Tuskarr of Northrend

Tuskarr of Northrend

from World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

Event: "That Takes The Cake" 2011
7th Annual Sugar Art Show & Cake Competition (Austin, TX)

Division: Adult Intermediate

Style: Special Techniques

Media: modeling chocolate, rice cereal treats, royal icing, food coloring, candy coating, wooden skewer and toothpicks

This little guy won 1st place in his category!  I had a great time making him and hopefully he'll last for a while.  If you're interested, here is my work log for him.

What is a Tuskarr?  The Tuskarr are a race of walrus humanoids present in the massive multiplayer online role playing game World of Warcraft (i.e. a video game).  They were introduced in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.  I have a strong fondness for these creatures because they are based off of Eskimo and Inuit tribes.  To me, they're like the Filipinos of the north!  Tuskarr are jolly and live simple lives, but possess strong beliefs and come from a rich culture.  For my birthday I got a Tuskarr model that is wonderfully detailed with excellent craftsmanship.  I wanted to create a sugar art piece that would honor these creatures.

I used a wire coat hanger to make a rough skeleton to support the model. This was screwed in to a 10" wooden square base and additionally secured with hot glue.  Rice cereal treats were compressed around the wire frame and became the majority of his bulk.  I coated the shaped rice cereal treats with thin Royal Icing and he was left to dry.  Modeling chocolate was pressed and smoothed around that, creating musculature and giving him more weight.  I used clay and gumpaste tools to carve and sculpt his features.  Finally he received an extensive coloring session using a variety of gel, powder, and liquid food colorings.  His spear is a chocolate covered wooden skewer.  The other accents are modeling chocolate.  I used a clay extruder to make ropes from modeling chocolate.  No molds were used.

Come to the Dark Side ...

... We Have Cookies

Star Wars cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma.

Gingerbread.

Modeling Chocolate.

Bake or bake not; there is no try.

Engagement Cookies

Engagement Cookies

Many happy couples get engaged during the holidays!  There are some very special people in my life who have decided to tie the knot.  In preparation for these celebrations, I bought these adorable cookie cutter + impression mat sets at my local cake supply store.

Stats:

• Alex's Gingerbread Cookies
• covered with modeling chocolate
• decorated with luster dust and pearl dust

My local cake club had one of its members demo covering sugar cookies with modeling chocolate using a similar set.  I had been dying to get these and try it out!  I also purchased a baby themed one for an upcoming baby shower.

So as to not offend the bride-to-be, I finally tried my white icing color.  To the right was the original modeling chocolate (a very creamy/ivory color) and the left is the white-colored chunk.  It came out well and I was pleased with the results.  The chocolate did not lose any texture or workability in the coloring process.

"Perfection Strips" by CK Products

(2 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm)

Since I may be doing a bunch of these type of cookies for various showers, I also purchased some wood strips that help me maintain consistent dough thickness when rolling it out.

The red and white were great for my gingerbread cookies (I think I prefer the white's thickness).  The black strips were actually too thick when it came to rolling the modeling chocolate, so I just eye-balled it as thin as I could.  The modeling chocolate was adhered by painting the cookie with corn syrup + water and lightly pressing the cut chocolate to the surface.

The cookie kits come with a few sheets of textured plastic that you can press on to your preferred icing.  During the demo, she said to cut and adhere the chocolate to the cookie first, THEN impress the design.  If you do it the other way around, you run the risk of stretching out the impression when removing it from your mat and placing it on to the cookie.  Makes sense to me!

I've found that painting with luster and pearl dust is quite calming.  It sparkles and makes me smile :)  I mixed a little Everclear with the dust and used a fine brush to outline the impressions.

Lots of work, but so pretty!  I love weddings!

Modeling Chocolate

Modeling Chocolate

(a.k.a. Candy Clay)

I finally got around to posting my experience making modeling chocolate.  Neat stuff!  It definitely has its pros and cons.  I used this stuff to make brains on Halloween.

Stats:

• 12 oz candy wafers
• 1/4 c corn syrup

After doing my preliminary research on the web, I found that the many recipes range in ratio of chocolate / candy to corn syrup.  I picked the 1 lb to 1/3 c recipe.  

Melted candy.

Corn syrup.

Together at last.

Wow, that's gross looking.

Stored in baggie.

Still gross looking.

After the mixture set overnight, I could break off a chunk and work with it.  It has to be kneaded and warmed by hand before you can do anything.  Anything, like, make roses!

A big "THANK YOU" to all the cakecentral.com members who told me that you can color modeling chocolate with food coloring gel.  I had originally thought the chocolate coloring rules applied (only use oil-based or powder colors), but that is not the case!  Here's a dollop of Americolor Burgundy.

Hurray!  I can use all my colors!

PROs:

• can't get any simpler than a 2-ingredient recipe
• malleability changes with temperature (also a CON)
• tastes good (sometimes better than fondant ... depends on my mood)
• can use cheap almond bark or expensive gourmet chocolate, all user-preference

CONs:

• can feel greasy when some of the oils are worked out (I hate that ... I have to wear gloves because that's a pet peeve of mine)
• malleability changes with temperature (also a PRO)
• can be overworked easily (my hands seem to be hot) and will require "rest"

I need more projects with this stuff before I can make any further assessments.