How – To Make Sugar Paste Block Letters

This is the second part of the cake that I made for my Niece’s Naming Day. You can make them in any colour that you need so they are great for boys cakes too. If you are doing them for boys, you don’t have to use the glitter, just add a little bit of food colouring to your royal icing before piping.

You will need to start these at least 3 days before you are planning on using them. I used a little paint brush to dust off any excess glitter that was left around the icing. You need to be really gentle when dusting so that you don’t bump any of the icing off. Same as with the butterflies and any other sugar paste creation, they will dry quicker if placed on cardboard. Rice works nicely too!

You Need:

Ingredients

• 20g sugar paste per block
• 1 drop gel food colouring (of your choice)
• 1 tablespoon pure icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon edible glitter (of your choice)

Royal Icing

• 1 egg white, from 59g free range egg
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cup pure icing sugar

Equipment

• Letter cookie cutters
• A4 cardboard sheet
• 2 x 2cm wide pallet knives
• 1 very small tipped paint brush

1. Prepare the cardboard resting tray by bending it every 4cm. One forward, one back until you have completed the sheet. Set aside on an oven tray or chopping board so it is easy to move.
2. Weight the sugar paste on the scales according to how many cubes you are making. e.g. 20g x 5 = 100g.
3. Take the sugar paste and blend the food colouring through it using a kneading motion in the palm of your hand. Knead until it forms an even colour. If you want to do half and half colours, just weigh out the amount that you need for each cube. e.g. 20g x 3 = 60g.
4. Make sure that your letter cookie cutters are clean from any dust or crumbs.
5. Using the cookie cutters, press each side of the cube gently to leave a small indent that you can trace with icing. You can pipe as many sides as you desire.
6. To make royal icing: whisk the egg white using an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the lemon juice and icing sugar and whisk until whipped and fluffy, approximately 4 minutes. Pour into a piping bag with size 4# piping tip attatched. Pipe over the letter indents using the icing.
7. Gently sprinkle the colouring over the royal icing and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
8. Dust off using the small paint brush and allow to rest on the carboard stand for at least 3 days.

You can place these onto a cake or just around the base on a cake board. Put them on last minute so that they don’t absorb your icing. Especially if it is butter cream