INGREDIENTS
5 ½ tablespoons water
1 ½ tablespoons gelatine powder
200g glucose
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 -1 ½ kg icing sugar, sieved
PREPARATION, STEP BY STEP
Place water and gelatine powder inside a plastic, glass or china bowl. Allow to soak.
Add glucose and place bowl inside a bigger one with water at room temperature. Heat.
When the water in the bigger bowl comes to the boil, keep heating for 1 ½ minutes.
Remove from heat.( Respect these times.)
The mixture should look liquid and transparent. Stir in lemon juice.
Add icing sugar and work mixture to form a firm dough that can be easily kneaded.
Turn dough onto a flat surface which has been previously sprinkled with icing sugar.
The amount of icing sugar used in this recipe will vary according to the warmth of your hands, the room temperature and humidity at the moment of preparation.
But you should not use more than the maximum suggested (1 ½ kg).
Knead the dough thoroughly.
The more, the whiter it will get. (Though this cake cover is not of a pure white).
It will be ready when it does not stick onto your fingers.
Wrap the mixture in plastic food wrap.
Wash your hands and the surface where you are going to roll it out, to avoid any imperfection in the final result.
Roll out to 0.5 cm thick.
Sprinkle with cornflour to prevent it from sticking to worktop.
Shape up according to cake’s shape and size.
TIP: Measure the surface and height of the cake and add 5cm so that the creases formed are left outside the cake.
Once it has the size desired, sprinkle the rolling pin with cornflour and roll the cake cover around it.
Then, cover the top and sides of the cake with it.
TIP: Before covering the cake with the Wilton cover, spread all the surface of the cake with “dulce de leche” (creamy caramel spread).
In this way, the Wilton will adhere to the cake easily.
The caramel spread must be at room temperature and cannot be mixed with any liquid.
You may warm it up a bit if it is too hard or chewy. Spread it evenly with a spatula, to avoid the formation of bubbles or lumps.
If you don’t have any caramel spread, you may use some jam instead, but its texture should be similar to it.
IMPORTANT DETAILS NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN
This cake cover is not glossy.
The more you knead it, the whiter it gets.
Don’t worry about how long you need to knead it. The warmth of your hands will not let it dry up.
If there is an excess of sugar in it, heat it in a double boiler, stir in some water to soften and start kneading again.
All the remains can be stored in the fridge,
wrapped in plastic food wrap for up to 6 months.
Remember to remove from fridge some hours before using and knead until it is at room temperature.
(To speed up this process, you may heat it in a double boiler or in the microwave oven, but be cautious and heat it for a few seconds as many times as required, until it is ready.)
The cake you are going to cover can be moistened with some liqueur or light syrup but without reaching the borders. The top layer should be drier.
If you accidentally tear up the Wilton cover, massage it softly with the tip of your fingers until the cut is closed.
In general, this dough is not suitable for modelling figures, though it might be used for roses or lilies.