Make Your Own Pressed Sugar Decorations

Pressed sugar decorations you can make yourself! It’s really quite easy once you know how and your possibilities are endless!

I went with snowflakes only this time around, but you  can go with any shape your like. Use candy molds you already have on hand or, if you’re cheap like me, save the plastic inserts from the kid’s advent calendar and use those

These are not just for Christmas either, you can use this method to create your own edible sugar decorations for cakes, cookies, cupcakes or as fancy sugar “cubes” as a special touch for sweetening festive drinks all year round!

 

You will need:

2 cups granulated sugar (finer granules like castor sugar tend to work better for finer details)
4 tsp or so of Water
1/2 tsp Meringue powder
Food coloring (optional)

 

First off, I prefer to use a spray bottle to add the water. I mix up the meringue powder and the sugar in a bowl, then I give it a couple of sprays and work it into the sugar, either by hand or with a fork. Then repeat the sprays until there is the right consistency. I just find that I have more control with a spray bottle and need to work the sugar much less than if I used actual teaspoon drops.

 

The sugar mix needs to feel moistened and pack like damp sand. Just a bit more than brown sugar packs into a cup!

 

Keep mixture covered with a damp cloth as you work.

You can color your decorations. If you just want to tint them you can just use liquid food coloring, but remember to reduce the amount of water you’re using. If you want a really deep color I would recommend powdered food coloring, or the pastes as you would need way too much of the liquid to get a dark shade and then your consistency is off. Tinted sugar makes really pretty molded decorations for cakes and cupcakes.

If you are using advent calendar inserts, cut each mold individually as they are easier to handle that way.

To make sugar molds, pack the sugar mixture into mold as firmly as possible. Pressing everything in really hard and packing it as tight as possible is really key here. Otherwise your sugar creations will fall apart really easily once dried!

{Please ignore my food color stained fingertips/nails }

You might want to brush the mold with some corn starch to prevent sticking if you are going to use the same mold over and over.

You don’t even need anything too fancy. consider plain molds too, I will show you how to “fancy them up” with the help of a tooth pick!

 

Remove excess sugar with a spatula or knife, so the top is even with edge of mold.

Unmold sugar at once by placing a piece of cardboard over the mold.

Then turn the mold and cardboard upside down and lift mold off releasing sugar shape.

 

If you are happy with your shape, you can just dry it as it is. If you want to “fancy them up” a little, you can do so by carefully “pushing” the sugar around with a tooth pick. This part works a whole lot better with the finer granulated sugar!

 

 

Let dry 8-10 hours or in 200 degree oven for 15 - 20 min.

I generally just let them dry overnight. They get pretty sturdy that way!

Around here the air is VERY dry though, so use your judgment if your climate is different!

 

Store in a dry and cool place. Place tissue paper or cardboard between layers of sugar shapes.

 

These would also make really sweet (pun intended) Christmas gifts, packed in cute little cellophane bags – either for the tea or coffee lover in your life or the baker and cake decorator!

Or you can make a little hole with a toothpick, string them onto some clear fishing line and use them as ornaments for any holiday occasion!

You could even go further and decorate larger ones with colored royal icing and a fine tip.

Lots of ways to use these!

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