Marvellous Marzipan Modelling

Marzipan modelled heritage vegetable garden cake

A millenium of Norwegian farming genes simply have to come out; my boys and I dearly desired to grow our own food, not so easy when in desert lands, and then, back in South Africa, we first had the monkeys with which to contend. Finally, however, we had ourselves a monkey-proof vegetable cage - and then - well, we needed to plant it up, now didn't we? 

All this purchasing of heirloom seeds: purple carrots, blue pumpkins, strawberry popcorn, violet cauliflowers had turned our heads quite giddy, and hence, Faran decided upon a great, big vegetable garden planting party for his birthday. But then he needed a cake. So he got one, didn't he, complete with purple carrots:

Purple Marzipan Carrots. All carrots were purple originally: Dutch botanists + King of Orange's birthday = orange carrots were hybridised from a mutant orange carrot that was found

Of course, the worms that are part of any organic gardening venture had to be acknowledged:

Marzipan Modelled Butternut plus all-too-realistic worm

For the cake, I used the Hot Chocolate Sponge, while the icing was the Hot Chocolate Ganache, of course. So now we had the brown bed ready, all we needed were hand-moulded vegetables. 

Marzipan Modelling Paste Recipe

700 grams Marzipan 

20 ml gelatine powder 

20 ml cold water 

20 ml hot water 

500 grams sifted icing sugar 

1 egg white 

You will need five containers: 

The first one you will lightly grease. In it you will place the icing sugar which will then be suspended over simmering water in a water-bath or bain-marie. 

In the second, microwave-able container you will warm the marzipan in in the microwave. 

Two small metal containers are also required for the gelatine, one of which must be slightly larger than the other. You will mix the gelatine in one and then place it into a slightly larger container filled with boiling water until it dissolves.

Finally, I also used a mixing bowl - since I found the marzipan tended to be lumpy, so ended up putting it into my Kenwood and used the egg beater to beat out all the lumps, so would definitely advocate doing this before adding the rest of the ingredients. 

Warm marzipan by placing in microwave on 50% power until softened, then beat if lumpy. Place icing sugar into lightly greased bain-marie; the water has an insulating effect and hence will ensure the icing sugar does not become too hot (if it does, it will destroy the elasticity of the gelatine). 

Place gelatine into small container, first add cold water, stir until it softens, then add 20ml boiling water, then place into slightly larger container filled with boiling water until gelatine becomes clear, i.e., is fully dissolved (any tiny bit of undissolved gelatine will later become obvious in your model). 

Make a well in the centre of icing sugar, add cooled gelatine and egg white. Once fully incorporated, add to marzipan in bowl and beat until smooth. 

Some adjustments to the paste will probably be necessary. If too hot, place in fridge, covered with damp towel. If too soft, add icing sugar. It does harden up as it cools, so be careful with your additions when it is soft and warm. You can work with the dough provided you use vegetable oil on your hands. 

You have to use gel or paste colouring to colour the dough; the usual, cheap, liquid colouring does not cut the mustard here, I am afraid. However, the wonderfully vivid colours more than compensate for the extra outlay. They are available in an extremely wide range of colours, however, I found that just four were more than adequate for our needs, with red, yellow, blue and green you can make pretty much any vegetable colour under the sun. 

Now for the exciting part! Colour the modelling paste with a variety of gel or paste colours and mould into the requisite shapes. Faran undertook much of the modelling all on his own, and - well, it is just so easy to get a wonderful, professional look, we impressed ourselves. Seriously - it's easy. Go on - give it a whirl. 

Marzipan modelled carrots and radishes, with blue pumpkins and moulded chocolate