeer Rudolph character head suitable for a cupcake and Christmas cake using a silicone mould.

1) Take your coloured sugarpaste (we have used Chestnutfor the head and chestnut mixed with a littleLiquoricefor the antlers) and either mix with Florist Paste with a ratio of 50% sugarpaste, 50 % Florist Paste OR add a small amount of Gum Tragacanth.

2) Using cornflour or icing sugar dust a little into the mould, turn upside down and tap to get rid of excess.

3) Roll the chestnut sugarpaste into a small smooth ball and place in the mould of the reindeer. You should use enough to fill the space to achieve a clean finish. Do not place in the hole yet. We want the antlers in first.

4) Take a smaller amount of sugarpaste coloured with a little of the liquorice for the antlers and roll into a sausage. Press into the antler section and leave a slight bit coming into the head section.

5) Now take your smooth ball and press into the face section. Take care to lift the tail of the antlers OVER the face and press together. This will ensure that the antlers and face come out as one.

6) Cut any excess sugarpaste away and using a peeling and gentle pressing action carefully push the impression out of the mould.

For moulds such as the Reindeer it is sometimes a good idea to freeze the mould to aid the lifting out process (after all Rudolph needs his antlers!)

Making Rudolph

Mouth

Eyes

Red Nose

Tip! Always use a soft brush to wipe away any icing sugar or cornflour once the mould is dry. A good brush to use is a makeup brush as they are soft and relatively inexpensive.

I have slightly altered the recipe and the measurements were originally in US measures so I have converted the ingredients. However, if you follow my measures and recipe I can confirm the recipe will be successful!

Makes 18 large or 24 small cupcakes
What you will need

250ml Guinness beer
225g Unsalted Butter
165g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
220g Plain Flour
500g Caster Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt
2 Large Eggs
125ml Sour Cream

For the Bailey’s Frosting:
225g Unsalted Butter (at room temperature)
360g Icing Sugar
4 tbsp Bailey’s Irish Cream (add less if desired and use milk if the mixture is a little stiff.
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1) Over a medium heat melt the butter and Guinness till combined.

2) Add the cocoa powder and whisk till there are no lumps. Remove from the heat.

3) Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and baking soda.

4) Using an electric whisk mix together the eggs and sour cream just enough to combine.

5) Add the Guinness mixture to the eggs and sour cream. Adding using an electric whisk mixture together to combine.

6) Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet on a slow speed.

7) Fill cases 3/4 full and bake for 20 mins. Ovens do vary greatly. Mine is what I consider to be a ‘fierce’ oven so obviously judge the baking time according to your oven also. The cakes will not be firm to touch so do not feel tempted to leave in much longer to firm up. They will start to burn.

8) To make the butter cream mix together the butter cream ingredients adjusting the liquor according to taste.

9) Pipe the finished butter cream onto the cupcakes.

I have used Edible Gold Stars(my new favourite!) to carry on the Guinness theme with some gold and a 1M Nozzle and my favourite washable piping bag Wilton Featherweight Bag

When I saw this on Loraine Pascales easy cooking tv show ‘Fast, Fresh & Easy Food’ I knew I had to make these. They were very quick and extremely moreish! I decided to make them a little bit Christmassy by adding some gold stars. They would be great for a gift or a tea time treat this Christmas.

What You Will Need

150g/5½oz Butter

200g/7oz Dark Chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids) or Milk Chocolate (or a mixture of both)

250g/9oz Digestive Biscuits

200g/7oz Soft Light Brown Sugar

300g/10½oz Crunchy Peanut Butter

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Edible Gold Stars

Method

1) Line a 20cm/8in square tin with baking paper and don’t forget to leave a little bit sticking out. This will aid lifting out of the tin.

2) Melt the butter in a large pan over a low heat.

3) Snap the chocolate into squares and place in a small bowl. Melt in the microwave in 30 second blasts, stirring well between each addition or sit the bowl over a pan over simmering water. Make sure that the bottom of the pan does not touch the water or the consistency of the chocolate may change.

4) Blitz the digestive biscuits in a food processor or place in a bag and using a rolling pin break into small pieces. Mix with the brown sugar and tip into the melted butter. Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract and mix together so everything is well combined.

5) Tip the mixture into the lined tin and press it down really hard with the back of the spoon. It needs to be really compact and tight. Then pour over the melted chocolate, tilting the tin back and forth a bit so that the whole thing is evenly covered. Pop in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up (or the fridge for an hour).

6) Once the chocolate is set, remove it from the freezer (or fridge). Lift it out of the tin with the help of the baking parchment. Remove the paper and then use a sharp knife to divide it into 16 squares and serve. Tip! Pour hot water onto a sharp knife this will allow a smooth clean edge when cutting.

Bone Tool

Use this tool to smooth and form perfect petals. Also handy to gently push into icing and make holes.

Shell Blade

The blade tool is one of the most popular tools. Cut and trim easily with precision. The shell tool is great for embossing a pattern.

Scallop/Comb

Use the scallop tool to create features on models. Give the figure a happy or sad face or ears and eyebrows. Use the scallop tool to emboss and pattern. Create the effect of stitching.

Ball Tool

Flower modelling is a breeze with the ball tool. Use to shape petals & leaves. To cup petals position the ball tool and press firmly. To add stronger curves press slightly more and carefully rotate the tool. The smaller size ball is ideal for modelling figures such as eye sockets.

Tapered Cone

Both sides of the tapered cone tool are great for embossing small star patterns. Use when making flowers to mark divisions in tubular flowers such as foxgloves and marking centres of 5 or 6 petal flowers.

Flower/Leaf

Also known as the Dresden tool this is ideal veining and forming the correct shape of flowers and leaves. The smooth edge of the tool is also perfect for smoother the icing.

Bulbous Cone

Both ends of the tool are essential when modelling flowers, figures and animals. Use to replace the trusty cocktail stick when creating Garrett frills. Place on the edge of the icing and gently roll back and forth till a frill appears then move onto the next section till a continuous frill is formed.
Serrated & Tapered Cone

For all of these tools see our modelling tool set

Here’s the easiest ganache recipe ever and makes enough to cover a 9inch round cake.

What you will need

115g (5 oz) Dark Chocolate, cut into small pieces.
155ml (5 fl oz) Double cream

Method

1) Put the chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of water. You must not let the bowl touch the water! Heat gently and stir.
2) Once the chocolate and cream are combined leave to cool. The mixture should be able to coat the back of a spoon.

All you have to do is decide whether to use as a delicious dripping glaze.

Leave to completely cool and using cold beaters beat until thick enough to spread.

Or Whip for a thicker consistency to pipe.