I put more sugarveil in the mat (from the 1 cup batch I made yesterday) it is still setting up and I hope the rainy day today does not flop everything. I did have some leftover sugarveil so I played around with my sugarveil comb. I am not 100% clear on when and what you grease and what you don't ?? If you use a silpat ok to not grease? a flexi chopping mat grease? anyway I rubbed some shortening on the fleximat and then spread the sugarveil with the comb and it smeared around I finally got the larger size side of the comb to draw some lines and they have set properly so I am holding out hope that my lace mat will work out.
Again, need to clarify that you are referring to working with SugarVeil in a lace mold that you made, not our Lace Confectioners' Mat.
Although we have customers who have created terrific cakes using lace molds that they have made, as you can understand, we can only speak from using our particular Lace Confectioners' Mat which we very carefully designed for making lace with SugarVeil, and that users with no cake decorating experience of any kind are able to have success with the first use. So please keep in mind, that in referring you to our Lace Mat instructions, the instructions are written specifically for that Mat - we just thought there might be something there that could assist you in working with the lace mold that you have made.
Heat and moving air (like a blowing fan), as mentioned in the SugarVeil instructions, will speed the setting of SugarVeil. If your indoor humidity measures more than 50%, you will most likely need to use heat/moving air to assist the setting process.
Katie, grease all surfaces you want to use with SugarVeil**. As mentioned in the SugarVeil Icing instructions, use only solid, Crisco-type fat to grease. Do not use spray oil. All edges of the Confectionery Comb will glide easily thru SugarVeil mixed in proportions of 1 cup SugarVeil to 1/3 c plus 2 Tbl boiling water. Measure precisely, and time 4 minutes on high speed to beat.
Also be sure to test a corner of that flexi-type chopping mat you mentioned with SugarVeil. Some of those mats, even when greased, do not want to release SugarVeil easily. If you want a mat that does, add the text "FREE MAT" in the comments section of your next sugarveil.com order and we'll include one for free with your order. These are cut-to-fit mats used by people with electronic cutters - they spread SugarVeil on them in thin sheets to use thru their machines, but there are lots of other SugarVeil uses for them as well.
Hope these notes help - turn on those ovens and start a fan up to dry out that humid air!
Michele at SugarVeil
**Exception: The only silicone mat you do not have to grease is our Lace Confectioner's Mat: http://www.sugarveil.com/mat/index.htm - and you can use the back of that mat to spread SugarVeil into thin sheets which will have a matte surface finish.
I will definitely take advantage of the free mat in the future. (When and if I ever get going in the right direction on my trials.)
After the sugarveil sat in the fridge (in a bowl covered with plastic) it had a very different consistency... even after re-beating it. Not sure what happened on that. I got some of the combed string work to dry and come up smoothly. perhaps next I will try a stencil, am I supposed to grease the stencil and the silpat? Was I supposed to grease the comb? Sorry but this is an all new adventure and I am not sure where I am getting tripped up. Definitely watched the DVD, hubby watched it too but missing something somewhere here.
The lace cracked this time.... did I dry it too long? I did not grease the silicone lace mat (yes as mentioned before it is the one I made not the one sold by sugarveil as I wanted a unique design). Is the lack of grease why the lace cracked? because I did not grease the lace mat? Have you ever worked with the type of silicone Dominic sells? I had seen all the ads on here for make your own molds and one place which said call Dominic for directions on making a mold to work with sugarveil, so I did. He recommends venetian lace, so that's what I ordered in. I have made molds off his advice for other applications with great success and beautiful results. I will say he was very helpful and the matt came out with fantastic detail which I could make work with fondant if all else fails but I really wanted to use it with sugarveil as I thought it would be more amazing. I am still holding out hope that I am just missing some little trick that will make it work.
So as far as creating designs piped or with a stencil will they come out on say a greased silpat or do I need one of your mats for it to really work?
Katie, Yes - sounds as if you might have waited too long, and in the mold that you made, SugarVeil dried, thus cracked when you tried to remove it. As I mentioned earlier, contact Dominic - he's worked with SugarVeil in his silicone molds and knows the ins and outs of his silicone and the process involved.
