Mastic - what is it? Preparation of mastic. How to make mastic at home

Buying a festive cake or a set of cakes in the store, we have often admired the amazingly beautiful appearance of these sweets. Air creams fancifully form lush flower beds or bizarre patterns. Chocolate glaze is covered with silvery dew, and beckoning to try a treat. But special delight is caused by ornaments from mastic. What do not they mold out of it! And medieval castles, and noble frigates, and figurines of fairy-tale creatures. Let's see how this magnificence is done.

Introduction to the product

First, let's figure it out. So, the mastic. What is this substance? A word has several meanings. First, the so-called special paste, which is covered with small openings, holes. In construction, this putty is used to seal seams, etc. Another mastic what is it? It is the resin of trees of special breeds called pistachios. Thirdly, in Bulgaria so called strong vodka, which is prepared on an anise basis (analogous to the Russian famous "Anisovka"). And, finally, fourthly, there is a culinary term: confectionery mastic. What is this product, we already know: a kind of sweet cream, decorating desserts and sweets. It adds flavors, dyes, to get the material the right color and smell. The consistency resembles plasticine, so you can mold anything from fresh mastic. However, in the finished form on air the cream quickly freezes. Therefore, store the workpiece for future use in a tightly closed cellophane bag.

Main Ingredients

It takes some skill and experience, so that the starting hostess got the "right" mastic. What is correct? As the practice tells, no matter how exact recipes are, still much is determined "by eye" and depends on the quality of the products used, their consistency, etc. A mandatory component of any mastic is powdered sugar. Egg white, condensed and dried milk, gelatin, marzipans, starch, marshmallow may serve as auxiliary substances.

About some products

Surely you did not come across some names before. For example, marzipan is a mixture of almonds crushed into a flour with sugar syrup or powder. With the necessary quality of products and observance of proportions, an excellent "dough" is obtained. And marshmallow - it's candy, reminiscent of a pastille or marshmallow. Naturally, do not forget about such a component as dyes for mastic. They take either food artificial, or natural (fruit and berry juice, "toasted" sugar syrup, etc.).

Tips, which can not be dispensed with

To prepare your delicacies, your first and subsequent "pancakes" did not turn out to be a lump, listen to the advice of experienced confectioners. They will help you out in a force majeure situation.

• Remember that any preparation of mastic requires the smallest sugar powder. Buckets slightly larger will just tear the mastic "dough", when it will have to be rolled out. Often the powder is required much more than stipulated in the recipe - when the mastic is too molded to the hands, it needs to knead and knead, pouring grated sugar.
• If you made mastic for a cake, you can not decorate it, if the top cake or sides are covered with sour cream, soaked in syrup. In contact with moisture, the "confectionery putty" immediately begins to melt, dissolve. To prevent this from happening, either apply it on a dry cake, or on a thick crust of cookies, a layer of marzipan or a podzastylivshy oil cream.
• As already mentioned, any mastic dries very quickly in the air. This property can be used if you make any figures: just prepare them in advance. And if you need to connect several separate items, place the "joints" slightly moisturize and glue. To ensure that the mastic does not melt at room temperature, and the products settle and lose shape, keep the sweets until the last in the refrigerator.

Recipe from "zephyr candies"

Consider the first option of how to make mastic at home. Buy a package of soufflé "Marshmellow" (sold in supermarkets). In general, the name can be anything - the main thing is that it was just a souffle. Next, take a packet of powdered sugar - for one serving of the product will need a glass and a half. And a tablespoon of lemon juice (you can have orange, apple and others - with sourness) or water. Since the candy in a package of different colors, spread them over small saucepans. In monochrome add liquid (juice or water) and send for 10 seconds in a microwave. It is possible and on a water bath: at a warming-up the candy mass should increase in volume. Then remove, put the dye (if necessary) and mix thoroughly.

Now that you have a good elastic mastic, the recipe (with a photo) which we offer you, pour in powdered portions of powdered sugar. Previously, it needs to be re-used to remove the clumps. When the mass becomes sufficiently dense, "throw it" on the table, sprinkled with powder, and knead. Mastic is considered ready if it is tight to the touch and is not clinging to the hands. Carefully pack the product into cellophane (to avoid air), put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. Take a little starch, sprinkle the desktop or cutting board and thinly roll out the mastic extracted from the refrigerator. From the received layer already mold the products or simply cover the surface of the cake with it.

Mastic creamy

For this recipe, buy a gram of 100 chocolates and 250 to 350 g of powder. Take a little food coloring and butter - a tablespoon. You already know the technology of cooking. Add the butter to the sweets and heat them until softened. Then stir, pouring powdered sugar, and prepare a "mastic" dough of the right consistency (plasticine). If you want to sculpt products of different colors, divide the mass into parts, add dyes separately to each. Then cook the items, give them a day to dry. And you can decorate desserts.

Mastic chocolate: ingredients

The offered variant of delicacies at confectioners is considered practically a win-win, as such mastic prepares easily. Yes, and the appearance of products made at home, will not yield to the factory. Ingredients: a small 100-gram plate of dark chocolate, already familiar to us marshmallow (about the same or 90 grams), 40 grams of fat cream (at least 30%), a half tablespoons of butter, as much cognac or liqueur / brandy. And powdered sugar - on demand, but not less than 100 g. We start cooking. Chop the chocolate into pieces, put in a saucepan, melt. Report the candy soufflé and continue to warm up, stirring constantly. When the sweets are well thinned, report the butter and pour the cognac with the cream. Cook until you have a thick, uniform mass. Then remove the saucepan from the fire, pour in powdered sugar powder, knead the "dough" and process it until it feels elastic, smooth, sticking to the fingers. Roll the finished mastic into a bowl, let it take 10 minutes to "brew", then proceed to making the figures. You can store the workpiece in the refrigerator, in a bag. Preheat a little heat.

Mastic milk

And here is another recipe, very simple and affordable. Take a jar of condensed milk and a glass of milk powder and powdered sugar. Thoroughly mix the products so that you get a mass resembling softened clay. The amount of powder may be different from what we wrote, depending on whether the condensed milk is boiled or raw. The color of the mastic will be white in the latter case. To add shades, take either food colors or a little cocoa powder.