Hello, I was wondering if anyone could educate me on cereal/crispy treats?!? I have heard a little bit about them but no enough to attempt to make them or use them. What do you use them for? My guess is they are used for sculptured type cakes that have raised area's.... What kind of cereal do you use & how do you make them? I'm in Australia. Thanks in advance :)

Have you ever had Rice Krispies cereal? It's just puffed rice cereal with a bit of butter and marshmallows.

I use them for cake topper figures, wrapped in fondant. I molded a wine bottle, then wrapped in fondant.

It's lightweight, so it can be good for helping to shape something and can hold up better than some angles of carved cake.

I found something on line that said Rice Krispies are known as Rice Bubbles in Australia.  Plus Rice Krispie treats are called LCMs in Australia, if that helps.

Try keloggs rice bubbles or even the Aldi brand. At times i add some LCM too.

Thank you :)

Hi. I am the same. I dont really know what to do with them but I have been told they are great for sculptures on cakes. :) x

I prefer sculpting from RCT rather than carving (and wasting) perfectly good cake.  I don't claim to be an expert, but here's some of what can be done with Rice Cereal Treats:

Everything except the dock (which was all cake), the smallest birds, and the flowers was made of Rice Cereal Treats:

http://www.lamaisondesgateaux.blogspot.ca/2011/05/bonne-fete-dan.html

The teddy bear was RCT:

http://www.lamaisondesgateaux.blogspot.ca/2010/12/un-gateau-de-chocolat-couvert-en.html

The cobra was RCT and gumpaste on a coat hanger frame (and was labeled as not-edible), and everything on the cake with the deer was RCT:

http://grandmasugarskitchen.blogspot.ca/2012/11/ive-got-bit-of-catching-up-to-do.html

Deadpool was RCT covered with candy clay:

http://grandmasugarskitchen.blogspot.ca/2012/08/happy-birthday-gina.html

The easter eggs were RCT covered with gumpaste:

http://grandmasugarskitchen.blogspot.ca/2012/04/basket-of-eggs-for-easter.html

The gorilla was RCT with candy clay details (face, feet hair):

http://grandmasugarskitchen.blogspot.ca/2012/02/happy-birthday-saydee.html

The ninja was RCT covered with candy clay:

http://grandmasugarskitchen.blogspot.ca/2013/01/lego.html

The ornaments were RCT covered with fondant and sparkle sugar:

http://grandmasugarskitchen.blogspot.ca/2013/01/ornaments-for-tree.html

cakeyouverymuch: absolutely adorable RKT sculptures!  thanks for posting photo links.

That sure must be easier than trying to sculpt a cake.

Well, easier for me.  Easier, too, than deciding how many portions of cake are going to go missing once I've carved.  Also avoids the dread styrofoam bits all over the house.

Beautiful work.  Does the RCT stay pliable long enough to get the shape you want or do you need to place in microwave to re - soften. Have not tried sculpting yet, really afraid........

KarenK55: There is a box of Rice Krispies and a bag of Marshmallows sitting on my counter.  They are waiting for me to give this a first try myself, so I'm reading these RKT threads with interest.  I'm wondering if you have to put sticks in RKT like they do in gumpaste/fondant models.  so much to learn.

ps: the three dimensional representation drawing of 'cake servings' that you posted on your site is fab. Thanks.

There are two methods of sculpting with RCT that I use. You can either treat it like clay and press it to the shape you want, or you can press it into a block and carve it like stone or wood. I generally use a combination of both. With the gorilla I pressed the general shape of the sitting gorilla and added the arms and legs. Then, after compressing the RCT as much as possible in the general shape (I used a photo from the internet as my model), I carved out the areas between the limbs and the body to give them more definition. Finally, I built up the general shape of the chest and face with white candy clay until it was fairly accurate. Then I covered the face and chest with the dark candy clay and shaped the hands and feet with the dark candy clay. As the last step I mixed a bit of fondant with the dark candy clay and created the hair with an extruder.

These techniques work well for me. The best way to learn to sculpt with RCT is to sculpt with RCT. Its not the most expensive medium out there. I use the generic rice cereal (in Canada, don't use the President's Choice brand they're too hard--if they don't snap crackle and pop well they're not going to make a good sculpting medium) and a generic brand of marshmallows (but not walmart brand--I don't know why they just don't work well for me). I just use the generic RCT recipe that calls for rice cereal, marshmallows and butter/margerine. There are recipes out there that call for corn syrup etc. I've never had much success with them. If I'm just practicing, or if I'm advising the recipient that the piece is not edible (if it has wires etc) I leave out the butter. Likewise, if they want to keep the piece i leave out the butter.

Some people crush some of the rice cereal before they make the RCT, I don't.

I find that the RCT can be microwaved to make it more malleable, BUT you have to be very careful not to over heat it. First, microwave burnt RCT smells really bad (it can actually catch fire in there--guess how I know?), and second and more important HOT RCT CAN CAUSE SERIOUS BURNS--(you don't want to know how I know). After it has been compressed to a certain degree heating will not help with shaping it; at that point you will want to carve it with a fairly sharp knife. HTH

cakeyouverymuch:  Thanks for the detailed instructions. lots of good tips here on this thread.

I guess I could use a cheaper bargain store brand rice cereal, and skip the $7.00 box of RK.  yet sometimes it doesn't pay to skimp.  will have to experiment........

I'm thinking Alaska - bears - brown bears in milk chocolate clay, black bears in dark chocolate clay, polar bears in white chocolate clay....so much to try.... so little time.