SugarVeil has three stages - "wet" (when you mix it), "set" (when it's no longer sticky/tacky to the touch. This is the flexible period that you can shape, punch, knot, gather, or drape SugarVeil), and "dry" (SugarVeil dries to a very fragile dry, so you can bite into it. It can crack or shatter if you drop it at this stage). If you would like to retain the flexibility of your decorations, store them between sheets of parchment in a zipped plastic bag out of sunlight, and use them at a later time.
The texture of mixed SugarVeil changes from day to day. Some people make up just enough to use in one shot, and create monograms and other decorations to store air-tight for later use. And some prefer the consistency of SugarVeil the second day for smoothing into a sheet. As you work with SugarVeil, you'll develop your own preferences. If you refrigerate it, allow it to come to room temp before you re-beat it (and you can rebeat it by hand this time - 30 seconds or so is fine).
You do not need to grease the stencil (you can use any stencil) or the comb, but you do need to grease a Silpat. A Silpat works fine, as long as it is greased. Ditto for parchment paper.
Let us know if you've any questions - [email protected]
Michele at SugarVeil
Katiebelle74, I hope you're don't get too discouraged with sugarveil; I made a lace-draped cake with Sugarveil this week, and there was definitely a learning curve, but after several tries every piece of lace came out perfectly.
I didn't refrigerate the sugarveil mixture, just covered it tightly with plastic wrap and left it on the counter for about 8 hours or so. Stirred it up with a fork and spread it on the sugarveil lace mat. The first few pieces either stuck in patches or broke, but I was determined to get it, since the cake was due the next day.
Eventually, I found that it worked best (and fastest) when I heated my oven to 100 F, then put the lace mat in the oven with the light on and door closed. It took just about an hour or so to dry that way.
It's VERY important to get the thickness of the mixture consistent throughout your mold...otherwise some spots will be too dry (so they break), while others won't be dry enough (so they stick to the mold).
There seems to be a very fine line between still slightly wet / just right / too dry. I'm talking just a couple minutes here, at least when using the oven to speed up drying.
I had to remove the mat from the lace pretty slowly in order to keep the lace from ripping in some of the more difficult spots.
I couldn't resize the finished cake photo to add as an attachment here, but it's in my gallery photos if you want to see the lace (the night stand cake with the high-top)...the lace isn't perfect, but the recipient was happy, and I know I'll have an easier time with the sugarveil next time!
I just read about sugarveil and I'm extememly interested. My problem is that I live in the Caribbean and it is very hot and humid here. Will this cause problems? I notice that there is a special humidity contraption....how does it work? I work from home, and my kitchen does not have a/c! I notice some of the photos where the bows are nicely shaped, will they hold up in these conditions? I rarely use fondant (only for decorations) as it just get all gooey. Is there anyone out there who also lives in a very hot/humid place that can give me some pointers. At the moment, I only decorate my wedding cakes with an all shortening white buttercream (shorteningcream???) Any experienced advice is appreciated!
Dguess, here are tips from our Facebook page for working with SugarVeil in humidity: http://www.facebook.com/notes/sugarveil-icing/working-with-sugarveil-icing-in-humidity/115755021801759
An example of a good place for the setting process of SugarVeil in a tropical environment: in Hawaii we use a lightbulb placed in a closed cupboard, which is really effective in drying out the air.
As Windemire described, a 100 degree oven sets SugarVeil more quickly, but you trade the 'window of flexibility' working time with SugarVeil when you place it in the oven. As an example, I have a piece of Lace Confectioners' Mat lace made on May 23 that is, one week later, still flexible, and it was not even in a zipped bag (it's been humid here - 50% or so). If I had placed the mat in the oven to set, my working time with it would most likely have been only hours rather than days in these same conditions.
Essentially, in humid conditions, you want to design SugarVeil to be directly supported by the cake. A good example is the ganache cake shown below - the scrolls were stenciled and then placed onto the cake.
Lace made with our Confectioners' Mat would likely be a good choice for you as well - here we've used it to dress up a Costco strawberry-gelee topped cheesecake, which we then refrigerated for several days, and the lace design remained nicely intact.
