I’m making a 3-D Hornet mascot cake. I need to make wings. Translucent or semi-translucent would be nice.

What are your guys’ suggestions?

Thanks.

The first thing that comes to mind are those translucent rice paper wrappers for Vietnamese/Thai spring rolls.  Not sure how precisely you could cut them though, and they are susceptible to moisture.

http://www.quickspice.com/scstore/images/springroll_lg.jpg

Not sure what dimensions you are working with and how much weight would be a factor, but you could certainly make something translucent with sugar.

Yes, I’m leaning towards sugar. I’m making a pound cake so I think it can handle the weigt of sugar stuck into it.

How would I melt the sugar to look more clear instead of golden?
What material would I use for a wing mold to pour the sugar in to make the shape?

Thanks again.

I may be wrong, but I think hornet wings are kind of amber colored anyway.

A long time ago I made bee wings using gelatin sheets. I was making a winnie pooh cake and wanted to add some bees and got the idea from TCB Queen Bee cake. Making the wings was easy. Hope this helps.

You would need to use isomalt (which is usually sold to the trade, I don’t know where you’d buy it retail.  Check with a bakery or high end hotel)  to get clear wings from sugar, but I think the best option is to use the gelatin sheets.  There will be a pattern in them, and they are brittle so they might shatter when you cut them.  If you paint them with a bit of food coloring, they’ll glisten even more.

go on sugarcraft.com and buy the rice paper or even the bugs already made.  they have hundreds of butterflies they probably have hornets/bees as well. if not they can print you a custom design right onto the paper and send it to you. if you have access to a food printer then just buy the sheets.  i think the key to making them last is spreading a layer of piping gel over the design before you cut it out. they have a tutorial on the site.

jen

caramel would be my tastier and more spectacular choice.  heat it only till hard ball so remains white or how about making 2 shades as it gradually progresses to amber?  use aluminum foil as a mold by making a sort of wing-shaped tart pan, it peels right off, lacey wings would be funtastic.

be sure to protect your glass top table if you have one or it can crack with the heat as mine’s did with Keith’s Bridge Cake.

gelatin sheets must be fastly soaked in water so it won’t shatter when cut.

post picture.

hectorwong - 14 October 2008 12:24 PM

caramel would be my tastier and more spectacular choice.  heat it only till hard ball so remains white or how about making 2 shades as it gradually progresses to amber?  use aluminum foil as a mold by making a sort of wing-shaped tart pan, it peels right off, lacey wings would be funtastic.

be sure to protect your glass top table if you have one or it can crack with the heat as mine’s did with Keith’s Bridge Cake.

gelatin sheets must be fastly soaked in water so it won’t shatter when cut.

post picture.

Anytime I’ve tried using caramel in this way, it cracks as it cools.  Plus the humidity gets to it after a while :( and the decorations become sticky, then droop and melt.  What do you add to prevent this from happening?  I usually make caramel from dry sugar so that could be part of the problem….

I use the caramel cage recipe from Golden Cage from the Cake Bible.  On aluminum foil, it doesn’t crack by itself when cooling.

But yes, shelf life is only hours, up to 12 hours.  Does get sticky but still delicious.

I never refrigerate my caramel cage, but I do make ahead of time and keep airtight for weeks.