A Gilded Piggy (hopefully!) fit for a King

I was recently honoured to attend a Royal Event to watch the elevation of a friend to the Order of the Laurel. As part of the festivities, I created a marzipan pig gilded in 23k gold and surrounded with marzipan fruits.

I've been quite unwell in the last couple of weeks leading up to the event, so I used commercially produced marzipan rather than making my own from scratch. The gold was food grade edible gilt, which comes in sheets and is challenging to work with.

Piggy started off looking reasonably realistic:

This ear was too big and started to bend, so I made the ears smaller

Castor sugar is under the head to prevent the marzipan from sticking to the platter. Water with a small amount of rosewater added is used as a bonding agent to encourage the pieces to stick together. (Don't use too much or you will get a slimy mess that won't hold shapes and will crack when drying.)

The images I used for inspiration:

Marzipan Fruits

I made some marzipan fruits for a friend this week. They are fun to make; a bit like playing with Play-Doh when you were a kid. Just shape them with your fingers. I have several handy little tools to create details, but a toothpick can be used if you don't have fancy tools. Use the side to put the ridges in the leaves, and break off the sharp point to make a blunt probe to put the indents in the strawberries (for the 'seeds'). Use food colouring to paint the fruits. I have special brushes that are only kept in the kitchen, so that they are never mixed up with my illumination brushes- I don't want to accidentally poison my friends!

I use a clove for the oranges and peaches. Cloves were often used in the Renaissance as breath fresheners. Flick off the little bud at the end and snap the stem in half. Use the top half as the stalk of the fruit, and the little cross shaped piece on the bottom. Warn the recipient- not everyone likes cloves!

The unpainted fruits drying off a little bit

Partially painted fruits waiting for details and leaves to be added

Painted fruits drying in castor sugar

Finished fruits ready to eat

Cornucopia Subtletie

Here is a cornucopia that I collaborated on as a presentation piece for the recent Midwinter Coronation. It was presented to High Table and was well received.

Another talented member of my Barony made the pastry shell of the cornucopia and pastry leaves. The cornucopia is ornamented with decorative pastry swirls.

I made marzipan fruits to spill out from the horn of plenty and supplemented them with gilded nuts.

gilded chestnuts

gilded walnuts

marzipan fruits dusted with sugar placed for presentation

Medieval Fair - Fruits

This weekend was our local Medieval Fair. We had really good attendance and I met some really pleasant and enthusiastic people who will hopefully be interested in joining my local SCA group.

Here are some marzipan fruits I made to go on the Arts and Sciences display table. The stems are made from cloves, which made them smell very nice!