Also, check out our "Chocolate Lace" video at http://www.youtube.com/sugarveil When you coat the reverse side of SugarVeil with chocolate, the chocolate supports the SugarVeil, so this might be another technique for you to investigate.
A hygrometer helps you measure how successful you've been drying out the air - one comes in our Lace Kit at http://www.sugarveil.com/mat/index.htm, or you can purchase one for under $30 or so at home improvement stores.
Thank you,
Michele at SugarVeil
I appreciate all the info. I am glad to hear that once it is successfully made it is ok in the fridge that was quickly becoming my next big concern if I do all the work and experimentation to get this product figured out I was concerned about then having it melt or something icky under the humidity in the fridge. I will call Dominic when I have the time to catch him and ask him questions about this. For now I think I am just going to hold off until a slower time to revisit the learning curve. That little tip about how the thickness played a role in everything is a helpful tip windemire. Thanks emilyg for trying to help. I think maybe another place I screwed up was in not letting the sugarveil come to room temp. after removal from the fridge, did not realize I should have, that explains the consistency issue the second day.
Thanks Michele!
I will definitely have to try some! For once, the humidity is an ADVANTAGE!!! I really loved the look of the stencil over the chocolate cake, it was beautiul. Can I use regular plastic stencils (ie: from michael's, for stencilling on walls?) Someone mentioned that you can store the stencilled cake in the fridge without it "melting", is that true? Also if it does harden up too much, is there any way of reversing it (spray misting with water) or would you have to start all over again?
Yes, dguess, you can store the stenciled cake in the refrigerator. And you can use any type of stencils.
Read the "reverse-setting" process - In your humidity, I don't think you will have any problem with SugarVeil drying out. If it ever does, you can place it a few seconds in the microwave, and it will become flexible for you to shape it.
Michele at SugarVeil
the humidity here is beyond belief right now even for me and I am from here!!! Think I will retry sugaveil in the winter!
ok I tried sugarveil today after watching the video...but it was so sticky and gooey that I couldn't get it to smooth out like the video on my shortning covered cricut mat...it would clump and when I tried to go over it it just pulled what was their off...maybe I did something wrong in the mixing.. do you put shortning on the inside of the bowl and on the spatula?? i put one third cup of boiling water and one cup of sugarveil and got it all wet then mixed with my mixer...speading looks so easy in the video..
also to make a bow what kind of paper do i need and where do i get it..I don't find it on your site.
I have the sugarveil kit my husband bought it for me probably close to three years ago. It has sat in my work cupboard untouched since Christmas day. It is almost overwhelming and I must say, the instructions intimidated me. Someone asked me a year or so ago if I wanted to sell it (this thread had come up before) and I said no, but now I wonder if I should just pass it onto someone else? I'm just a hobby baker and it seems really complex ... I must admit truthfully I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box! 
Alleykat, you don't use shortening in the bowl when you are mixing SugarVeil. Here are the complete instructions for mixing SugarVeil: http://ow.ly/d/3dP
Use 1/3 c. plus 2 Tbl. boiling water to 1 c. SugarVeil and beat 4 minutes on high speed (time it to 4 minutes).
Also, here are the complete instructions with photos of using SugarVeil with the Cricut: http://ow.ly/d/3XS Follow all the details in these instructions (even tho they might seem minor), since we tried several different methods. Spread out paper thinly - you should get 6-7 sheets of SugarVeil for every one cup of dry SugarVeil. And note the instructions regarding rolling the SugarVeil tightly onto the Cricut mat, too.
The wafer paper we use to line SugarVeil bows with in the "Dessert Garnishes" video is available thru www.sugarcraft.com. If you don't have it, you can support the bows in humid environments with a finger smear of white chocolate inside of the loops.
ok thanks I will try it again this week I have a cake due saturday that I want to try it for the bow ...can you type out the website all in words including the dot..because the forum blocked the site name..thanks will let you know after I try it again
Wafer paper can be bought in many places.
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&client=firefox-a&q=wafer+paper&scoring=p
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